The Thanksgiving holiday is well known even here in China,
as you can see from this poster in our elevator:
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| My own translation: Be a good son or daughter and fix your parent's teeth for Tanksgiving! |
Thanksgiving Day
On Thursday morning I plan to bake some homemade cinnamon
rolls. These won’t be much different from what I would make back in California,
except for one minor change. I haven’t found ground cinnamon yet, only a
cinnamon/sugar mixture that is mostly sugar. Cinnamon sticks (more like pieces
of cinnamon bark) are easy to come by, however, so we purchased a juicer that came
with an attachment for grinding spices, and now I grind my own. The flavor is a
bit different—it tastes more like red-hot candies than the ground cinnamon we
are used to, and the texture is more coarse, but everyone likes it just the
same.
Turkey, gravy, sweet potatoes, stuffing, green bean
casserole…all iconic foods associated with an American Thanksgiving feast, and
all things my kids don’t really like to eat! Since we can’t easily make most of
these things here anyway, I asked what everyone thought would make our
Thanksgiving meal special. For an appetizer I will prepare some dip for veggies
and chips using a precious packet of Hidden Valley Ranch dill vegetable dip
mix! I can’t get sour cream, but a friend told me that whipping cream is a good
substitute. I can buy whipping cream at our local market, but it is expensive,
which is why I’ve been saving the packet for a special occasion. Later in the
afternoon, we will be dining on oven-baked BBQ chicken breasts (I thought about
roasting a whole chicken, but since the chickens sold here come with all parts
still intact, inside and out, I am not ready to tackle that yet), mashed
potatoes, homemade rolls, a green salad, and a vegetable of my choosing
(probably broccoli). We looked for pumpkin pie filling at a foreign grocery
store, and didn’t find any. I did find brownie mix, however, so that will most
likely be our special dessert to round off the day of feasting.
One Way
Friday night we are hosting the kids’ youth group here, and we
will be providing dinner for them as well. I plan to make homemade taco meat by
simmering ground beef with chopped peppers, onions, garlic, cumin and cilantro.
I will also roast some tomatoes, peppers, onions and garlic for some yummy homemade salsa. Tortillas and tortilla
chips are readily available, as are black olives and canned black and pinto
beans. Throw in some fresh lettuce, tomatoes, onions and cilantro, and we will
be close to enjoying American
style burritos. Just missing the cheese and sour cream!
Potluck
On Saturday, we look forward to celebrating the Thanksgiving
holiday a second time with a group of Americans living here in Beijing.
In the morning, the kids will go with Rodney to play football with some of the
other dads and kids. At one o’clock we will all meet at a kindergarten where
one of the families lives. The school has given us permission to use a couple
of their large rooms for our party. The hostess managed to procure a few
turkeys, and the rest of us are bringing side dishes to contribute. I was
assigned the sweet potatoes. My friend gave me the idea to go out late that
morning and purchase several of the piping hot sweet potatoes that vendors sell
near the subway station. They roast them outside in big steel kettles, and
they smell so good! Once I remove the skins, I can just smash them up with
butter and some brown sugar, and I’ll be good to go! We bought marshmallows at
the foreign store, so I think I’ll top them with those and brown them in the
oven before we leave to really make us feel like we are in the U.S.A!
Sing Praises to our God, Sing Praises!
The part of the day I am most looking forward to is the singing
and prayer between dinner and dessert. Singing praises to the Lord in church is
something I miss greatly, as the church service we attend is conducted all in
Chinese. I can read (and whisper) along using our bilingual hymnal, but it just
isn’t the same. So, if you have the opportunity to sing praises with the saints each week, add that to your list of things to be thankful for!
Happy Thanksgiving! May your day be richly blessed.
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