Thanksgiving in July

A couple weeks ago we were surprised with a gift from a Tanzanian friend of ours. A turkey!!!! Turkeys are a precious commodity here. They are not sold in stores or butcher shops, but around Thanksgiving and Christmas, I have seen signs posted for turkeys for sale. And they are not cheap. One turkey is over $100. Needless to say, we have never bought one. A friend of ours has a few at high rural home and wanted to bless us with one. He is not rich, quite the opposite, actually. So, him giving us the turkey was a huge sacrifice for him and a big honor for us to receive. George drove about 30 minutes away to pick it up and brought it back in our house. Eli kept calling it a chicken. We kept it in the garage for one night before slaughtering it it. By "We" I mean George. Since we don't have an oven, we couldn't roast it whole, which I would have liked. Instead, George butchered it like a chicken and we stored the parts in the freezer. We do have a toaster oven and in case you ever wondered, can you cook a turkey in a toaster oven, the answer is yes you can! First we cooked the drum sticks, then the thighs and then the breasts. The breast was my favorite. We just did a simple butter, salt and pepper rub, placed in a dish on top of sliced potatoes and the results were heavenly. I wondered if Eli would have a problem eating the turkey or would be traumatized by the killing of it (He didn't watch it, but after seeing it alive we had to tell him it was for eating, not keeping). But he was fine... and he loved the turkey. Eating turkey was such a treat, especially knowing what a special gift it was. And we still have more in the freezer other days. Yum!