betintibet: October 2013

Happy Thanksgiving!

I think the Canadians have the date right - yellow leaves falling, crisp air, sunny afternoons.
Given that I'm the only canuck on our Lhasa team, I decided to invite some friends to a Canadian Thanksgiving! Of course, there are no turkeys in Lhasa (if not all of China, except for the human kind...) so off I go to buy a few fresh chickens. This meant a bike ride to 2 BaiYi supermarkets, and the local outdoor vegetable & meat market; after only finding 2 chickens, I locked my bike and took the bus downtown to 2 more BaiYi stores and the large Potala Market (more on that on another post). Since most vendors only kill and pluck one chicken at a time, I had to settle for 2 fresh and one frozen chickens, complete with heads and feet.

This is a large market 2 km from our school.

The ladies thought I was crazy taking photos. Yes, those are live chickens, ducks, fish, fresh pig hooves, and a tub of turtles. I wonder which of the hens will be next?

I bought this one: she weighed it, then cleaned it and wrapped it in a bag..

Guess what this is! An electric de-featherer! Those rubber plugs vibrate as the whole drum rotates.

At home, I inspect the feet - very plump!

But off came the head and feet.

I couldn't resist - almost time for Hallowe'en.

I had to decorate the room, then stuffed and cooked the chickens for 3 hours. (I didn't remember to ask someone to take photos of me on my chair basting the birds).

And - tada! Thanksgiving Feast, complete with gravy, stuffing, Tibetan Plum sauce, and Chris' apple pie. Others brought potatoes, beans, buns and squash casserole.