Though I had to work on the morning of Thanksgiving, we were able to spend the afternoon relaxing at a friend's home. My colleague Erin invited us to her apartment for a lovely meal of mashed potatoes, stuffing, and...chicken! That's right, no turkey for us this Turkey Day. The only turkeys in Beijing are at the zoo, since turkeys are not native to China. But all things considered we were happy (and thankful!) to get such a nice American-style meal. We also had pumpkin cake for dessert and apple and caramel slices for an appetizer. Yum! Thank you, Erin, for the delicious meal.
On Saturday we went to Wudaokou, which is a nice little shopping area about two miles away. There is a five-story shopping mall there with lots of ethnic restaurants, including an American restaurant called Grandma's Kitchen. We thought we might be able to get some turkey and dressing, but either there was no Thanksgiving special or we missed it. To tell you the truth, we were a little disappointed with our meal, especially for the price. (Our meal came to about 250 yuan, which is about $35, but we are used to spending just 50 to 100 yuan for a nice meal out.). I guess so many foreigners had told us about Grandma's Kitchen that we had sort of built it up in our minds as this great American restaurant, but let me tell you, if a restaurant in the States served that quality of food, it would be out of business in no time. I think it's just that the Chinese people who eat there don't know any better, and the Americans who eat there are so starved for American style food that they have lower standards. So Grandma's Kitchen was a little disappointing, but there is a Greek restaurant in the same shopping mall that we have already tried and liked, and there is an Indian restaurant that we will sample soon.Of course we are thankful for so many things this year. Number one on the list is our health; I finally seem to be over my cold, which I think is a true miracle given the pollution in this city and the dry climate. And we are really thankful for our living arrangements here in China. We have a really nice apartment that feels like home. Sure, I complain about it being a little small and not having a kitchen to cook in and not being able to get the floors clean and the table that wobbles, but there are so many people with much less in this world, and a lot of them live not far from us. The truth is we are really blessed.
