Ah, Thanksgiving. By the time I realized that that was today and I didn't have anything to make for dinner, it was already almost 8:30. Facing the prospects of going out or trying to cobble something together on short notice, I decided to head to the store and see what I could find.
I realized about the time that I got to the meats section that I didn't actually know the Japanese word for Turkey. But, armed with my trusty English/Japanese dictionary, I started slowly decoding the labels to try and find it. After quite a bit of searching, I gave up on finding turkey in Tokyo, and settled for ham. The actual translation is "Ham steak." I'm not sure how that's supposed to work.
Green beans weren't even in my dictionary, but I found string beans and decided that those are close enough. Potatoes are in ready supply year-round here, because they're one of the staple foods of Japanese cooking. Right after rice, fish and noodles. Corn on the cob is sold in spring and summer for grilling, but finding it this late was likely to be difficult. Luckily, I had previously found the canned food section, which stocks sweet corn and cranberry sauce. Rolls, butter, and sour cream and a quick trip through the cash register and I was ready to rock.
