Asian Thanksgiving

What comes to mind when you think "Thanksgiving dinner"? Some foods may include turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, yams, stuffing, and the list goes on. Thanksgiving dinners always vary of course, depending on the people who you celebrate the holiday with and their preferences. Whenever I did Thanksgiving with my mom's side of the family, my grandmother would cook chicken, shrimp, salmon, Rendang (best curry), yellow rice, fried noodles, and other entrees. My aunt would contribute a delicious Indonesian green "pandan cake" as the dessert. Whenever my family went to church for the Saturday-after- Thanksgiving potluck, there would be a traditional turkey, followed by dozens of dishes that others had brought: white Jasmine rice, chicken, pasta,pie, fruit, and more. I definitely don't think there are set foods that one must incorporate into their Thanksgiving dinner, and that's what makes the meal so special year after year.

This year, my father and I made the Thanksgiving dinner. Usually my mom contributes much of her delicious cooking, but because she was out of town, I took on the challenge to fill in her shoes. My initial feeling was that it was the Thanksgiving holiday - there must be a feast, and the feast must be good. I hadn't thought about preparing the dinner until Thanksgiving day, at around 2:30 in the afternoon. I looked around for ingredients in the pantries and refrigerator; using what we already had in the house, I decided to make sushi, fried noodles like I have seen my mother make, mashed potatoes, and a plate of Shanghai Pak Choi vegetables. For dessert I would make sundaes (I admit that I did desperately try to find a Betty Crocker brownie or cake mix).

I was actually quite lucky that I had so many ingredients to work with. My dad already had cooked white rice, beef with onions, beef curry with potatoes, and Baozi (steamed buns with minced meat/vegetables inside) and the refrigerator had raw eggs, vegetables, butter, milk and potatoes. Even the freezer had a bag of breaded chicken tenderloin, and unopened vanilla ice cream.

When we all sat down for dinner, the final dishes were:

-white rice

- beef curry with sliced potatoes

-cooked beef with onions

- two rolls of sushi containing white rice, beef, breaded chicken tenderloin, scrambled eggs, and Sambal olek sauce

-mashed potatoes from scratch with cheese, milk, butter, and basil

-fried noodles with beef, eggs, chicken, pepper, Sambal olek sauce

-steamed Shanghai Pak Choi veggies

-Baozi

As you can see, there was a theme going on with the beef, chicken, egg, and sauces. And for dessert, my dad had made a plain vanilla cake from a recipe he had "Googled" online. I decided to spread Betty Crocker chocolate frosting on the top to add some more flavor because his cake came out a bit dry and oddly compact. After dinner, I made sundaes for my dad, brother and myself. I crushed peanuts in a plastic bag and sprinkled the pieces on the vanilla ice cream scoops, then added Hershey's chocolate syrup, and rainbow sprinkles.

During this whole experience, I realized how much food a family can have and yet be completely unaware about it. I helped make a feast for three people on such short notice. I am grateful for the food I have, and for this experience; I give thanks.