Holiday Foods

I'm starting this blog at the time of the Tet holiday in Vietnam. In my country this is a time for many traditional foods. In my family, one of our favorite foods is banh xeo, or Vietnamese pancakes. We usually cook this in the winter, when the weather (in the middle of Vietnam, at least) is cold. We cook it with charcoal in a type of small clay barbecue pot, with the family all crowded around. It warms up the house, and smells very good.

As we eat, we talk, share stories and jokes. It is a happy time in my family.

I was glad to find similar traditions in America. When I came to Seattle I was invited to celebrate Thanksgiving with my sponsor family. The food was very different. The main dish was turkey. I had never tasted it before. But the most interesting part were the side dishes. Some I recognized, like mashed potatoes, corn (although it tasted very different than in Vietnam, much better!), salad, and sweet potatoes. But others were very strange to me, like stuffing, deviled eggs and corn bread pudding (my favorite!). And even though I never liked pumpkin in Vietnam, I thought pumpkin pie was quite good.

But even though the food was different, the feeling was the same. People laughed, played games, watched football (OK, not every tradition was like my country) and enjoyed each other's company. Even though the world was new to me, in many ways it reminded me of home.