My Asian Thanksgiving Dinner

Last year was a very special year for my family. My wife and I welcomed a beautiful, happy, and healthy baby into our lives. Spending our first holidays with the baby is something that I will never forget – mostly because I got such little sleep!

If you’ve had an infant then you know that the only way to stay sane is to make the rest of your life as simple and easy as possible. So my wife and I decided to get take out for our first Thanksgiving dinner. There are lots of choices but the one place I kept hearing about was the Chinese Thanksgiving Special at the local Chinese restaurant in my neighborhood (Pasadena, CA).

Because I had no idea what a “Chinese Thanksgiving” was and since ordering it would mean that neither my wife nor I would have to do anything, we ordered it.

The place is called Fu-Shing Chinese Restaurant, located in strip mall in north east Pasadena. It’s been in business since 1980 but we’d never gone. Preferring more traditional Chinese places in Alhambra, Arcadia, and San Gabriel.

Fu-Shing’s Thanksgiving special is pretty simple:

It includes a turkey:

Sticky rice stuffing:

Vegetables:

And gravy.  (Sorry I don’t have a picture of the gravy but I’m pretty sure you know what that looks like.)

My review: The food was pretty good, especially for the price ($53.33 plus tax). The only thing that made it “Asian” was the sticky rice and the kinds of vegetables they used (which aren’t the kind traditionally thought of with Thanksgiving meals). But that’s what made it good. The food reminded me (in that good way) of the Thanksgiving dinners at my house when I was a kid. Because when I think of Thanksgiving, I think of rice next to the Turkey and mashed potatoes. I assume most other Asian/Asian Americans living in the United States think the same thing.

The sticky rice though was new to me, since I don’t eat sticky rice that often. So it was something different but I enjoyed it. It reminded me of the sticky rice I eat at dim sum places. Yummy!

Most importantly for my wife and me, the meal was easy. I just picked it up, brought it home, and we ate it very quietly while the infant was sleeping.

If you’re interested in ordering Fu-Shing’s Chinese Turkey Special or finding out more, visit their website.