A little like Thanksgiving after all.
Korean life November 23rd. 2007, 11:45pmOur plans to have a Thanksgiving turkey ended when my wife went to Costco and saw the only birds they had for sale were as large as her torso. She gave me a call and I called off the whole deal when I heard they cost upwards of 40,000 won. I like turkey as much as the next person. Doubly so on Thanksgiving, but there are limits. Three weeks or more of solid leftovers and a ridiculous price tag was my limit.
I called my parents, as well as my brother over Skype to catch up over the holidays. This is the first time I had talked to my brother after returning from Europe, so we had some things to talk about. He had purchased a new house, and would be spending the first Thanksgiving in America with the family in four years. I don’t even remember the last time I’ve been in America for Thanksgiving. I don’t think I’ve been in the country for either Thanksgiving or Christmas since I came to Korea. My contracts just never work out that way.
Since I wasn’t having Turkey I wasn’t too into the holiday. I had a smile on my face regardless. I got a nice message at work that told me she had found a chicken at a grocery store she would be cooking for us. Roast bird of any sort is very welcome.
It turns out this is the first chicken my wife has ever done by herself. My mom cooked turkey with her when we visited the United States together. She had to prepare the bird at home by herself. My wife is ornithophobic and has a strong fear of birds. Even though the bird was dead, plucked, and headless, it wasn’t a pleasant time for her.
When I got home, I got to eat a nice roasted, cooked bird to eat. She could only poke at her meal because she had lost her appetite. She worked really hard, only to get a small snack out of the deal.
“It’s a little like finding out what is in a hot dog. After that, it’s really hard to eat one.” a friend said when I related the story to him. I guess he’s right.
She told me that if I really want to eat roasted anything, I’ll have to prepare it from now on. I’ll probably be willing to do that too, if the mood strikes me.
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Tags: holiday, expat, turkey, thanksgiving, cook, wife
One Response to “A little like Thanksgiving after all.”
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November 24th, 2007 at 12:42 am
That’s actually a touching story. Your wife tries to cook you something from your culture to make you feel less alienated.
That’s devotion. That’s love.
I myself actually made a roast chicken earlier this week. It’s a simple technique I learned from a Jamie Oliver cookbook where you stuff herbs and lemons under the skin itself. Yet it always impressed guests back in the States, and it’s one of my girlfriend’s favorite things for me to cook.
Actually, we were having a fight at the time, and I made the bird to piss her off. I knew she wanted it, but to eat it meant admission that she was sorry.
I love torturing with food.