Thanksgiving in China

Happy belated Thanksgiving! I introduced the idea of Thanksgiving to a couple of my classes last week and had them write down what they were thankful for. Some common responses were mom, dad, grandfather, grandmother, family, teacher, cat, dog, pig, and pencil box.

"Mom, thank you."

"I'm thankful for my grandmother because when I was small I was very naughty, so now that I've grown I want to thank her."

"Mother, father, teacher."

"Father and mother" "Cat, because when I'm unhappy it keeps me company."

Myself, I definitely thank my kids for being so enthusiastic. I may not have a cat to keep me company here, but at least my students are happy to see me when I walk into the classroom. And it makes a big difference.

I was luckily enough to be able to meet up with some other fellows in Baoshan and celebrate Thanksgiving by cooking as close approximations to Thanksgiving foods as we could manage. In other words: mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with cranberries, fresh peas, green beans with garlic and onion. And for desert (all made in a rice cooker!): apple crisp, banana bread, pumpkin bread, pumpkin-oat-chocolate chip squares, and chocolate-pumpkin pudding cake.

Two of the fellows in Baoshan have a kitchen with a fridge (still no stove or oven though, just a hot plate and rice cooker, a typical setup in China). We also had some Chinese guests who have befriended these fellows. We were told there would be six of them--and cooked accordingly--but they mostly didn't eat the Thanksgiving food, instead opting to watch us cook and eat instead. Two Chinese fellows also joined us, though, and they really liked a lot of the food.

Yes, there was meat too, but that was cooked Chinese-barbecue-style by the Chinese guests.

It was a fun weekend and convinced me to invest in a rice cooker and some baking supplies. I even found nutmeg and cloves at the import store! And of course the company was excellent. So much to be thankful for.

*Thanks to Kelsey for the photos!