COMFORT FOOD

Do we have to serve turkey at Thanksgiving? That is a question every turkey would like to have an answer to. The last five years, my husband and I began having traditional Thanksgiving dinner complete with a small turkey, vegetable (green beans, corn and potatoes), honey-baked ham and an apple pie for dessert. That is a lot of food for just the two of us.

My husband took care of the cooking and I did all the clean up since I don't know how to cook. I have nothing against cooking or trying to prove that I am a liberated woman or something like that. My mother takes pride in her cooking. She has many special dishes such as Thousand Layer Cake (my brother L provided this term), Cha Gio (Vietnamese Spring Rolls), tender beef cubes with carrots and sweet onions and too many other dishes to list here. Whenever I called and my sister V was visiting, my mother would explain in details the delicious dinner she would be making. I would jokingly ask my mother to stop since I was drooling all over.

About three years ago, a restaurant called Monsoon Vietnamee Bistro opened in my neighborhood. Since then my husband and I have not visited other Vietnamese restaurants that are about 30 minutes drive compared to only 10 minutes from our home to Monsoon. Most of the time I would call Monsoon, placed an order and either my husband or I would pick up the food on the way home from work.

With both of us working and I don't know how to cook a proper meal, I have the phone numbers of most of the restaurants on speed dial on my cell phone. Besides Vietnamese and Chinese, we have a few favorite restaurants that are Mexican, Italian and Greek. I enjoy various ethnic food and am willing to even try food from Somalia, Jamaica, and East Indian (I don't care much for spicy dishes). When it comes to comfort food, it would have to be Vietnamese dishes. Pho Bo Dat Biet (Special Beef Noodle Soup) always fill my stomach and warm my heart on a raining day. When I am homesick for my mother's cooking, Banh Hoi Thit Nuong (Grilled Pork with Vermicelli) and Goi Cuon (Prawn and Pork Rolls) help me get over the lonely feelings. I long for the desserts I used to eat growing up in Viet Nam such as Xoi Nep Than (Black Sticky Rice) and Che Xoi Nuoc (Sweet Dumplings in Ginger Syrup).

I have wonderful memories of my family sharing daily meals. I remember the times when the whole family driving home from the market and we began opening up all the packages, passing the food around in the car - these were happy times in my childhood. I remembered fondly of the street vendors, especially those wanders up and down residential streets and buildings, calling out the goods from their bamboo baskets. I realize that when we eat, we do not just to satisfy hunger. The food we consume represents connections to our family and our traditions. My mother is right, how I wish I lived nearby so I could have comfort food from my mother's kitchen everyday.