This Thanksgiving will be my family's 5th Tianjin Thanksgiving, and although once again we are not with our immediate family back in Texas, I hardly even notice. I know this day will be filled with the same stuff...fantastic food, awesome stories, and loads of laughter.

I recall the first Thanksgiving my family and I celebrated in Tianjin, back in 1997. Luckily, that year, there was a brand new restaurant in town...The Broadway CafŽ (on Mu Nan Dao). And the word was out...he owner, Mike Hagen and his lovely wife Pam, were gonna prepare a Thanksgiving feast and boy did I take great comfort in that news! Because back then, I don't recall a "turkey order"Ó signup sheet at the western supermarkets. Now that I think of it, I'm not sure there were any western supermarkets! But the Hagen family managed to get their hands on a few turkeys and they pulled off a brilliant Thanksgiving dinner.

Expats families came from all around Tianjin to a enjoy a warm and pleasing turkey dinner. I took such joy in that day, knowing that my little kiddo's would get to eat all their favorite stuff just like at grandma & grandpa's. I recall that the menu consisted of many traditional dishes like mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and many other dishes and even a few dishes I'd never heard of, from places like Indiana, North Dakota, Arizona and Chicago. And all my life, I thought everyone just ate like us Texans (haha).

There were a couple of varieties of Turkey served. In fact, I remember tasting my first Cajun turkey, (no the turkey was not from Louisiana) which consisted of deep frying the bird in peanut oil, with some other ingredient that made you go "woooo-weeee" das goodÓ. It was fantastic! We all crowded into that cozy place and shared lots of stories and laughs, from around the world. Now, you don't get that at your regular old mom and pop Thanksgiving dinner! And Broadway CafŽ did it again the next year, and the next, and the next...and they continue to put on a brilliant dinner!

Nowadays there shouldn't be much head-scratching going on, wondering.. where you gonna get some turkey...In fact, you probably already have your own turkey and all the fixins and can hardly wait to get into that little kitchenette and tear it up! And, to really top it off, you probably could catch a parade or two, and some good olÕ American football on a satellite dish, somewhere in Tianjin. Now, that is American tradition-eh?

So, more recently, we have begun celebrating Thanksgiving in our own neighborhood in Tianjin, (thanks given to 'turkey ordering'. And other expats, I suspect, are doing the same. All our neighbors come together to share the celebration and bring their favorite dish from their home countries, and of course, Cajun turkey is on the menu!

So, although we are not with our immediate families, the tradition continues only with some very dear friends. And each celebration seems to draw us closer and closer together, making us more like family. After all, Tianjin is home-hey?

This year I look forward to another wonderful, memory-making Thanksgiving Day with my neighbors...and of course, some FRIED TURKEY! Woooo-weeeeee.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Ginger Duval