Talking Turkey Take-Out

I do realize that any talk of turkey at this point might be considered “late to the game” – especially since we’ve all moved into “Healthy Eating” resolution mode – but the subject just keeps coming up in conversation.  People seem to want to know!  So here goes…

I’m very fortunate to have my family in town, including my parents, my brother, his wife and their two very young children.  While not a huge crowd, we are enough to make Christmas dinner kind of complicated.  My mother  – an amazing cook – usually takes it on with true talent and grace, but whenever I’ve tried to do a turkey myself, I’ve been utterly incapable without her help. 

My bro often goes to where his wife’s family gathers, and this year was the first year in a few that we were all going to be together.  Between schedules, budgets and child-related considerations, it was not surprising that none of us jumped forward as volunteer chefs.   Enter take-out turkey.  

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Yup.  We all agreed to pitch in and share the (very reasonable) cost of ordering a fully prepared Christmas dinner, care of Michael Blackie, Executive Chef at the National Arts Centre.   Mom set a gorgeous table and tracked down a plum pudding, I brought the starter grapefruit (a family tradition of mine that goes back several generations), and then all we had to do was wait for the turkey’s arrival.  And my Dad was happy to have an excuse to go for a drive…

What was it like? Well…it turns out take-away turkey was totally easy, seriously stress-free, and quite definitely delicious.  While we did miss the smell of the bird cooking a bit, and the Chef’s yummy flavour combinations leaned towards the contemporary rather than classic, under the circumstances it was a pretty practical trade-off, I’d say.   My Mom has no need to feel threatened, since her turkey is still the best of course, but even she was able to embrace the extra time she had outside the kitchen!

So, would we do it again?  If it were just up to me, definitely yes!