Family Dinner

Last night I was at T's house for dinner.  It was awesome on several levels.


First the food was incredible.  


It started with an appetizer made with the tiniest baby clams I have ever seen.  Add in some curry, some kind of small nut (soy nuts I think), a leafy herb and served with rice cracker.  It looked something like this.

I LOVED this.  I actually could not stop eating it.  Luck for me, his mom made a lot of us.  After the 5th bowl of clams (small bowls) I figured I'd better stop, because there was a second course. 


Next with spring rolls like the ones in the first picture.  Fresh cooked shrimp & beef, noodles, herbs, apples, with some fish sauce for dipping.  I did pretty good rolling all the ingredients into a roll (just like a burrito) and that was really good too. (Not as good as the clams though.)  I ate 3 of them and thought I was going to explode.

There is one other thing.  Chanh muối (salty lemonade).  I know, it sounds gross, but his mom makes it and I just can't get enough.  I was over at his house on Thursday too and his mom made a point to tell me that she was making it for the next night.  She probably would have made it whether I was coming or not, but for her to point it out to me, shows she remembered I like it and was thinking about me.  


So the food was great, but that was not the best part of the evening.  While I have always felt welcome there, today I felt more like part of the family.  Maybe it was because they put me to work, setting up the dinner.  Because there were more people than usual, dinner was at a larger table down stairs.  I was busy carrying bowls and plates up and down the stairs.


T's brother has a son about 5 years old.  When I come he wants to play to play with me.  Today was more that usual.  


There was a lot more conversation in English than usual and I was able to feel more included.  I'm not sure exactly what it was, but I really did feel more included and accepted than ever before.

It was a perfect family dinner.  The only part that was not wonderful, was when I had to leave a drive back to my house.  But even then, I did it was warmth in my heart.