First Thanksgiving

[frank1538]

Thought I'd start a thread for those who care to share their Thanksgiving experiences. This was Jingwen's first Thanksgiving, and I made the traditional meal.

 

Everything went smoothly until I finished carving the turkey. Jingwen helped fill the platter with the meat and then proceeded to put the carcass on her plate. I said, eat what I've cut. No way, she said, the best meat is closet to the bone (I guess that's why she prefers chicken wings). I had to laugh watching her eat off the carcass which filled her plate. BTW, she actually ate most of the traditional things with the exception of the cranberry sauce - too sweet.

[tywy_99]

Hi Frank,

 

I have a similiar story.....sort of, lol.

 

My wife and step-daughter arrived last year just in time for Thanksgiving. Beforehand, I bought a large 22 lb. Butterball turkey and smoked it. I really wanted to share the Thanksgiving experience with them.

After the turkey was done, we ate and had a good meal. My wife wanted a pressure cooker so I ran to wal-mart after I had carved all the meat off the carcus, ( or so I thought!) When I returned from the store, I saw that my wife had even CLEANED the carcus more! I have never seen one picked so thourough!,not a strand of meat left...period!

Well, this year, I just bought a small turkey and put it in the oven. I didn't go "overboard" like I did last year and we had a good Thanksgiving meal yesterday.

[Guest blsqueaky]

Well I guess that sine Ling is here, I can add a little. In my little home here, no stove or oven, so mostly use a slow cooker, and we all know, whole turkey will not fit, so we did cornish hens. I was surprised, Ling enjoyed this, especially since she was the one that did all of the preperation, since I was not home yet. Next year, going to try deep fry.

[egolessvegan]

Being happy is very normal. Be well and enjoy the trip.

[maiyademama]

First Thanksgiving with Kai here...hmm...how shall I put it? I think it was mostly lost on him. I did my best to explain the tradition and the history and I think he got it--compared it to Chinese New Year. I was in the kitchen all day fixing all the traditional dishes and even though he appreciated all the work I went to, I could tell he didn't think much of the spread. He liked the turkey, but would have preferred that I smothered it in Chinese hot peppers instead of garlic and rosemary. He didn't really touch his garlic mashed potatoes or his yams. He ate the stuffing but had little to say about it (chestnut stuffing from scratch---I was sure impressed with it!). He didn't even want to have the pumpkin pie guess who is going to get fat from eating a whole pie?! He also liked the sun-dried tomato-jalapeno cornbread but that figure since it was sorta spicy.

 

Honestly, i feel like never cooking an American meal for him ever again!

 

Tonight we had leftovers and in order to get him to eat it, I cut up the , turkey in thin slices and stirfried it with bell pepper, garlic, onion, mushrooms, jalapenos, cumin, and red chilli powder....This time he said "mmm...hen hao chi!"

 

For Christmas we will just have peking duck this way we will all be happy

[nousername]

it's fun to read these stories!! I am a year off before my first Thanksgiving in the US with my Sweetie, but I cannot wait. I love thanksgiving, and i think the first one with Xiewen will be great. My sister just got married this summer, and it was the first time having her husband with us. It just was great, we pulled out some old home videos of us as kids... even some silent vids... it was great to see some of his reactions... i wonder what her's will be like :D I cannot wait to experience this great American holiday with Xiewen and as part of our family.

[oregonknl]

Geezz Taz....

 

I'm all "turkeyed out" and your dinner still sounds good to me.....

 

One of the things that really turns me off in China is when I see fellow Americans making rude comments about whats on their plate in restaurants...... Hey! D-Head !! you CHOSE to come here! How about a little cultural sensitivity!

 

......But maybe you can work something out with Kai.... say, on certain nights... vaguely American .... and others, vaguely Chinese .... and if he really wants authentic ... he can get his ass up and make it!

[maiyademama]

Actually, since he has been here, Kai has been doing all the cooking. It has been a nice break, but if it is up to him, we eat Chinese everyday...that gets old for me. I was excited to cook a big Thanksgiving dinner, but all the hard work was wasted on someone who isn't used to actually tasting the original flavors of foods. For Kai, food without lots of spicy sauces and salt is boring. Oh well, like I said...Peking Duck! YUM

[oregonknl]

Don't make excuses for him Taz... TELL him to adjust !! (Tell him if he doesn't I'm going to come down and kick his ass.... ) JUST KIDDING

 

Maybe....

[sylinchinastill]

That's true- I think that he should try to adapt as well- or at least to try to be nice.

[Mick]

Li and I spent our first five Thanksgivings in China. Not a turkey (at least the kind you eat) to be found anywhere. This year was our second one in the States. Had a great time with great food. It was our first, of course, with our six-month-old Salina.

 

She had Gerber pears with all the trimmings.

[sylinchinastill]

We had a nice Thanksgiving as well. It is the first time we have really celebrated it because in China we never did. My mom and step-dad and little sister came down and stayed with us and my Mom fixed a really great meal. Then we went to the movies and saw "The Incredibles." It was really nice having more of my family around. Sometimes it seems so isolated because it is just the two of us but with them here we felt like a 'family.'

[maiyademama]

That's true- I think that he should try to adapt as well- or at least to try to be nice.

I never said he wasn't nice...I just said that I could tell he wasn't that impressed with the food. He didn't say, "this is bad food" or anything about not liking it. He said it was good, but I could tell he didn't like it since he didn't clean his plate. The next night when I made it in spicy stir-fry, he licked the plate clean. I was commenting on his behavior. He still said "thank you" and acted polite, but I could tell it was not his favorite meal. Of course he should adjust...with time...hopefully he will.

 

And, Kim: I wasn't making excuses for him. I Do understand why he didn't enjoy it and I was just explaining why...just like he has to explain why I don't eat the pig's feet and chicken feet cooked by his mom.

[Orrin]

This was Kellee¡¦s second Thanksgiving here, and she seemed not to be as surprised about the traditional things we do as she was last year when all she could say was ¡§That ¡§chicken¡¨ is too big.¡¨ ¡§We¡¦ll never eat it all.¡¨ At that time she wasn¡¦t aware of exactly how far a 13lb. bird will go. This year, however, she is much better acclimated. She didn¡¦t give me a bunch of noise about the size of the bird, the ingredients for the side dishes, and the bottles of my favorite liquids that I purchased at the state liquor store. She even helped me whip up some homemade cramberry sauce (not too sweet). She¡¦s also become addicted to pumpkin pie with ¡§coolwhip¡¨. She tells me now that she wants to try her hand at making her own pumpkin pie, from scratch, for the Christmas dinner.

[sylinchinastill]

Okay- well, I thought you knew because he told you.