Survive Thanksgiving

Survive

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Of course I overate. It's one of the reasons why you give thanks--for abundance :). Thanksgiving is almost as overwhelming as a Chinese 10 course celebration banquet. I have had lots of practice with the latter so surviving Thanksgiving is do-able, even as I get older and my supposedly wildly out-of-control metabolism has slowed down just a tad.

Just to make you groan out loud, here is the usual Chinese 10-course celebration dinner. There are variations but they consist about the same kinds of food because each one symbolizes abundance of some sort in life. You usually have ten course dinners for weddings, big birthdays, New Years, in fact, every darn time you feel like it ;-).

In a banquet, each dish is served one at a time. It's about bounteousness, the host's generosity and prosperity, and the joy of celebration. So everything is over the board. And you're supposed to eat every dish to show your enthusiasm for the host's choices. Heh.

1) A cold course.

2) Now something hot. Shark's Fin's soup (and the wealthier you are, the more expensive kind of sharks' fin. Some goes for $800 a lb!) The Chinese believe shark's fin promotes good health, esp. to the sexual libido.

3) Cantonese Fried Rice (a lightly sauted version of the American weird stuff that you get in the Chinese restaurants here, LOL. It has very little meat and looks really pretty with green peas and tiny snippets of red roast pork).

4) Decorative dish, with lots of samples of different meats--shrimp, lobster, chicken. Very pretty to look at.

5) Steamed fish. It's always fun to watch a good waiter cut the fish into various portions, expertly removing bone and yucky parts. It's also always fun to watch the faces of Americans (and other white people, LOL) who can't believe there is a fish head with its eyes intact watching back at you. The fish head is pointed at the guest of honor. Yes, yes, we serve the fish whole, folks. I remember bringing a boyfriend to one of these dinners once and he must have repeatedly mumbled "You guys eat the fish head?" a hundred times through the whole meal. Poor man. Did NOT Get the LOW family stamp of approval. I wonder whether he'd ever dated another Asian girl? ;-)

When my family flew from all over the world for a celebration in Las Vegas one year, we were at one of the top Asian restaurants at the hotel. At this point, it's been years since I've sat at a ten-course banquet, so my mouth had become Americanized.

When I found out that the fish alone cost $800 I made the mistake of looking shocked and joking to the waiter, "What, is this fish extinct? Are we eating the last one from the ocean?" and got a might smack from my mother sitting next to me.

So...the black sheep of the family still retained her reputation. Heh.

6) and 7) Some kind of vege dish and a spicy tofu (beancurd) dish. You will notice that each dish contrast in taste and texture as they are being served one after another. Green also means $$$, so lots of green is good.

8) Meat dish. Depending on celebration. For a special event like the 1st, ot 50th or 80th or 90th birthdays, sometimes the family orders roasted baby pig. Yes, you get the WHOLE pic on this tray, roasted and glazed to perfection, arranged with ribbons and fruits. I know it sounds bizarre to some of you.

This isn't a cheap dish and it has to be ordered months ahead. A family which is having a real HUGE celebration, such as getting a whole extended family together for this event, might have 10-20 tables and a roasted baby pig for each = beaucoup $$$.

More commonly, it's a chicken dish. Or duck.

9) Are you burping yet? Because here comes the noodles, the length of which means long life.

10) I can't remember! Well, would you at this point? Burp. Oh yeah, it's time for sweets. Chinese-flavored icecream, or Chinese dessert that's rich and sweet.

So don't you guys complain about overeating at Thanksgiving! You have a few thousand more years to refine your banquet!

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