How We Celebrate Thanksgiving
We usually celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with 20-30 family members and friends. Roast turkey (Alton Brown style), cream of spinach, mashed potatoes and stuffing all have a spot on our table. This year, my broccoli bacon, raisin, and cashew salad joined the celebration. Family members brought homemade ziti and baked ham to share. The roasted BBQ pork, vermicelli Chinese style noodles, and the simultaneous English and Chinese conversations offered hints to our ethnic descent. Our dinners began with a prayer for our families' health, the safe return of our troops abroad, and our heartfelt gratitude for the food on our table to share with family and friends.
The dessert spread featuring pumpkin pudding, homemade apple tart, homemade cheesecake and chocolate chip cookies was accompanied by frozen margaritas poured into Radio City Rockette souvernir martini glasses with salted rims and sliced limes. Our Thanksgiving has more pop than ethnic designs.
Creating a Meal out of Nothing
For our first post-Thanksgiving Day meal, we cooked up a pot of leftover turkey bones with rice and water to make a rice porridge called "jook" or "congee". Rest assured, making congee does not impact upon the anticipated production output of turkey sandwiches! The flavorful concoction of turkey rice soup is treated as royalty and gets jazzed up with two popular items: (1) a fried Chinese donut - seems like every culture has a fried doughy carb item - and (2) the 1000 year old preserved duck egg. Yes, those are the same kinds of preserved duck eggs that contestants on the television show, The Fear Factor, would never eat.
The Congee Mindset
I'm always impressed by how my family manages to make an unexpected meal out of the turkey bones. Yes, I initially viewed the creation of turkey congee as an adaptation of Chinese culture in America. However, the way in which we handle the leftover turkey reveals more about our mindset today than a culture from our heritage. I call it the "congee mindset" which is, in my honest opinion, an upgrade from the seriously-overused "do more with less" idiom that has been popularized since 2008. Congee mindset is defined as the process of identifying more opportunities and possibilities for a subject before the subject goes to waste. Before the turkey bones go to waste, what else can we do with it?
From a food consumption perspective, when we order Peking duck at a Chinese restaurant, we always ask the restaurant if they would be able take the leftover duck bones and turn it into a soup for us; an add-on to the meal which is worth its price. The restaurant staff is generally happy to create the soup - which does not even exist on the menu. There is something deeply satisfying about getting the restaurant to create a soup that is not even on the menu, making sure leftover items don't go to waste.
Here are the takeaway messages from this blog post
1. Sometimes, leftovers can be used to create new meals or entities. When life gives you lemons, we are supposed to make lemonade. Why not make lemon ice pops, lemon smoothies, or lemon cookies as well?
Here's an example from the business community - I know of two employees who worked at a services firm that was closing down. These two employees decided to take a big risk and buy the firm, its client base, office supplies and then hit the restart button. Today, they have managed to outlive and outgrow its predecessor. Are there job positions, brands, and businesses out there that you can resuscitate and make better? Is there a public relations campaign you can bring back and adapt for your own business? Robert H. Schuller's quote is applicable here: What would you do if you knew you could not fail?
2. Most of the things you want may not be on the menu. Go off menu and create something new.
Menus, structures, estimates, blueprints, and formulas have helped to create a level of order and organization. These items are necessary building blocks to careers, businesses, and companies. Uncertainty in our economy has increased the demand predictability and expectation management. If we can't possibly control every risk factor out there, then what's holding us back from exploring possibilities off the menu?
What do you think of this congee mindset?
Do you have examples to share?
Images in this blog post are owned by Julie Huang and cannot be used without permission.