My mum and her (hand-me-down) iPad
On neural connections and culinary adventures across YouTube.
It’s been a while
Before you delete this newsletter out of confusion (“when did I sign up to this newsletter?”, “who is this person?” etc.), let me give you a brief timeline of what has happened since August (when I started this Substack) and now.
After an unexpected Zoom call with Luisa Brimble on August 9, a spur of the moment, ‘how can I work with you, but I don’t know what we can work on together, I don’t really know what I want to do with my life’, interaction, I started a Substack.
Some really nice people (read: you) signed up to receive newsletters. Thank you! Sorry it’s taken so long, how embarrassing, I hope this is worth your time.
I added 3 potential posts to explore: So nice, I’ve baked it thrice; An entree: budae jjigae (Korean Army Stew), and this post.
And then I just… thought about the posts, as is inevitable for someone who is prone to starting projects and only sometimes finishing them.
2020 being the year of doing things on a whim: I submitted ‘My mum and her iPad’ to Lee Tran Lam’s ‘New Voices On Food’ (with about 7 minutes until deadline) - and it was chosen(?) as one of 10(?) works to be published(?!).
About a week ago, I told Lee Tran about mentally struggling to write, even though I really want to. She shared some great tactics, because she is a real-life angel and all-round super nice human.
And then I thought some more. I am an enthusiastic procrastinator, what can I say?
There are 11 hours of ‘hard’ lockdown left in Adelaide, so I might as well. I’ve cut and sewn 40 masks for family and friends, read Alice Zaslavsky ‘In Praise of Veg’ cover to cover, stalked Nigel Slater’s home as far as the internet rabbit hole will let me…
Now you know what I intend to write, I have to stay accountable, right?
So if this hasn’t bored/annoyed you enough, let’s keep going.
Anyway, onto mum and her iPad
My mum makes dinner for us every Wednesday. Us being my brother, his wife (henceforth ‘my sister’), my dad, and I. On occasion, you’ll also find my sister’s sister (also my sister, just go with it), my best friends, my brother’s best friends, and anyone else who happens to be free and a fan of my mum’s cooking. And as the title of this post suggests, we come to admire and celebrate her culinary adventures courtesy of the internet, and of course, her.
Her phở is legendary, her gỏi requested for family parties, and her rendition of bánh xèo is enough to elicit squeals (yeah, squeals) of delight from my sister and I.
Below are snaps of our recent Wednesday night dinners.
Gỏi cuốn, aka cold rolls (sometimes known as spring rolls but what I know as spring rolls are also called egg rolls in other parts of the world)
Mum has been playing around with gỏi cuốn fillings for years. They’re pretty unconventional. Here are the regulars: fried tofu, homemade nem chua, boiled pork (normal), chả lụa, fresh pineapple, cucumber (not pictured), a platter of any lettuce and Asian herbs she can lay her hands on (iceberg, butter, coral, red leaf, 3 kinds of mint - including the one that smells like fish, coriander, and basil), and 2 kinds of dipping sauce. Note she doesn’t serve prawns - cos it’s bad for her cholesterol (hah!).
Freestyling
When trying new dishes or ingredients, mum will give herself a safety net of tried and true dishes to accompany. On this particular night, that buffer was canh chua, guarding her experimental seafood stirfry which was pretty fresh and tasty.
I asked mum for the recipe for canh chua… I got the standard ‘it’s easy’ response. But we’ll get back to that.
More freestyling
My brother has 2-3 dishes he’s comfortable cooking and they’re on high rotation at his house. Bò lúc lắc is one of them (the really big platter, bottom left). Mum gave it a go and I think it’s safe to say she whooped his rendition, so much so, he doesn’t want to cook it for her now. Accompanied by soup (I’ll ask her the name next time), thịt kho (braised pork belly with eggs, though I suspect mum doesn’t use much pork belly cos, cholesterol, again), and beef and mixed veg stirfry.
Seafood noodle salad
This was definitely inspired by YouTube. Mum recommends getting the frozen seafood mix from Aldi if you decide to attempt this dish (not like the other supermarkets who leave their mixes to thaw into sad little piles). The beef balls were great for added texture for an otherwise soft salad.
Bánh canh giò heo, tapioca noodles with pork hock
I requested this dish after seeing it on Yvonne C Lam’s Instagram stories (Instagram / blog). It was a nice trip down memory lane, but was missing some flavour notes I can’t quite put my finger on. More experimentation to come.
Sweet and sour fish
This was so much fun and so flavourful. Dad was pretty chuffed with his frying (i.e. didn’t burn em, they’re still crunchy). Served here with sauce on the side, to maintain crunch. The sauce was really punchy and aromatic - my sisters both guessed what we were having as soon as they walked into the house. Hey to the fresh pineapple again. Beef stirfry and thịt kho as supporting acts.
I’ve asked mum to show me how to make several of these dishes, and am always met with ‘it’s so easy! you just need this, and this, and do a bit of this, boil it for this long, add this, and voila!’. So bear with me. We’ll get that canh chua recipe soon! And I’ll keep writing about my mum because she’s great and my relationship with her is coming into its own after 33 laps around the sun. Maybe she’ll tell us where she goes on YouTube for her food inspiration.
In the meantime, you can purchase ‘New Voices on Food’ via Somekind Press to read stories from some really talented and diverse folks (all published before), and you’ll find me, popping my publishing cherry (is that gross? do people still talk about popping cherries?) and the longer form version of what was intended for this original post.
Finally, what to expect:
If you decide that you’d like to remain a subscriber, please know that you’re in for a bit of a mixed bag. I know you’re meant to get niche with newsletters - the nichier the better. But, as this is my first foray into writing for myself (how indulgent, how millennial, how 2020), I’m still figuring shit out. Here are some content pillars you can expect:
More stories and the odd recipe. About tomatoes, recipes on repeat, taking my dad to Japan, finding comfort in pie dough, and heaps more.
Cookbook content - lists, roundups, recommendations, cook-alongs. I have accumulated 100+ cookbooks. I don’t feel guilty about my collection, each one has its place, perhaps writing about them means they get more attention.
Imaginary dinner guests and dream tablescapes.
Creative projects - I like holding a brush as much as I like enjoying holding a pen(cil).
Supper Club adventures with my gal, Jules. Thanks for putting this on ice, COVID, you sneaky little devil.
Lists of things I’ve enjoyed reading, cooking, eating. I like lists.
Anything else I wanna write about. I’ve got a lot to say, it seems.
I may or may not keep the Sunday Side Project Instagram up-to-date… who knows?
So what do you reckon, wanna keep me company?