An Expat Thanksgiving Dinner Experience
An Expat Thanksgiving Dinner Experience
A Chinese doctor friend invited me to accompany him to a special Thanksgiving Dinner for expatriates living here that he had attended previously at the exclusive 5-star Intercontinental Hotel in downtown Chongqinq. I decided to go for a few reasons, notwithstanding the fact that I had to buy my own ticket. Firstly, I thought it would be an opportunity to meet other expats and maybe even one from Canada or even Toronto. Secondly, I had stayed at that hotel a few times around a decade ago, having flown from Zhengzhou to meet and court my wife so I knew that the food they served was fantastic, besides the fact that I had not eaten turkey since I've been here. Whenever I've with or without my wife been invited to a dinner or banquet here I never had to pay for myself, because the tab was always picked up by my host. Anyway, the cost was the equivalent of about US$40 which is pretty expensive here but I figured it was worth it. I declined buying the ticket for twice that amount that would have entitled me to unlimited beer and wine because I've developed a propensity to suffer from gout, which can be caused by booze, and anyone who has experienced gout will give up anything to prevent it.
He picked me up and because it was Friday rush hour it took two hours to get there. The whole way there and back he played a CD he had of C&W and hits of the 50s, like Ring of Fire, Only You, Stand by Me, The Great Pretender, Twilight Time, etc. which he explained to me helped him with his English pronunciation. For a while I didn't mind listening to that music that I have not heard for many years but after about the third or fourth time it did get a little irritating. As we finally approached downtown we passed by a lit up building I had photographed about 10 years ago from a boat in the river (and posted on NT as part of a photo-essay on Chongqing at night) so I took this photo as we drove by.
We finally arrived at the hotel, parked the car underneath and went out the wrong door so we had to walk back through the pedestrian mall, where I took these photos.
Finally we reached the front door of the Hotel. We went up to the 11th floor to the banquet room where we got our table number, and sat and waited for the banquet doors to open while the imbibers were happily getting drunk.
While I was sitting there this guy was walking around taking a video of the attendees, and aimed his camera at me which prompted me to take my camera out of my pocket and aim it at him, and that made him go away.
The doors finally open and we're among the first to walk in to our table. We then went to the buffet with our plates. I asked the chef to cut me some dark meat. He had no idea what I was talking about so I had to settle with white meat doused in turkey gravy, bread stuffing with mushroom and herbs, a thick incredible cranberry sauce, and then took some roasted potato chunks and carrots, penne in molten cheese which when picked it up I could have used a scissors to cut the stretchy cheese. (One of my clients in Toronto had a pretty famous French restaurant and he served his French onion soup with molten cheese and a pair of scissors.) brussels sprouts, roasted button mushrooms and green beans all of which filled my plate. As it happens, the turkey breast meat was so tender it could be cut with a fork. The room was still a bit empty although eventualy there were about 160 guests.
I was so anxious to eat some turkey I totally forgot the appetizer table at the side, so on my second trip with a fresh plate I took some smoked salmon and a mixed salad. The appetizers were in the middle of the side tables that had desserts on the ends.
Having finished the appetizers I went back to look for my desired dark meat at the other end of the main course table where the chef still didn't understand, shoved a couple of slices of white on my plate and tried to put some ham slices on as well, but I waved off the ham because I had made myself a ham and cheese omelette for breakfast (a double sin - mixing dairy with forbidden meat - forgive me, Enoch). So when I pointed to the turkey leg he finally got the point and I got my dark meat. This time I added to my plate mashed potatoes that I soaked in turkey gravy and some kind of pasta balls in cream sauce that was really a treat. Having then starting to feel kind of full, but wanting to get to the desserts, I wandered over to the other dessert table and filled my plate with apple pie, small decorated cakes with strawberries, and from the ice cream wagon a scoop each of pistachio and chocolate walnut.
The tables sat 10, and at our table was a guy from Idaho with a gorgeous Chinese wife who sat next to me, A Brit whose wife was a Russian Israeli, and the other 4 were a Russian guy with his Chinese wife and kids. Everyone spoke English except the gorgeous Chinese woman next to me...
There seemed to be a lot of Russians there. Eventually I left the table and found two beautiful young Russian women who were left alone at their table so I joined them - they spoke perfect English - and I really enjoyed our conversation. They were working as kindergarten teachers while studying Chinese part time. All the Russians were friendly with me, maybe because I told them (truthfully) that my father was from Russia and my mother from Kiev in the Ukraine. They said that made me half-Russian even though I was born in Canada.
As we finally left at about 10 p.m. we walked past this incredible wall on the way out of the hotel.
Thank heaven it only took an hour to get home. I couldn't listen to that music much longer - even with a full stomach.
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Hope everyone had as enjoyable a Thanksgiving dinner as I did.
Sounds like you had a great time, Buzz..
We did as well but no Russians at our table.
Lots of Russians, but I think I was the only Canadian. It could be because Canadian Thanksgiving is about a month earlier so the crops have to be harvested sooner.
Wow Buzz. Thanks for sharing your Thanksgiving day experience. The food sounded delish and the pictures made my mouth water.
I think I ate enough to last me until next Thanksgiving.
All that talk about Turkey, Stuffing, and Cranberry Sauce has made me hungry again, I guess it's time to eat some more Leftovers. Did the Hotel let you take any leftovers home?
Although it is considered entirely acceptable among the Chinese to take home leftovers (after all, the customer paid for it, did they not, so is it not theirs to take home?), in this case the attendees were mostly expats, and perhaps the Chinese ones reticent to do so among so many who do not normally do so. Personally, I was sorely tempted to take home samples for my wife, but then I have become quite used to Chinese custom and tradition. On the other hand, there were still quite a few people remaining when we left, so it's not impossible that the final remaining people might not have felt embarrassed for doing it.
Thanks for sharing your Thanksgiving meal with us, Buzz. The food and its presentation look wonderful.
"Bookaychee" (You're welcome) They WERE wonderful.
That looks like a great feast
It sure was.
Didn't your wife go ?
I had never been to that dinner before, and the person who took me did not take his wife, and of course my wife is not an expat, this being her "hukou" (her city of birth and citizenship) so I did not think I should. However, having experienced it, and seeing that people did bring their spouses, I regret not taking her, especially since it is our tenth anniversary in less than two weeks and it would have been the perfect place to celebrate it as that was the very hotel in which we first met, so if I go next year I certainly will take her and we will check in for the night.
Looks like a fantastic meal and sounds like wonderful evening. The wall is beautiful.
It was a pretty big change from my everyday life, but this Wednesday my wife's brother is giving a big party for my mother-in-law's birthday so I'm looking forward to a really special Chinese meal in a good restaurant. I have always loved Chinese food, and ever since I was a little child I ate Chinese food at least once a week, until I came here, and then almost always. If any foreigners came here and didn't like Chinese food they would be wise to live next to a McDonald's.
Well, isn't it true that in China Chinese food is just called food?
Of course. LOL
That would almost be worth a special trip to China Buzz. The really great pictures made me hungry too.
If your friend uses C&W to learn English pronunciation, he's going to end up speaking English with a Southern accent that you can cut with a knife. That's guaranteed to attract the attention of a lot of young ladies (look how well it worked for Elvis).
LOL. It's hard to detect an accent when C&W is sung, and besides he's married to a very attractive woman and they have a really cute 6 year old daughter.
It looks delicious, Buzz. I'm glad you finally got your dark meat.
It was ironic, perhaps, that the white meat was actually more tasty, tender and juicy than the dark meat - I had always previously thought that the dark meat was better.
I prefer the light meat, but I agree, the dark meat usually is more juicy. Maybe we've been preparing it wrong in the US and Canada?
Or possibly the chef was really really good. When cooking a turkey, even a good cook has a tendency to make the breast a bit dry.
Reminds me of my last job before retirement. The company scored the standardized tests that most States give these days. One of the questions involved the odds of getting a certain type of drink with a certain type of sandwich by random choice (3 sandwiches x 4 drinks = a one 1 in 12 chance of getting any particular drink with any particular sandwich). Naturally one of the sandwiches was turkey and, over the three days that we did that question, I must have read the problem 10,000 times. By the time it was finished, I absolutely HAD to have a turkey sandwich. My wife was accommodating and cooked up a turkey breast, so I brought in sandwiches for everyone in our pod.
That could be.
Since I like light meat, and don't have to cook for a lot of people (and they also all like light meat), I usually just to a turkey breast. My parents are of the "cook it until it's shoe leather (for meat) or mush (for veggies)" generation, so turkey that's a bit dry doesn't bother me. That's what gravy is for.
Odd how reading something like those test questions can start up a craving. Buzz's description of the desserts have me craving strawberries.
LOL. Imagine what it's been like for me to have to do without turkey for 13 years. Although I have seen frozen turkeys sold at Thanksgiving time at the big Metro box stores that sell imported goods and foods, no apartments here have an oven - only stove tops. I bought a toaster oven, but it's too small to cook a turkey. I suppose I could buy a whole frozen turkey when they sell them, thaw it and cut it up, but I worry about thawing and refreezing turkey meat. But then the freezer drawers in an apartment fridge are not big enough anyway.
I've heard that after cutting the turkey you should boil the stock and then drizzle it over the cut turkey. It will soak up the juice of the stock and re hydrate the meat (for lack of a better term). Of course I was told this hours AFTER we ate the turkey.....
I'm definitely going to try that trick the next time I cook a turkey or chicken.
Have you considered frying a whole turkey? It is delicious, easy to do, and much faster than cooking in an oven.
LOL. I love strawberries.
I assume it's necessary to slice up the turkey before frying it. I could try to do that if there are a lot of people over for dinner, because otherwise we would have to freeze too much that is left over. However since I like fried chicken there should be no reason to not like fried turkey.
No. There are turkey friers that are designed to handle a whole (small) bird. It's deep-fried in peanut oil, without breading.
Just be sure to do it outside, and well away from anything flammable. And have a fire extinguisher handy.
You fry a whole turkey in peanut oil at about 350 degrees. Do it outdoors only! Tip---put water in your big pot and then your turkey in so you can see what level to put your oil at without overflowing the pot, or you might start a fire. I personally like to leave about 5-6 inches leeway. I use a stand for the turkey, and put the turkey on it with the ass end up. Usually you have a hook you can lower the turkey into the oil with and take it out with.
Some people choose to inject turkeys, usually with some kind of mix like Louisiana Hot Sauce and butter, but it tends to turn the meat pink and people will think it is raw. Put seasoning all over your turkey, make sure neckbone and giblets are removed, and turkey is COMPLETELY thawed. Dry turkey off before seasoning.
The breast does not get dried out, and the dark meat is delicious! When you fry it, the juices are sealed in.
Cook about 3 1/2 minutes per pound. You can always freeze the cooked meat you and your guests don't finish.
Impeccable timing, huh?
Nope. You can get deep fryers that are made for whole turkeys. You have to be careful, though, to not over fill them with oil. They can catch on fire if they are overfilled and should only be used outside. The turkey ends up tasting great.
One of the guys that lives around here, smokes whole turkeys. Takes him a couple of weeks in the smoker but they taste fantastic, sorta like smoked fish but a bit milder and very tender and moist.
Thanks for that advice but we have so many appliances we have nowhere to put them, so I think if I do it I'll try to cut it up and deep fry it a little at a time in a cooker pot - we have one that looks like this:
I don't have a turkey fryer, either. I just know that they've become pretty common here, and everyone raves about the turkey they turn out. I haven't had it, myself.
I hope I can just do it in an electric cooker pot (as in the picture) a little at a time. If so, if METRO still has any frozen turkeys left next week when we plan to go shopping there I'll buy one and experiment.
Might just want to buy a small breast to start with and see how it works.
I have never cooked one in a small pot, or cut up.
I'm no expert, but I usually cook around 40-50 turkeys at Thanksgiving and about 20 at Christmas for my work.
been doing it for almost 20 years, but I might try frying a smaller portion. Sounds interesting, but if it is boneless, it won't take very long at all to cook in a fryer. Maybe around 4-5 minutes, I suppose.
Don't know if I can buy anything but a whole one, but I could experiment with chicken breasts first. I assume the results should be about the same. The Chinese use cleavers to cut up meat, fowl and fish into parts INCLUDING the bones, which is why I broke a few teeth here. Since then I've been more careful about biting into a piece of meat, fowl or fish.
I would caution against cooking breasts without skin if you are frying them. Otherwise they'll dry out fast. Bone-in chicken breasts with skin should work the same though. Remember if you buy different parts that the dark meat takes usually around 2-3 minutes longer to cook than white meat. That crispy skin with salt and pepper on it is so good! Bad for you, but at my age I don't care anymore about indulging myself!
LOL. Me too. When Beijing duck is properly cooked the skin is crispy and delicious. Chickens and ducks are pretty common here, but the regular butchers or even supermarkets never have turkeys or geese. In fact I've never seen goose being sold anywhere, although there are lots of wild geese so I assume they must be raised for market. We do buy goose eggs from time to time, they're a lot bigger than chicken and duck eggs. We also buy small bird eggs that are only about one inch long but I don't know what bird they're from - pheasants, maybe?
I have had duck a few times, and like it a lot. Once I had it and it was pretty greasy, though, but that was more on the cook. When I cook our turkey at work for my house, I usually cut it up at work and always have to fight everyone off for the skin!
I don't know anything about eggs, really. Don't think I have ever had anything but quail or chicken. Quaill eggs are really small.
Have you ever had a turducken?
Maybe the little ones I described were Quail eggs - I really don't know.
Had no idea what that was - just looked it up, and its sounds and looks delicious. I doubt that I could find a restaurant here that makes and serves it.
The one I got to try was stuffed with an Andouille sausage dressing.
Tasty stuff!
I forgot to mention in my first post that the photos are great and the food looks scrumptious.
LOL. I forgive you.
Good looking spread there Buzz. Thanks for sharing the meal and the story to go along with it.
Interesting your Mom came from Kiev. Those pictures of Julia I shared in Mac article, were taken in a Kiev hotel room, when we had to get some of her University paperwork. (she is from one of those nasty Russian speaking regions in the south on the river...shhhh)
Hi Buzz,
Well, you know the old saying, better late than never.. so here I am!
It sounds like you had a wonderful ex pat Thanksgiving. The food looked plentiful and it seemed that you enjoyed the company of your table. You still even notice a pretty lady when she is in your presence
Great photos of your event. It felt as if I was there.
Glad you were able to celebrate our tradition (yours is earlier), and share it with us!
The day I stop enjoying looking at a pretty woman is the day you may as well lower me into my grave.
Wow, Buzz, just found this and, read the story, it made me hungry again for Thanksgiving, the pictures looked great and, the food in them made me wish I could walk into them and, join you at a table. The watermelon bowls looked like they had some tasty melon in them and, the ice carving looked great, they really went all out. I'm glad you had fun and, maybe if you found some different C&W music for your friend it wouldn't be so bad next time. Just saying.
I told you on your Thanksgiving article that I would do this article once I attended that dinner.
I saw it on my article and, decided to come a huntin', I'm glad I did. Sometimes when I go looking for something, I can't find it, that's why I stated that I had found it. It's a wonderful article and, to tell you the truth, you looked like you were ready to eat the whole buffet in that picture, I think that you could have put a bib on and sat right at the serving table, couldn't you?
Absolutely! I tried, but failed, to eat everything.
LMFAO, I can picture a rolley poley Buzz being wheeled out of the hotel.
Haha That's one way to do it.
One thing I don't like is those long strands of cheese. Nothing like trying to eat something and it grows tentacles. But I am not a big cheese fan.
Thanks Buzz, nice pics and recount of the night.
I'm a cheese lover, and the Chinese know nothing about cheese. The only cheese they know is processed slices and I'm sure that's only because they discovered McDonald's cheeseburgers. I have to go to a huge German-owned big box store called METRO that imports foods from around the world to get my selection of cheeses, like aged cheddar, brie, Parmesan, Camembert, Danish blue (My favourite cheese is Stilton but they don't carry it).
Limburger cheese? For some reason that was my dad's favorite.
Tragic.
No Limburger, sorry.
Yes Sandy, sad but true.
That's Ok, that was dad's favorite, me I'm more of a sharp cheddar or, Swiss person, depends on the sandwich or, how I'm using it.
Thankfully I'm able to get good famous brand sharp aged cheddar at the METRO store, my second most favourite cheese.
I like it in Tuna Casserole, Mac and, Cheese and, Grilled Cheese sandwiches.
Great story, Buzz! Now I'm hungry again.
I love that wall. Is it wood with gold paint? What is it constructed from?
I don't know - I never touched it.
Well.....touch it! It's a very interesting piece of art, IMO
Okay, I will if I get back there next year for the dinner.
Bossy ain't she?
It's one of my super powers
And, you're so good at it. Luv ya.
Looks delicious and sounds like a wonderful outing! I did the family thing-my brother is the Vice Commadore of the local yacht club he and his wife belong to. The place is shut down, so we had 3 generations of family (Mom is in the hospital, so we didn't have a 4th generation) there. We all made various things-my nephew and his wife (she is a wonderful cook) made 2 Turkeys with the fixings. She also made several desserts....and since this starts the annual time of dietary anarchy, I had a couple of them. I made the green bean casserole (though I use cheese, wild onions and garlic in mine) and eveyone contributed in soem way, we also shuttled peopel over to visit mom throughout the day and bring her a little food for the tasting.....it was a memorable holiday.
Your green bean casserole sounds like something I would really enjoy eating.