Chinese Version
12-29-2021, Wednesday, Cloudy
Before getting my booster shot on Monday morning, according to the guidelines, I first drank 500 ml of water. While giving me the Moderna booster shot at CVS, the nurse said: “If the arm which received the shot hurts, you can take some painkiller.” “Do you think I will have a fever?” I asked. The nurse said, “Probably not.”. For the sake of safety, I rested at home for a day with no fever but a sore arm.
While resting at home, I thought of the almost-forgotten memory of this year’s Thanksgiving and the vivid details of it after recently chatting with my daughter, I suddenly felt that this forgetfulness might be because the aged memory easily sleeps during daily activities, but once we start to talk about the past, the almost-forgotten details of the past will appear. Perhaps chatting about sharing time helps with forgetfulness, because sharing time together is often one of the happiest activities in life.
While chatting with my daughter about our Thanksgiving this year, I remember she cooked new Thanksgiving-related dishes: roasted turkey, roasted pumpkin, and roasted sweet potato. A friend bought two bottles of white wine, one of which was Riesling. After we finished drinking the bottle of Riesling, Lucas, a German Ph.D. student, joked: “Of course I should have tasted the Riesling flavor that I am familiar with.” After finishing two bottles of white wine, we opened a bottle of red wine. Simon, Alex’s former roommate who came back to Boston for holiday from New York, brought a bottle of Japanese whisky, but we had no chance to open it. After finishing three bottles of wine, the alcohol in the air and in our stomachs inspired our conversation on the dinner table. Lucas wanted to experience the capsule hotel in Japan. He also showed us online photos of dozens of neatly stacked “capsules”, which can each accommodate one person, similar to a spaceship capsule. Alex wanted to visit the Romantic Road (Romantische Straße in German) in Germany, a road, from Würzburg to Füssen and about 350km. Romantic Road is rich in cultural landscapes, my daughter and I visited in September 2016. I was delighted to see Lucas’ authentic German fruit salad on the dinner table, as I really enjoy tasting authentic homemade food afar without leaving my home.
The holidays often paved nice ways in our memories. After relieving 2021′s Thanksgiving, I recalled the story of 2020′s Thanksgiving party. While in Germany, my daughter encouraged me, who was alone in Waltham, to hold a Thanksgiving party, as we were particularly isolated to avoid being infected by COVID-19 virus during the pandemic period of 2020. She suggested that I invite Rachel and her twin children and Grace andLou for Thanksgiving dinner. She also suggested that I roast a turkey. I had never roasted a turkey before, so I was planning to go to a Chinese supermarket to buy a roast duck instead (many Chinese families used roasted duck instead of roasted turkey on Thanksgiving). But she insisted that I roast a turkey. In order to please her, who was far away from home in Germany where Thanksgiving is not celebrated, I went to Costco and bought the smallest turkey home. Unexpectedly, my first roast turkey was very successful, everyone liked it. Lou’s specialty, braised pork belly in brown sauce, is also very popular. After Thanksgiving dinner, we played a Clue board game and ate delicious turnover desserts made by Rachel with different fillings such as blueberries, cranberries and apples.
Little Episodes
1. Thanksgiving in 2021: Walden Pond scenery, roasted sweet potato and roasted pumpkin made by my daughter, Lucas’ homemade German fruit salad, and other dishes.
2. Thanksgiving in 2020:
Colorful pepper, green asparagus, Clue game, our princess Kara, my roasted turkey, and Rachel’s turnovers.
Wine, tea, and Lou’s braised pork belly in brown sauce.
3. In September 2016, my daughter and I took a tour bus to visit the Romantic Road in Germany:
