Thanksgiving Dinner again!

Friday, November 28. Teach two classes this morning, despite having arrived home late last night from Changsha. And some sad news from home: my dear friend Alberta died last Saturday (11/22). I was afraid that would happen while I was away. Eleanor and David will go to the funeral today. These are the moments when I wish I were home.

Morning: big preparations for dinner tonight. Can't believe how many vegetables Tiffany has chopped up! I cut up and cook the apples but that's my major contribution for the day.

Almost disaster: Tiffany and David's gas stops working in the middle of Tiffany's shower so she comes over to my apartment to finish her shower. (We have gas-fired hot water and gas cook tops in our apartments.) David carries over the chicken that she has already started to cook so it can continue bubbling along over here. Tiffany adds carrots, onions and something green. David goes out to find batteries for the gas meter and that seems to solve the problem. Disaster averted!

The rest of the crew arrives in the afternoon: Ashley, Kelly, Ryan, Bridget, Vinny, Suzanne, Caroline and Maggie. Everyone traipses outside for football, frisbee and other games except for me. I take a nap! (I woke up this morning feeling as though I might be getting another cold. If so, I will be livid!)

Tiffany and David's apartment is "cooking central" with my two burners taking the overflow! We carry their table and chairs over to my apartment, manage to come up with 11 chairs or stools to sit on, and I set the table and decorate it with flowers that Tiffany has picked and some autumn leaves that Ashley has brought. We also have three little candles that one of Tiffany's students gave her.

A fabulous dinner in the evening: chicken with dumplings, "stuffing," green bean cassarole, a "mystery" dish (something that we thought was sweet potatoes but turned out to be some kind of fruit), mashed potatoes, and rolls. Tiffany is amazing - what she is able to turn out with what is available in the Chinese supermarkets and in a primitive kitchen (no oven, virtually no counterspace, two gas burners (four, if you count the two in my apt), limited cooking equipment and a microwave!).

After dinner, a break for a hilarious round of Apples to Apples, which Vinny wins hands-down. Then Tiffany fries up the dough that normally one would use to make dumplings, sprinkles each little circle with cinnamon and sugar, and we put the cooked apples on them. Fantastic! Better than apple pie. :) In addition, we have "watermelon vodka" (that would be slices of watermelon with a little vodka sprinkled on them!) as well as a vodka fruit punch that Ryan has concocted, and it is terrific. Maybe that will chase my cold away!

Definitely a Thanksgiving to remember.