We had a great Thanksgiving Day, celebrating with many other fellow-workers. My friend Barbara is my guest blogger for this post! You won't want to miss her story "behind the scenes" at our Thanksgiving Meal. It's hilarious!
Last week a friend and I had the privilege of cooking Thanksgiving dinner for 120 Americans.... In the simple kitchen of a hotel two hours outside of our city. Nine turkeys were ordered from a local importer and baked prior to the gathering along with plenty of pecan and pumpkin desserts – pecans thanks to some care packages from the US, local squash was boiled and mashed to substitute for cans of pumpkin. Two gallons of celery, sage (brought in my suitcase last year), onions and parsley were cooked and frozen ahead of time along with pan after pan of corn bread in preparation for making dressing. But, even all this work done in advance did not prepare me for cooking in the hotel kitchen! My friend and I have promised to never speak about the hotel kitchen’s cleanliness (um… lack of cleanliness…) with another person. So, I won’t even mention all of the living creatures we encountered. Nor will I mention the fact that the kitchen did not have a single wash rag or towel. I won’t even mention that the same sink of dirty brown water (straight from the river??) was used all day long to “wash” dishes from breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner for more than 300 hotel guests….. Let’s just say, the entire experience was a cultural experience and was not for the faint of heart! (Note to self…. Give family an extra dose or two of de-worming medicine ASAP!) The kitchen equipment was mostly what I would call big “camp stoves” and woks the size of hula hoops. Everything was giant sized and perfect for cooking for a crowd…. If one is a giant! The pot they provided me with was so tall that it came up to my nose when sitting on the burner for cooking. This was going to make stirring the gravy a challenge! So, I asked the kitchen staff if I could perhaps use a smaller pot since I was too short to stir this one. (Understand that none of these Asian men were much taller than my 5 foot 4 inches!) After the men had a little pow-wow about how to solve my problem for me…. While I was trying to deny my urge to go grab and wash a dirty but smaller pot that I had spotted on the floor… the men came up with a solution they were satisfied would solve my dilemma. One man disappeared out the back door of the kitchen and reappeared with a satisfied grin on his face carrying two bricks. He deposited these two bricks on the floor in front of the stove, demonstrated how I should place one foot on each brick, and assured me that these bricks would make me tall enough to stir the pot. Of course! And, to think that I would have changed pots when there was a much better solution at hand. Yes, I cooked for several hours balanced atop these bricks that were thoughtfully provided. As I cooked, I was able to answer many questions for the hotel’s kitchen staff. I noticed they would gather into pow-wow sessions and then send a chosen delegate to ask me a question and report back with answers. Sometimes that pow-wow would all need to gather to explore a particularly interesting situation – like opening a can. When opening the cans of cranberry sauce, the entire staff gathered to “ooooh” and “aaaaah” over the process. The conversation went something like this….. “What is that” “Can opener.” “It is fast!” “Yes.” “Did you bring that from America?” “No, I bought it at the mall here.” “Look how that opens cans! That must be something new!” “Ya, it’s really helpful.” The most common question asked was, “What is that??” Answers to that question included Turkey; Mashed potatoes; Dressing; Gravy; Cranberries…… But, thankfully I was also able to tell them about how Thanksgiving Day is a time to thank God for all his blessings and provision. Hopefully they will remember the message of Thanksgiving even longer than they remember the amazing can opener. And, by God’s grace , I pray I was gracious, kind and thankful while cooking a huge meal, on a tight schedule with an audience of local men watching, questioning and “helping".
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