Thankfully

Part of this expat life is adapting.  Part of it is accepting.  Part of it is doing the best you can with what you have.  

We have a small kitchen with no oven and only two small burners.  You eat out, you eat simple, or you eat after a creative process.  

On Thanksgiving, we got creative with it.  

For us, J and myself, Thanksgiving is a special holiday to us.  Even when it was just us and we weren’t traveling we would make thanksgiving.  I’d roast a chicken.  I’d make it special.  We would spend the day cooking and just being us.

As we got older and then married and then had a kid, we would still keep that up.  Make it a day for us.  We’d nibble all day.  Hang out.  Watch a movie.  Just be us.  Our world expanded.  We’d have friends or family for the day.  Nothing changed.  It was still close knit.  It was still just us doing our thing.  

Covid changed that, made things very small and close for a time.  Then we got to Bangkok and Thanksgiving doesn’t exist here.  

We still wanted Thanksgiving and wished we could find a way.  Well, I put my talents to work, got creative, and created!

See the pic post 25 NO-vember, but I don’t think I did bad.  Sure, it’s not “American” Thanksgiving, but it was what we had and that is what I created out of it.  Honestly, it was better than I hoped.  The gravy was a little thin, but if that’s the worst crime I committed in the stamp sized kitchen I had to work with, I’m not gonna knock that.  

Besides (yes, I’m going to brag), if you pitted me head to head against a Top Chef contestant with this apartment and gear and 800 baht budget (about $25) and a half day to prep and cook…. I’d serve that plate to the judges with pride.  Sure, I might lose.  A trained and talented chef might know tricks or see a veggie or fruit that I am unsure how to use or prepare and that could put them over the top, but I’d not feel embarrassed for giving my plate to be judged.  It was simple.  It didn’t have any crazy flare to it.  The gravy was a little thin.  The green beans were textbook perfect.  Rosemary in the water while steaming.  <Chef kiss>.  The chicken was juicy.  Flavorful.  Cooked one degree past perfect, but on a little electric grill in the apartment without setting off the smoke alarms with good crunch on the skin of the thighs.  Rested 10 minutes before serving.  The tips of the breast (that little end part on a boneless breast) were overdone, but that was impossible to avoid with what I had.  I’d not serve those to the judges, so top breast was again, perfect.  Juicy.  Flavorful.  Potatoes.  Roasted with salt, pepper, rosemary and that’s it.  I could have added cornstarch slurry to my gravy, but that could have made it taste processed or gritty.  Next time, I’ll make a little roux first instead of simmering to consistency.  

So, give me Padme, Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons, and all the rest.  Hell, since we’re putting me on Top Chef, let’s bring Tony Bourdain back.  Because he, I think, would give me props for this.  “I mean, I’ve eaten some really good meals in my life, but for a back to basic, this is what I got and I’m making Thanksgiving… Damn good job chef.  This will never be as good as The French Laundry, but it’s more honest.  I’d come home to this every day if I could.”  I can hear it.  Or some variant of it.  The “It ain’t gotta be fancy to be good” attitude.  He once said, I think it was on a Top Chef he was on as judge, that honest food is better than fancy food.  Paella is great, but an honest to god chicken and rice can be better, because it is made with love.  Not expensive ingredients.  Not tricks.  Not technique and things learned at the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) or any chef school, but just an honest to god, mom made chicken and rice.   

So, I’m proud of what I made.  

I’m proud of us… for this adventure, but also for the spirit of, it doesn’t have to be THE BEST Thanksgiving meal ever.  It needs to be the best we can make with what we have on hand.  A two burner stove that can only cook one burner at a time, a little electric grill, an airfryer, and a one pot.  I made Thanksgiving.  I made THIS.

Yeah!  I’m proud of that!  Damned proud!!!

I’m also proud of Kiddo.  She did the green bean prep.  I only got a vid of her on her second solo bean, because I had a bunch of other stuff to do, but we are working on it and she gained some confidence and did a great job.  Besides, one step at a time.  We can work on hand and finger placement, but green beans are small and easy to chop.  So, keep hands clear.  Hold knife and slice correct.  Bent finger holding and using knuckles as a chop guide can come later as she gets better, gains confidence, and gets more coordinated.  Also, she sometimes went lefty with the knife, sometimes righty.  So, once we get comfort in that and figure it out, that will help, but look at my lil Sous Chef!  

It was Thanksgiving.  We didn’t have football.  Didn’t have turkey and couldn’t find one.  Didn’t even have an oven.  But we had Thanksgiving and I’m thankful for that.

Let’s go, Kiddo… You start on the beans and I’ll start on the rest.  No matter where we are in the world, we can always find a way to make it Thanksgiving and make it special.  I’m most thankful for mumma and you!