The reader, an American expatriate living in Serbia, writes:

My brother and I were flying in to HK on Thursday, so our Thanksgiving was on a Friday.)

Attached is a photo of what is for my family as traditional a Thanksgiving meal as it gets: taken from Nepal 21, the restaurant my father’s a partner of. Featured in the photo are the crispy and steamed momocha dumplings: filled with healthy ostrich meat, though otherwise traditionally prepared. That set the tone for the restaurant’s key dishes we then went on to enjoy: Nepalese fried chicken wings picked up by the tips, marinated in Nepalese herbs, so juicy, but fried (in healthy oil), so crunchy on the outside; Nepalese pizza – all dishes that can be found in Nepal but with a twist to suit the contemporary taste for little, healthier snacks. At the table were not only blood relations but very close family friends from other cultures (Chinese and Nepalese). That is how we have celebrated thanksgiving most years as expats: my brother and I spent our childhoods in Hong Kong but now live elsewhere, so this was a really meaningful reunion.

I could write far more about it, even things to do with what it means to be an American expat and how my now liberal father continues to host and gather people from all walks of life of all views at his table – which makes for such interesting conversation and in many ways might also be a component of the Benedict Option, but this text already looks too long!

Maybe it’s too long for a VFYT, but I would love to read your thoughts, and to publish them here. So send me (us) a longer e-mail when you have time.

The reader writes:

Home roasted Costa Rican coffee (exhibiting polar opposite styles of accoutrementation) stays warm while we try to do the same around the wood stove.

Ah, late autumn. Meanwhile, here in Baton Rouge, it’s hot and steamy today.