Thankful

I am happy to report that this year's Thanksgiving was a great success (all credit to my 'social secretary', who did a sterling job of wrangling the guest list and sorting out the venue). There was a large and high-spirited crowd (and only one last-minute no-show…. compared to about six last year), the drinks were agreeably cheap (BIG bottles of Tsingtao and large glasses of a very quaffable house wine for only 15 kuai), the service a little slow but very friendly, and the food pretty good (five courses, with two choices for each; and the main plate was humongous, defeating the appetites of all but the human vacuum-cleaner JK). Oh, I have a few quibbles, of course.  The "stuffing" was just cubes of dried bread, and the "gravy" was a grey-brown sludge that was, I think, an inadequately diluted packet-mix chicken soup.  And I could have done with a bit more mashed potato – but then, I always can; it's the Irish ancestry coming through, I suppose.  Some objected also that the apple pie was a bit heavy-handed on the cinnamon, but I thought my pumpkin pie was the best I've ever tasted. Overall, it was a very good spread.  I think we might be going back there for Christmas lunch.   And, hmm, yes… the levels of female pulchritude among the guests were quite outstanding.  I am badly smitten once again….