A Thanksgiving Abroad

Yesterday, as many of you are aware, was Thanksgiving in the U.S.of A.
As an observant and observant American I searched high and low to find the perfect Thanksgiving dinner. Something that would have not just the turkey that is so representative of the holiday, but the mashed potatoes, the stuffing, the gravy, the sweet potatoes...
Maybe the recipes wouldn't be as good as those passed through my family for generations, not as honed and time tested, but it would have to do.
Not having a proper oven, or the day off, really cramped my Thanksgiving style.
But what I found was pretty spectacular.

We celebrated in the shadow of The Great Wall of China. 

I'm kicking myself now for not taking a picture of all of the dishes, mostly because the sweet potato casserole was purple. 

Everything was delicious. 

We started off the evening at around 5 with wine and hors d'oeuvre.

The fried shrimp was served cold, which I found odd and unappetizing, but that was completely made up for by the herbed cranberry bread skewered with small pieces of wonderfully spiced pastrami. 

There were also lotus root chips, which I had not sampled before, but found extremely tasty. 

At 6 we were all ushered to our seats so that the main event could begin, and the main dishes brought forth.

Our table of six consisted of a couple visiting from Switzerland for the week who had booked a room at the hotel and new nothing of the American Thanksgiving celebration that awaited them, and a pair of young "ABC's" or American Born Chinese students originally from the greater Los Angeles area. And of course the esteemed Super Husband, and his lovely Wonder Wife.

Our first course was a very tasty cream of mushroom soup. I'm not overfond of mushrooms, but this was just the right way to do it. 

Quickly following that came a lightly dressed salad, by which I was neither impressed nor disapproving. 

Then the REAL meal began. 

Plates of white and dark meat appeared in the center of our table, along side a lovely gravy, and an even prettier cranberry sauce. 

Shortly thereafter the aforementioned purple sweet potato casserole arrived, accompanied by normal colored mashed potatoes.

The stuffing, or dressing, was really very tasty, but rather oddly shaped into squares. This is, perhaps normal to some, but I've never seen it such.

Some time after the beginning of the meal a broccoli and cheese béchamel dish was brought out. This is not a traditional dish in my family, and I was rather less than taken with it. I would have much preferred a green bean casserole, complete with the frenche's onions. But that is asking rather a lot.

After dinner we were informed that the desserts were buffet style, and we slowly made our way over there.

We were greeted with a plethora from which to choose. 

Hot apple brown betty, hawthorn custard, homemade ice cream in vanilla and chocolate, brownies, cookies, lemon ice box pie, and cream puffs.

Needless to say, I was in heaven.

I didn't, however, sample all of them. 

I contained myself to a tiny slice of ice box pie, the apple brown betty, and a single bite of chocolate ice cream.

All shared with Super Husband, mind you.

But most of all, the conversation was spectacular.

We discussed topics ranging from the pollution in Beijing (it reached a record for our time here of 387 on Thursday morning, but cleared up nicely due to high winds), to the crime statistics of Geneva, Switzerland.
And so very many things in between.

Two side notes here: 1) Our dinner is going to be broadcast on CCTV 4 at some point, as part of a special on The Schoolhouse at Mutianyu, which is where we were. I don't know if it'll be available for viewing anywhere else, or if it would even be worth looking in to, but I thought I'd mention it.

and
2) The Swiss couple is going to be in Texas in a few weeks and are looking for recommendations on where to go, what to see, and what to eat. I already gave them some recommendations, but if you have any "Must Sees" for the Houston, San Antonio, and Austin areas, or anything that lies along I-10 west, e-mail me so that I can pass the info along to them.


I mentioned in an earlier post that I was trying to get a traditional Thanksgiving meal for the kids. This never did happen. But we talked about turkey, and my classes colored Thanksgiving themed pictures, so at least they have a passing concept of what it means.