I’m so sick of hearing abt “authoritarian” Asian parents. You know what you never hear about? The little gestures of tenderness our parents extended to us that so often go unrecognized

You know a common joke among the diaspora? That if your mom catches you saying you like a dish she made, the next time you visit, she'll make 10 pounds of that dish. It's true. Once I said I liked my mom's lo bak go, 10 yrs ago. Now she makes at least 5 batches every time i visit

Right after grad school, I moved back in w my parents while looking for a job. I got a job interview in Philadelphia. My dad offered to drive me all the way there. From Indiana. I got on a plane ofc, but not before my mom pressed a red envelope into my hand for good luck.

How often expressions of love were couched in food: my parents freezing homemade soups and overnighting them to me during NY winters, waking up early to get groceries so they could make my fave dishes, picking out the most tender parts of a meat dish and putting it on my plate