A few years ago, Frank Marcigliano, the principal owner of the Casa IxChel Hotel, asked if Lawrie and I could help him out with a small problem. He was going into the hospital for a hip operation back in the US, and needed someone to oversee the American Thanksgiving dinner at his restaurant on Isla. This was to be the inaugural turkey dinner for Casa Louisa. In our previous lives, Lawrie has managed three restaurants, and I have managed two hotels. How hard could it be?
This was the first time any of the staff had made a traditional turkey dinner, and it was fun to watch them learn the different dishes and techniques, make roast turkey, stuffing, gravy, and mashed yams. The idea of cranberry jelly caused a few raised eyebrows.
The first challenge was finding the necessary ingredients. A road trip to Cancun was required. Costco for turkey, pumpkin pies, and whipping cream. Sam’s Club for the aluminum roasting pans. Wal-Mart for gravy ingredients. Europea Wine store for cranberry jelly in the imported foods section. And the flea market for cranberry jelly ramekins and gravy boats. We searched all of the stores for sweet potatoes, yams, and possible Thanksgiving decorations for the tables. We came up empty.
Two days later, we went back to Costco to pick up a terrific canvas banner to advertise the event. Then we put the call out to island gringo friends for spices and herbs for the turkey stuffing. Mary Simpson set Charlie over with sage and thyme. Harriet Lowe sent Richard on his motorcycle with three other necessary herbs. Hmmm, there’s a theme there. The women “sent” the guys on the errand.
The second challenge was our lack of Spanish! Miguel, the hotel manager at the time, was very fluent in English and a great help when he was available to translate. The kitchen staff and most of the waitstaff spoke Spanish. Period. It is amazing how much can be communicated with sign language, demonstration of what you want (like charades), and laughter. The chefs had looks of perplexed concentration as they tried to understand the gringa. Then hollered, “Miguel!” and he hustled over to translate the instructions.
The third challenge was measurements. In Mexico, as in Canada, the measurements and temperatures are metric, not imperial. All of the recipes and instructions for foods such as turkey stuffing or sweet potato puree were in imperial measurements. Again, the look of perplexed concentration from the kitchen staff, and I realized I would have to translate the measurements as well, English to Spanish, and imperial to metric, then metric to actual quantities – kilos of potatoes, bread croutons, onions, celery, sweet potatoes or yams – to be purchased. I must say I now have a greater appreciation for what goes on in a restaurant kitchen.
“Why do you put marmalade on meat?”
“Because that's what our ancestors did.”
The fourth challenge was getting the dinners out to the groups of guests – quickly. Fortunately, between Lawrie’s past experiences at busy restaurants in Canada, like Magnum’s at the Lakeside Hotel, and the Cellar Bistro at Hillside Estate Winery, he was able to show us ahead of time how to organize the turkey portions for quick plating. The guys in the kitchen were great! They had it down flat in two minutes.
Lawrie was the sociable host and front-end guy, getting everyone seated, drinks ordered, and keeping an eye on the tables. I was in the kitchen overseeing the mayhem.
We had so many reservations on the books that we had to scrounge up another turkey.
We had a lot of fun working together, and that big glass of wine at the end of the evening was really wonderful!
Happy Thanksgiving 2020 to all of our American friends.
Cheers, Lynda and The Sparkinator
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