Thanksgiving

November has always been one of my favorite months of the year on Bequia. The mugginess of the previous months lifts as the hurricane season comes to an end.  Homeowners arrive to get their houses ready for the season as yachts trickle back into the bay.  Businesses start re-opening as the Island slowly comes to life again, a welcome sight after the doldrums of the off-season! The tourists don’t really start to arrive until Christmas, making November a month for socializing before the rush of the busy season.

Mac and I decided to invite friends to the house for a big Thanksgiving dinner.  We had a lot of American friends, it would be a large gathering requiring a large turkey!  I would have to cook the bird at the Pizzeria, the oven at our house was too small and I preferred having the bigger work space.  Mac wanted “spiked” stuffing, and after cleaning a pile of packaloulou he placed it in a large oregano bottle for me to take to the restaurant.

One of the guests invited was a friend living on a yacht in the harbor. He mentioned that his older sister Alice was coming to visit from the States and I told him to bring her along, but to make SURE she knew about the stuffing!

Thanksgiving Day I started to organize my ingredients at the Pizzeria and realized I had forgotten the packaloulou.  Shouting up to the house, I told Mac to bring down the oregano for the turkey stuffing.  My baker, who had previously worked at the Frangipani and knew how to roast a turkey, said, “you doesn’t put oregano in stuffing, you does use sage”.  I assured her that oregano can go in stuffing, and that I would be using sage as well.  She was mollified until Mac told me to use the whole bottle of oregano, at which point she sucked her teeth and shook her head from side to side as I added it to the stuffing mixture.

An hour after sliding the turkey into the oven the whole bayside smelled like one big spliff!  I was very conscious of it as I prepared the pumpkin pies and vegetables, and was glad when the bird was done and taken up to the house.

Our guests arrived in time to watch the sun set over the bay from our newly-built wooden deck.  It was a fun group of people and they were ready to party!  Taking my “yachtie”  friend aside, I asked if he had warned his sister Alice about the stuffing and was assured that he had done so.

Avoiding the stuffing myself, I was surprised to see Alice help herself to a large spoonful. Evidently it tasted good because she helped herself to seconds.  Everyone had a good time that night, especially Alice!   From that day forward she was called, “Alice in Wonderland”.