Wow, what a turkey! It looks huge in the picture but actually its only a 12 pounder. It's not easy to get turkeys in China, but we can't let November go by without one, so we go to the local western food shop and buy an imported one for 240 Chinese Yuan, or $35. It's expensive but it's worth it. Old traditions die hard. By early November the taste buds start gearing up for turkey and we just have to have it.

The first year we were here we cooked a chicken. Ovens are not common equipment in the Chinese kitchen. They have not been bakers, traditionally. So our first year here we bought a small toaster oven that could accomodate a chicken nicely. So chicken sufficed for Thanksgivng that year. But the following year I was determined to find an electric oven big enough for a real turkey. Well, I searched high and low. Store after store had only little toaster ovens like I already had. But I wasn't giving up until I went to every department store I knew of. At last, I found it. It was the floor model, but it was a nice sized convection oven. I still wasn't quite sure if a whole turkey would fit so I went down to the store and got the turkey and brought it with me to make sure. Ahhh. Success at last. It was just big enough with about an inch of head space at the top.

Well, since then we have successfully cooked a turky or two every year. However, I have to make sure the turkey doesn't exceed 12 pounds. One year it was a bit too big and we had to cut it in half!

This year we invited some of our closest student-friends. We had a lot of fun. They were amazed at the size of the bird and they loved the gravy. They hadn't had it before and had many questions. What is this? How do you make it? And they poured it all over everything on the plate. In the past we have found that our Chinese friends are not much impressed with Thanksgivng dinner. Chinese food is generally a little more complex, and meat is rarely eaten plain without some sauce or vegetables to accompany it. But these young friends seemed to enjoy themselves, and we enjoyed their company. It was just like having a big family over.