Thursday, November 25, 2010

A Cajun Thanksgiving

What a feast! We just had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner in Abbeville, Louisiana – Cajun style!

Our day began with Don lighting the charcoal for the Acadian (Cajun) Microwave Oven he borrowed from Betty, owner of Betty’s RV Park.

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He was preparing to cook a “turducken,” which is a chicken stuffed inside a duck stuffed inside a turkey. All the bones have been removed if you buy a turducken already prepared. We bought it at Don’s Specialty Meats in nearby Scott, LA. It was stuffed with Boudin (pronounced BOO-danh), a spicy sausage stuffing popular in Cajun country.

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The Cajun microwave is basically an insulated box with a rack in the bottom and a lid with another rack for charcoal. The heat penetrates down through the lid to cook the contents. A temperature probe was inserted in the middle of the birds, with the readout set outside the oven.

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Directions said to cook at 350 degrees for 4.5 hours, but this one took about 6. It could be that the bird was too far from the heat, and ashes started to choke out the charcoal, even though Don kept adding more briquets to keep the fire going. He finished off the cooking in Betty’s oven after she finished with other baking.

When Don took it out of the oven, it was beautiful! And tasty!

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It didn’t take long for everyone in our group to fill their plates and chow down!

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My plate got pretty full, too.

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Don was happy to sit down and enjoy the results of his labor.

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Betty (left) also enjoyed relaxing after cooking a separate dinner for her family as well as contributing to the RV group’s meal. Glenn, the local Trailer Life rep (with hubby Allen, not in pic) will undoubtedly give Betty’s RV a good rating!

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Afterward, friends kicked back in the swings and benches. Susie seems to be drawn to men wearing yellow shirts (Bob).

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And Denny (Susie’s hubby) is drawn to tall women (Caroline)!

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On the other hand, Dennis seems to be looking for someone to join him.

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But his wife Carol is hugging someone else (Caroline’s hubby Art)!

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And I didn’t get a photo of Molly, Bob’s wife, but here are the two of them a couple of days ago having Mimosas with their Cajun breakfast.

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We’re all just one big happy RV family, after all!