An Aussie Thanksgiving

Last week I celebrated Thanksgiving with a few friends in quite the unusual manner. Four of us met up in Richmond, a suburb of Melbourne very near the city center, that is known for its high concentration of Asian cuisine. Victoria Parade, the main road running through Richmond, has the most Asian restaurants down its strip, one after another, I've ever seen. My housemate, Rob, and I rode our bikes down to Richmond to meet up with the others. Rob commented that I seemed to know my way around Melbourne pretty well as I was pedaling ahead of him and making a few suggestions as to how we get there. Funny how the unfamiliar can become so familiar with just a little time. I remember when I arrived I had no clue where anything was. I knew I was in Australia, in a city called Melbourne... that was about it. How things change.

We met up with my friends Mark and Rob (another Rob). Mark and I had decided we wanted to go for the scene in 'A Christmas Story' where they head to a Chinese restaurant and order some duck only to have the entire cooked animal brought out to them, head and all. I thought it was a smashing idea hence a Thanksgiving dinner out in Richmond. Mark picked out the place, making sure they served up whole ducks. It was BYO friendly (bring your own beer), and very plain, but the place had character - and did I mention they served up whole duck. The Thanksgiving meal was great: spring rolls, egg drop soup, garlic bok choy, a big serving of rice, and the pièce de résistance - heaps of peking duck. Mmm, mmm, good. All eaten with chop sticks and big smiles on our faces. When they brought out the duck, though, they had already cut it up into large bite size portions. So we asked if the cook could bring out the whole thing. So they chopped up the neck and other bits, brought that out, but a crucial piece was missing. "Where's the head?" we asked. "Oh, you want the head?" asked the server scratching his head. He spoke some Chinese to the kitchen and soon came back with a cooked duck head. Scene complete. Happy Thanksgiving.

After a scrumptious and filling meal complete with a few lagers and being thankful for such an interesting Chinese Thanksgiving dinner in Melbourne, we all headed to a nearby pub for a few more drinks and laughs. What I love about Melbourne is rocking up to a completely different area of town and finding the cool little bars and restaurants that make Melbourne's night life the envy of the South Pacific. With our stomachs full of duck, we parted ways and Rob and I pedaled back home. It dawned on me as I crossed into my home suburb of North Melbourne - I have just a couple more weeks in Australia. As I biked along the parade, trams rolling past, passing the Queen Vic market, and all the sights and scenes of the city I thought, "Man, I'll miss this."