Thanksgiving Dinner in BJ? Menu Suggestions, please.

[magores]

I just moved into a new apartment.

I'm having a small housewarming party with a few friends. They're Chinese. Party is close to the date of US Thanksgiving. I'd like to make a (semi) traditional Turkey-Day meal, but...

BJ doesn't have things like turkey, and I don't eat four-legged meat (pig, cow, sheep)

Any suggestions?

FWIW...

-I can cook, and I like to do so.

-I have a toaster oven

-Access to Carrefour and Jenny Lou's isn't an issue.

---

For the big batch of Chinese coworkers and other friends that will come at a later date, I'm thinking of making a huge pot of chicken noodle soup.

What goes good with that? I usually eat it by itself when its just me.

[imron]

Beijing does have turkeys, I've bought them before from Jenny Lou's for Christmas. But I'm not sure you'd be able to roast one in a toaster oven

[adrianlondon]

I had a fantastic Thanksgiving meal (my first ever actually, as we don't do those in the UK) in Beijing last November. It's definitely possible to get turkeys but you'll need to go to one of the Chaoyang yuppy expat importer places (as mentioned above) and order in advance.

You have an oven, right?

I had Peking Duck (Beijing Kaoya) for my Christmas dinner.

[fireball9261]

I think a whole Chicken or Duck dish instead of Turkey. Baked sweet potato as side dish. Stirred fried long beans or string beans and corns on the cob for vegetables. Chinese seaseme bread or green onion pancakes instead of rolls. I think you will have a menu sort of like the Thanksgiving menu but close to the Chinese taste.

I do think Chicken noodle soup for a party for your Chinese friends and co-workers would not be good, especially for such an important American holiday. Soups are not serious party foods. You got to have something a bit more formal than that.

I have ordered my Turkey and my pies. My husband had also got his vacation approved to help me cook the Thanksgiving dinner. It's so.....convenient to live in U.S. -- Not! I am really jealoused that you can have the proper Peking Duck there. I want my Peking duck, NOT the Turkey!!!

Good luck on your party. I think you can probably cook most of my suggestions either on the stove or in the toast oven. The rest (green onion pancakes or seaseme bread) are not that expensive to buy from food vendors.

[bottledpoetry]

you should bust out a pumpkin pie It doesn't require any real baking - you could do a batch of personal sized ones in a toaster oven Or creme brulee would be a really nice holiday dessert.

Since you can't get your hands on some turkey, why not go all out and do a peking duck and rice stuffing? My family friends make that at thanksgiving, and it's sooo incrediblely good. With garlic mashed potatoes and a good steakhouse style spinach salad <3 mmm...

Chicken soup is little weird for thanksgiving. Maybe a chicken broccoli pasta instead?

[owshawng]

Go for pumpkin pie. I would think stove top stuffing would be available at an import place.

make a pigeon or duck if you can't get turkey. Don't forget yams and cranberry sauce

[hunxueer]

tofurkey anyone? this is the land of tofu after all. though i've never made one so i have no idea how one would go about it. i'm sure you can find recipes online

[bottledpoetry]

tofu cheesecake. I dare you.

[owshawng]

tofurkey? don't do it. My mother made that one year and it was disgusting. Went right in the garbage. Fortunately she had a backup plan and we had turkey breast (she was planning on serving the turkey breast and the tofurkey instead of a whole turkey)

[magores]

Some decent suggestions. Thank you.

I'm going to stay away from the Peking Duck. Part of the point is "Western" food.

I think I may go for the roast chicken. I used to make Cornish Game Hens for myself when I lived alone, and far from family, in the US. Chicken/Game Hen/Pigeon... Close enough.

If you're curious, here's what I'm thinking.....

Appetizers....

-Cheese and crackers

-Some veggies with dressing

Dinner...

-Bread and butter

-Roast chicken

-cranberry sauce

-Stuffing

-Potatoes (baked, roasted w/the chickens, or mashed - Haven't decided yet)

-Maybe sweet potatoes (I don't like them personally, but I can eat them in the holiday spirit)

-Green veggies (probably green beans), and corn (popular veggie in China it seems)

-Black olives and deviled eggs (these are requirements for anything festive in my family)

-(Maybe shrimp stuffed mushrooms - I haven't looked to see if mushrooms are available right now. But if they are, I'll definitely make. back in the US, no one cared if I showed up, as long as these were there )

Dessert...

-Pumpkin pie (if I can find premade, or other easy version)

-or Ice cream cake

-or ice cream

Sound reasonable to you all?

BTW... the chicken noodle soup idea isn't a T-giving thing. It's just an idea I have for feeding 12 co-workers that want to come check out the place.

I figure, I can make a huge pot of chicken noodle soup. It's good for the soul, it's good when its cold, it's good if you have a cold, and my version is pretty thick... almost like a stew.. so its hearty/filling.

[fireball9261]

Your menu sounds good, so could we also come to try it out?

[magores]

More the merrier

[trien27]

Chinese people don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Beijing. Just ask your co-workers what they don't eat. Some foods that Americans eat are not made in China. Some Asians are allergic to things as simple as milk and some are lactose intolerant? Just make sure you have a list of what they cannot eat. For the Tofurkey: Chengdu [capital of Sichuan/Szechwan province] is the land of Tofu[or Dofu = bean curd in English], not in Beijing, so forget it. Someone has suggested Peking Duck [aka Beijing kao ya].

[hunxueer]

what's with the hostility?

[imron]

Chinese people don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Beijing.

I think that's the whole point.

Tofu[or Dofu = bean curd in English]

I don't know about other native English speakers, but I've always called it Tofu, and have only really heard it called bean curd in China.

[cdn_in_bj]

Some Asians are allergic to things as simple as milk and some are lactose intolerant?

Actually, that's a very good point - the majority of Chinese (over 90%) are lactose-intolerant (乳糖不耐症) to various degrees - ranging from a bit of gas to diarrhea. So you may want to go easy on the milk and cheese. What's surprising to me is that lactose-free milk seems to be non-existant here. Although, I did see a commercial on TV this weekend for a type of milk that seems to be just that.

[muyongshi]

I don't know about other native English speakers, but I've always called it Tofu, and have only really heard it called bean curd in China.

I always say Tofu too and have only heard that until one day I asked someone what it really was (This was in my teens) and the said "bean curd" giving me an idea of what it was made from. But we call it tofu.