...it makes you cry too

One of my treasured finds in the last decade is a cookbook by Bish Nga Burrill called Vietnam Memories. Warmly written, Bish calls this a memory cookbook. Each recipe has a memory that is woven into her very thought of creating it. These memories run deep and will give even more depth and love to the food. Quarantine has antagonized me to expand my cooking horizons. What I do, I have done many times and I feel I am well practiced and that leaves me wanting new adventures. I need another mountain to hike that I have not yet tried. I know that just below the smooth as glass surface of inactivity lies new favorite tastes and experiences.

I was particularly moved by the Pork and Pineapple Fried Rice Recipe, that told the story of Bish cooking this recipe for a dear friend who was going to take her to Hawaii, in exchange for her making this dish. She sat in the bus shelter on the side of the road for far too long holding the container of this recipe waiting for her friend. Finally another friend arrived and without saying a word, she knew that he wasn't coming and that she would never see him again. Shaking so bad the container fell to the ground, spilling the rice all over the ground.

I want to make this recipe. I want to make a meal and dedicate it to the memory of Bish's friend Billy. Food is an expression of life and the preciousness of it. Sometimes...it makes you cry too. It can be easy to forget, whether we fall into the same old routine, or we are re-actively food shopping blindfolded during a pandemic. No matter what it is, let us not forget to find the "real".

Comments

The Universal Antagonist

There is an underrated movie from 1967 called “The Presidents Analyst”. It tells the story of a presidents analyst who cannot talk with anyone about what he knows. This creates more anxiety than he can deal with. It leads to catastrophic paranoia. In the meantime, various government agencies are trying to kill him. The phone company (a unit with the same power as Facebook, google, and other large personal data collecting monsters) wants what he knows to further their cause of power. He ends up being protected by a suburban “Liberal” family that has more guns the the “right wing wackos” they are protecting themselves from. With many crazy mind bending plot twists that were common in the movies of the late 60’s, the kind that Austin Powers liked to spoof, in the end, the main character realizes the “it’s the phone company” behind all of the evil in their lives, behind all the evil in the world. Hollywood was serious about their message in an insane package. This movie wa...

The Coffee Chronicles

I like to hike. I also love my coffee. While I can get away with choking down instant coffee on the trail, there is nothing like freshly brewed coffee to make that experience so much more robust. In 2018 when the Crawford family was hiking the Appalachian Trail, Ben Crawford the dad, mentioned people that he saw using an Aeropress coffee maker and made the statement I feel like I’m missing out on something. Ben's words intrigued me and I had no choice but to buy one on Amazon. If you don’t know what an AeroPress is, the best way to describe it is like a wide syringe that holds coffee grounds and water and after a rest time allows you to push the water out into your cup using the syringe plunger. I then took the aero press with me on a family canoe trip and impressed myself and others with this amazing coffee. Three years have passed. Many pieces of hiking gear that I bought three years ago have not been used in quite some time. When it comes to cooking, this can be ver...

You've got to get mad

I need to create classic recipes. It is the avalanche in me that cannot be stopped. I love seafood. I make excellent mussels. Sweet vermouth, PEI mussels, cream, portabello mushrooms, shallots, garlic, cilantro, bacon. Maybe a Thai chili or two if I want to cook on the wild side. My oh my! But now, I NEEEEEEEED to make a lobster thermidor, a favorite back in1960s-70s entertaining. The food from those old black-tie dinner party meals is rising into view once again. I know there can be wild spins on what we can do with a meal that Julia Child championed us out of our collective trepidation. 60 years later we are tampering with the maverick. But take your rest here for a moment to cook at the station of that wonderful woman who brought the housewives out of the dark ages, showing us all that family dinner had no limits. Even more so, Julia showed us that ambition and creativity were not owned by men alone. She like my grandmother, did so in a world that said otherwise. B...

Fight 4 Taste

Search This Blog