Thanksgiving

In fifteen years of marriage, I can count on one hand how many turkeys I've cooked. The first one was a successful fifteen pound beauty for my parents and Larry in our little mill house in Seneca. Much too much bird for four people, but it sure was pretty. The second was a Cajun marinated deep fat fried one when my brother and family visited. It too, was tasty, up until Katie barfed at the table after her Uncle Mark threatened to eat the food from her plate and she shoved the contents into her mouth.

The third and perhaps best tasting turkey was the one cooked this past Thanksgiving. Of course, China does not recognize the holiday, though many restaurants offer traditional meals. We've gone out the past two years here, but we were all hankering for some home cooking. I had plenty of time on my hands again since I was no longer working, so I scoured the stores in both Suzhou and Shanghai. I found all the ingredients and started cooking the day before Thanksgiving. Since both Larry and the girls had work and school respectively, I planned the meal for exactly at 6pm. No time for appetizers or drinks. Straight to the meal.

This was the first time I had cooked the entire meal by myself and I was pretty pleased. I have never and will never claim to be a great cook, but I do know that I can cook. I just don't want to admit it. I might end up in the kitchen every holiday meal. Every once and awhile, I like to plate up one of my 'grue' dishes, which inevitably gets me a pass from the kitchen for a night. Luckily, no 'grue' on Thanksgiving. Even the gravy was delicious . It could have been that we were just so starved for a taste of Americana, but we devoured the turkey, stuffing, potatoes, squash, broccoli, gravy, biscuits and pumpkin pie as if we weren't sure of the next time we'd get such delicacies. Frankly, I didn't even mind doing the dishes that night and looked forward to leftovers for the next few.