As I am a one-year exchange student from Japan, I have never experienced the Thanksgiving Day. We never celebrate Thanksgiving in Japan. Of course, I have never tried Thanksgiving dinner. Fortunately, as I live in Cosmopolitan House, I could experience Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner. Not only did I eat the dinner, but also I helped cooking. We cooked six turkeys, tons of mashed potatoes, salad, sweet potatoes and carrot cake! Lisa and I made two carrot cakes with the help of Sharyl. A carrot cake is a traditional American sweet, so that Sharyl, who is the only American in Cosmo House, showed us how to make it.
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I have baked a cake in Japan, but I have never baked a carrot cake. Moreover, it was the first time for me to bake a cake in the United States! How excited I was! However, I was sometimes confused because I had to use “baking powder” and “baking soda.” I have never put baking soda into a cake. Following the recipe, we managed to make batter, not butter!! When Sharyl told us to pour batter into the pan, Lisa and I said the same word, “Should we put more butter?” It was tricky!!!! We understood what we should do, and finally we managed to bake two carrot cakes.
It is a lot of fun to cook with Cosmo residents because we are all from different countries. I can eat original Korean food, Indian food, Thai food, Chinese food, and German food. It is much better than restaurants! Also, I can learn how to cook their traditional food from people originally from the country. What a good chance it is! I made Thai curry with Lisa one day. We went shopping together and made Thai curry. Now I can cook original Thai curry.
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We held a Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner on Sunday, November 12, just before the Thanksgiving Break started. We started preparing for the dinner on Saturday. Daniela, who is one of the best chefs in Cosmo, made turkeys. Other residents helped her cook. On the day of the dinner, Ron and Lilia Peters came to Cosmo to carve turkeys. I was surprised because he used an electric knife to cut them!
After we finished cooking, we served the food. It was a lot of fun to serve the food and talk with our guests. As my parents run a restaurant in Japan, I sometimes helped their restaurant. Because of my experience, I love talking with our guests. However, the line of the guests who were waiting for the food seemed not to end! It was so long. I heard that more than 100 people came to Cosmo House to have the dinner. It was a good time to eat traditional Thanksgiving dinner with my friends.
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I am so happy to be a member of Cosmopolitan House because I can learn many cultures here, not only American culture but also a culture all over the world. I thank last year’s Japanese exchange student, Sayuri, who was studying at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and living in Cosmo last year because she recommended me to live in Cosmo, and I really enjoy Cosmo Life now. I am looking forward to having a Japanese Coffee Hour in the spring semester!