Giving Thanks

Posted by: daradoodle | December 13, 2008

Giving Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving!

Who says that you can’t have an American style Thanksgiving in China? I did just that this year with four Brits, two Americans, one Aussie and a whole Turkey.

Once upon a time, Thanksgiving was probably unheard of in China. But today, many Western style restaurants design a set menu to suit the American palate on Turkey Day. After conducting extensive research by scouring the internet and English language magazines, the Blue Frog restaurant at the Daning Life Hub seemed to have the best deal.

If you managed to round up eight people, a whole turkey would be prepared for the table. I found the peeps and for 200 kuai, not only were we served a whole turkey with the stuffing cooked inside, we also scored pumpkin soup, dinner rolls, garlic green beans, spiced sweet potatoes, mixed vegetables, cranberry sauce, a whole pumpkin pie with whipped cream on the side, a choice between a soft drink or coffee, and two bottles of wine. Pretty darn close to having Thanksgiving back home!

Saitavius attempted the turkey carving then Paul took over. Take a look at the video…

Since there were only three Americans in attendance, I wanted to make sure that my Thanksgiving virgin friends had the full Thanksgiving experience including the family bonding element. I spent the week prior collecting prizes for a White Elephant gift exchange. Some of the gifts included a toothpick dispenser, pink rubber gloves, a pollution mask, an orange peeler, a bottle opener, a glass ashtray with a Chinese mask on the bottom, and other treasures. In the end, I think everyone ended up with the gift they had their eye on.

White Elephant Gift Exchange... Oli cut me out of the picture, but you can see my hand with the bottle opener

The gift exchange was followed by a two hour game of Scattergories. When it was time to leave, we took three containers of leftover turkey with us. Thanksgiving wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without a doggie bag!

Good friends, good food and festive games. Thanksgiving away from the homeland was a success.

Take a look at more pictures from the evening…..