Rice.
Fish.
Soup.
That's pretty much how it goes. And usually there are some leafy green vegetables to balance it out. The soup usually comes last, to cleanse the palette. It also will contain some leafy green veggie and a protein, sometimes crab, or pork. The rice sits on the table in the rice cooker, unplugged, the fish in a serving bowl, the veggies on a plate, nasty fish sauce in a small dipping bowl, and the soup in a larger serving bowl. Fortunately tonight's soup contained shrimps and my favorite vegetable! . . .can you sense the sarcasm. . . that's right, the Bitter Melon. Yuummmm. And it tastes exactly how it sounds. It actually has a bitter, unflavored, no sugar, extra-watered-down-boiled-coffee after taste to it. Doesn't that sound delightful?
Of course like most old people, the maid proceeds to tell me how "good" it is for me.
"Es gud for yuu. Make yuu smalla."
Umm, what you trying to say granny? Let me note, this was after she slaps me on the behind for using my own plastic dish to eat my food—my Vietnamese mother, lol. (Did we forget roaches come out at night in the kitchen. . . yeah, Tiana will use her own dish, thank you very much.) So after she dumps my rice into a new bowl (giving her more dishes to do, but whatever, the woman lives to clean) she plops the tail end of the fish on my rice. Now, normally we would think, oh great, tail end, not enough meat. Wrong. I don't know WHAT type of crazy super fatty organically-grown-from-the-terential-rain-shower-fish this is that we eat in this house, but it definitely ain't lacking in bone structure. A whole fillet could satisfy even the biggest appetite. (Cory, Craig, Brother, my Dad) So my tail end had lots of fatty fishy goodness all drenched in yellow curry sauce, mmm mmmmm. The fish we eat is sooo thick, it will trick you into thinking you had chicken.
Since the bitter melon, also known as khổ qua, is soo good for me, the maid proceeded to pile a few pieces of that on top of the fish as well. Okay, okay, I'll eat it like it's medicine for the soul, I don't like it, but it'll do me some good. Well, come to find out Bitter Melon could do some Black Folks A LOT of good. Bitter Melon has been known to treat diabetes, malaria, help with digestion, and help with the side effects of HIV! Shoot forget the apple, "khổ qua a day keeps the doctor away!"
Here are more foods that tickle my taste buds:
Durian
Jackfruit
Dragonfruit
Custard Apple
Baby Bananas
Mangosteen
Water Spinach
Boiled Chrysanthemum Bulbs
