Food section contributor Debra Samuels, who is living in Tokyo, sent in this post. I'm exhausted just reading it.

TOKYO -- It is always a great challenge to make Thanksgiving dinner in a small Japanese kitchen, but the challenge is what makes this so much fun. Before I left the U.S. in October, I had mailed pie pans and spices to myself. Oh yeah, and we don't have a car. Couldn't mail that. So food shopping is a particularly interesting activity. You would be amazed at what you can carry on a bike, or drag with you on a subway, or in a taxi.



Yesterday we hosted dinner for 35 for the staff at the research institute where my husband, Dick, is affiliated. With the help of some Japanese friends, we roasted two turkeys, made gravy, mushroom pan stuffing, red cabbage slaw (no mandolin necessary when you have Japanese assistants in the kitchen), cranberry chutney, mashed potatoes, chunky carrots in maple syrup, two cornbreads, one apple crisp, and four pumpkin pies with graham cracker crusts, which we served with hand-whipped cream.

Here's the most amazing part of all: I have one oven, which is less than two-thirds the size of a standard American oven -- and two nice pots. The prep took a week.



Then we had to get everything over to the office in one car and a taxi. We wrapped the food that was still warm in towels and blankets. What a scene! At the institute, we were met by a legion of office workers who took everything to the 19th floor and set the tables with turkey-themed paper goods my mother-in-law sent.

There was one tiny microwave in the staff lunchroom to heat up gravy, sauces, and mashed potatoes. But it worked. I stored the potatoes in zipper plastic bags and we zapped them 2 minutes at a time until they were hot. This is my new go-to method for spuds.

Dick made a short speech in Japanese to explain the Thanksgiving holiday, then I described the meal and after a kampai (cheers), everyone descended on the food. The normally restrained Japanese ate with gusto and came back for seconds. The birds were picked clean and everyone went home with a doggie bag.



My favorite moment: watching the guests eat pumpkin pie with chopsticks.



