Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
Okay, I fully realize that Thanksgiving is now around two weeks old. You don't have to rub it in! However, as I pull myself back towards regularly scheduled blog updates - I took a hiatus to cram for the Japanese proficiency exam - I figured it was as good a place as any to begin.
Two weeks ago, Cara and I had a complete Thanksgiving dinner with Japanese guests. I will begin by saying that I cannot claim even 06% of the credit for the resulting feast; it was ALL a result of my friend slaving away at the stove (or should I say our apartment's dual gas burners).
I can only claim sole responsibility for the dramatically over-sized mountain of mashed potatoes present at the meal. Once I began peeling, I sort of fell into a trance and polished off the two bags of spuds in no time.
I figured that our Japanese guests, raised in a nation obsessed with fries, sweet potatoes, and potato salad, would gobble up heaping spoonfuls of my mash. In actuality, I had to take around half of it home. Sadly, mashed potatoes are my least favorite Thanksgiving food.
Ironically, but perhaps expected, the one Thanksgiving food that is near impossible to procure in Japan is turkey. Most Japanese people have never tasted turkey - I think it was a first for all the guests at our dinner (along with roasted pumpkin seeds).
The only turkeys I have seen in Japan are whole, frozen-solid birds that are imported annually from America or New Zealand. Since there is literally zero demand for turkey in Japan, Mitsukoshi (a super high-end department store chain) only stocks around five birds per year. Each frozen turkey costs well over $100 USD.
Lucky for us, our American friend Lindsay (who had just returned to Ehime Prefecture at the time) was able to bring some canned turkey from Costco in America for us. So, all of our guests got to sample authentic American turkey (albeit a strange canned variety that required draining and heavily resembled tuna).
In total, our dinner menu included the following: turkey, stuffing, cranberries, carrots, mashed potatoes, salad, biscuits, pumpkin pie, and apple cider (I'm probably forgetting some things).
The prep for the meal included literally biking a complete kitchen's worth of utensils and ingredients from our apartment complex to the medical school (only about 5-7 minutes away).
Sure Lance Armstrong can win the Tour de France seven consecutive times, but can he ride with a steaming hot cauldron of mashed potatoes in his basket while holding a tupper of simmering maple glazed carrots in his hand?
In the end, our dinner was very fun, very friendly, and very Japanese. I am pleased to know that the tryptophan induced post meal laze exists in Japan the same as it does in America.
Happy Holidays!
B.E.W.
