Building a Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday. I think that the Canadians copy it in spirit, but most people don't bother. So within an international community, Thanksgiving is a nothing holiday. Chinese people don't roast whole turkeys - even if they wanted to, the birds won't fit in the small ovens. The vegetables used in the Thanksgiving were those coming to harvest in the northeastern United States in the fall. Few of those same vegetables grow in China, and so the entire meal comes at a premium.

Certain hotels and restaurants will serve a Thanksgiving meal next Thursday. For about $50USD per person, we could go to a restaurant and enjoy a chef cooked Thanksgiving meal. We took this approach last year, and left feeling deeply dispirited. Thanksgiving is not about eating the correct food. Thanksgiving is about the people who share that food with you, and the more homecooking the better.

So this year, we have invited some of our closest American friends in Shanghai to our home for a Thanksgiving potluck. We have since been invited to a neighbor's home for another Thanksgiving potluck. Here's the rundown:

Turkey:
This one is make or break. Import groceries do sell frozen turkeys this month and next. These will be full-sized Butterball turkeys, imported from the United States. Many people do not have ovens in their homes at all, and most ovens are too small to fit a large bird. The latter is true of our home, so we'll take the easy route. We're purchasing a pre-cooked turkey. He'll be delivered to our hot to our home, with his juices cooked up into gravy on the side.

Stuffing:
Since we're not making the bird, we can't make traditional stuffing, either. The import stores sell Stove Top, but are not carrying it in large portions. Erin is making the stuffing, and she's been buying a box of Stove Top every time she goes to the store.

Green Bean Casserole:
Erin's on the Green Bean Casserole, too. She's been watching for French's Fried Onions every time she picks up a box of Stove Top. No luck. She did a quick internet search to find a replacement, and learned that Green Bean Casserole comes in more than one variety. Who knew that you could prepare Green Beans with anything besides Campbell's Cream of Mushroom and French's Fried Onions?

Cranberries:
I volunteered the cranberries for our neighbor's potluck. It seems that Chinese people don't eat cranberries. Beyond that, it seems that expats don't really eat cranberries either. I was getting nervous, having scanned the frozen, fresh and canned fruit shelves of every import grocer in town. As luck would have it, I scanned those shelves too soon. Yesterday, row upon row of jellied cranberries showed up at the import grocer. And 3 boxes of frozen cranberries. I bought them all.

Sweet Potatoes:
Those have been nixed from our menu. Becca signed up for those, but can't find the traditional orange potatoes we like to candy in the states. The only sweet potatoes around are small - the size of fingerling potatoes. They're yellow on the inside and quite starchy. They're no candied yams, and so will be absent from our table this year.

Rolls:
We've learned that good bread only comes from a friend's oven. Morgan has taught her ayi to bake a loaf of bread for their family once a week. Morgan signed up for the rolls, and I imagine that her ayi will spend next week hard at work kneading and raising those little balls of dough.

Corn:
This one should be simple. They sell it frozen and canned. Can't go wrong.

Pie:
In my family home growing up, Thanksgiving wasn't about the turkey. It was about the pie. My mom made all of the traditional fixings, and she prepared them fine. But she's always fix at least 3 pies - and this for a family of 5. She rolled out her own crusts, made from the big vat of lard she brought from her family farm until I was half grown. Served with real whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, the end of the meal was always the highlight. Taking on the family tradition, I'm making pies for both meals. On the menu - apple pie, pumpkin pie and chocolate creme pie. But I readily admit that I am not my mother. I have never learned to make that perfect, flaky pie crust. After asking around, I discovered a French brand of refrigerated pie crust which passed muster in a trial chocolate creme pie last night. So we've got refrigerated pie crust. We've got chocolate pie filling, made entirely from scratch. We've got plenty of apples, so that one will be simple. All I thought we needed for the pumpkin pie was a can of pie filling. Grabbed one at the store, flipped to the back, and noticed that the recipe calls for pie filling, 2 eggs, and 1 can of evaporated milk.

Nuts.

The man at the import store spoke no English, so I showed him the back of the can. They display quite clearly a neat little picture of a can of Nestle Evaporated Milk.

Mei you, he said. I don't have it.

How can you not have it? I replied. You must have it.

Mei you, he said.

No, this is silly. I retorted. How can you sell the pumpkin pie filling without the evaporated milk? One doesn't work without the other. I may not have been as calm as I sound here.

This young man of amazing patience walked me to the other side of the store, where, in fact, a label reading EVAPORATED MILK sat humbly below an empty shelf. Mei you, he said.

Hmm, I replied. What to do, I thought.

No problem, the man seemed to say. We have loads of milk. He brought me to the UHT milk section - that is, the milk prepared for a long shelf life. You niunai. We have milk.

Oh, no. This is milk. I need evaporated milk. I had certainly regained my composure by this time, as he was so helpful. He made an effort to convince me that the two were the same, but I would not fall for this little trick.

When will you have evaporated milk? I asked. And yes, I did ask in Chinese. He made an extremely long phone call, and returned with a sheet of paper where he had written 11/25. Two days before Thanksgiving, the only import store in town expects a shipment of evaporated milk.

I left shaking my head.

But have no fear. Morgan's (of the homemade rolls) husband is in Japan with the armed forces this week. He will visit the US military commissary tomorrow, and will return to Shanghai this Saturday with 4 cans of evaporated milk.