![\"Thanksgiving](\"http:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/Thanksgiving-guests-300x224.jpg\" "\\"Thanksgiving")
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I was initially ambivalent about having the traditional Thanksgiving feast this year.\u00a0 We haven\u2019t been short on fun and excitement during our stay in Taiwan, which has included several vacation like excursions.\u00a0 Even though setting up house here still\u00a0 definitely presents challenges on a regular basis, there is a sense of living in a travel brochure.\u00a0 I also felt a lack of spirit for the holiday that I attribute to a void of community celebration that one feels in America.\u00a0 Add to that that I\u2019m still regaining strength after surgery and there will be a week long national holiday for Chinese New Year.\u00a0\u00a0 We are still thankful people and say so regularly.\u00a0 Did we really need this holiday in particular?\u00a0 Greg said\u00a0 we should go ahead with it and invite some Taiwanese friends.\u00a0 So, I proceeded to schedule shopping and cooking.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t easy to find a turkey, even though Mom had already told me she had seen them in Costco.\u00a0 I looked and looked when I was there on Monday.\u00a0 Providentially, I ran into my upstairs neighbor while there.\u00a0 She had seen them.\u00a0 Due to the masses of people, even on a non-crowded weekday, she left her cart with me and went to look around.\u00a0 She found a pre-roasted bird, but neither of us wanted to buy it.\u00a0 Finally I spotted a frozen raw turkey on an aisle that she had suggested.\u00a0 The box-packaging was unfamiliar to my eye, so I hadn\u2019t recognized it.\u00a0 I plopped it in the cart with the Christmas gifts and other food I had found.\u00a0 We had the \u2018star of the show\u2019 so we could build around that.<\/p>\n
The next thing to do was make an invitation to our friends Sylvia and Susan, and Susan\u2019s husband.\u00a0 (See picture above:\u00a0 Sylvia on your left, Susan on your right)\u00a0 They are \u2018our realtors\u2019 and support team, but do such a good job making us feel welcome and cared for, that we wanted to say thank you to them.\u00a0 They are fun to be around, too.\u00a0 Their quick acceptance made preparations all that more enjoyable.<\/p>\n
Tuesday was the day to go to ShiDong Market.\u00a0 I wrote about that some in \u201cLoaded Granny Cart.\u201d\u00a0 I found many things for our traditional meal, but not yams or pumpkins that looked enough like what I was used to.\u00a0 When I got back, Jesse made bread mostly by himself.\u00a0 I would use some of that for stuffing.<\/p>\n
Wednesday I made the cranberry sauce, but the rest of the day was too full of doctor\u2019s appointments and Chinese lessons, so I got behind and couldn\u2019t finish my shopping until that evening.\u00a0 Greg went and helped me buy a few more things at Carrefour, a store more like most American supermarkets.\u00a0 I went \u2018out on a limb\u2019 and bought some apples from Japan for making pies.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t even taste them while making the pies since I can\u2019t chew anything yet.\u00a0 However, we still couldn\u2019t find even canned pumpkin and I wanted imported brown sugar.\u00a0 Greg said he would get them Thursday at a small store up the road that specializes in imported groceries.<\/p>\n
After a good night\u2019s sleep, Greg took the kids on a combo run-bike.\u00a0 You can ask for details from them if you want them.\u00a0 They were gone for three hours and came back looking well exercised and invigorated.\u00a0 I had finished baking the rolls.\u00a0 The pie crusts were in progress, with me on a steep learning curve with the higher humidity here.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t panic, though, and all turned out fine.\u00a0 Greg and Carlie went out for the last two ingredients.<\/p>\n
From that point on I had lots of help with the cooking.\u00a0 Carlie and Greg diced vegetables for stuffing, Natalie sliced carrots, Jesse peeled potatoes, the kids all took turns with ongoing clean-up, Greg got things in and out of the oven and sampled the rolls….\u00a0\u00a0 I got a break midday for a while and heated and stretched my jaw.\u00a0 Then it was back to work on the beans, potatoes, and carrots.<\/p>\n
Our guests arrived around 6 PM while Greg was making the gravy and carving the turkey.\u00a0 Susan\u2019s husband wasn\u2019t able to make it due to unexpected obligations.\u00a0 Our hearts were warmed by their enjoyment of their first Thanksgiving meal.\u00a0 Susan said it was like walking into a movie!\u00a0 They expressed particular enjoyment of almost everything, but seemed to especially like the mashed potatoes, turkey, pies, and rolls.\u00a0 Our offer to send home some left-overs was eagerly accepted.\u00a0 Jesse and Natalie packaged pumpkin pie for breakfast, rolls for lunch, enough for Susan\u2019s small family, too.\u00a0 Then we just sat around and visited.<\/p>\n
It was a very pleasant evening of discussing the foods and sharing stories of life.\u00a0 We talked about everything from shopping to religious rituals to giant Taiwanese spiders.\u00a0 Susan seems interested in learning to make bread, so I\u2019m hoping she takes me up on the offer to teach her.\u00a0 It all reinforces that the greatest pleasure in being here is getting to know people that I wouldn\u2019t otherwise meet.\u00a0 One of the things God created us for is to live with and love one another.\u00a0 I like doing that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I was initially ambivalent about having the traditional Thanksgiving feast this year.\u00a0 We haven\u2019t been short on fun and excitement during our stay in Taiwan, which has included several vacation like excursions.\u00a0 Even though setting up house here still\u00a0 definitely presents challenges on a regular basis, there is a sense of living in a travel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}