Professional Documents
Culture Documents
TO MY GR ANDMA MARISA
# 117
Introduction
10
week Ill be leaving to travel around the world. Im going to visit more than fifty countries
and Ill be gone for nearly two years. Ill be going to Alaska, Zimbabwe, and China
everywhere, pretty much. Ill stay with people from all over the world, in their homes. Ill
take their pictures and Ill interview them. Theyre people I met on the Internet, people
Ive never seen before, but theyre offering me a place to sleep. A magazine is paying me
to do it. Isnt that incredible? Every week you can pick up the magazine at the newsstand
here on the corner and see where I am and who Im staying with.
She just looked at me, her expression uncertain.
Dont worry, Nonna. Its safe! I found these people on a secure Web site. Theyve
all got excellent reviews, which means that other people who have stayed with them
have highly recommended them. I chose my hosts carefully, so dont worry. Besides,
the countries where Im going arent dangerous. I mean, in some of them Ill have to
keep my eyes open, sure, but theyre quiet places, for the most part. Nothings going to
happen to me, youll see!
I spent more than a quarter of an hour trying to reassure her because I could tell
that the whole idea frightened her. I could understand why she felt the way she did,
after all. She had rarely left home and she had no idea what the places where I would
be traveling were like. In her mind, anywhere farther than thirty miles from home was a
strange and foreign land. Then, finally, she asked me her first question. It was then that
I realized what her true concern had been all along.
But, Bagonghi, she said (she has always called me that, and I still dont know
why), what are you going to eat? Are you sure you want to go so far from home? Whos
going to make food for you? Ive heard they eat dogs in China, and in Africa they barely
have any food at all! Stay here. Its better if you do. For lunch and dinner you can go to
your mamas house, or come here to mine.
Her concerns had nothing to do with danger or with the job I had chosen to do! Her
worries were simply about what I was going to eat.
I burst out laughing and said, Dont worry, Nonna. The world is full of grandmothers who know how to cook well. Just like you, theyve always cooked for their
grandchildren with love. I promise you Ill go and eat in their homes and, to prove to
you how well theyve treated me, Ill bring you pictures of the dishes they make for me,
and copies of their recipes, too.
That is how this project was born.
11
C A R TA G E N A , C O L O M B I A
Ana
Tulia
Gmez
46
Fry the arepas in batches, turning once, for about 4 minutes, or until the egg
inside is cooked. Remove the arepas from the pan with a slotted spoon and
transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate. Allow the arepas to cool for a few minutes
and serve.
47
B A KO N G , C A M B O D I A
Gnep
Tan
I didnt spend much time in Cambodia; I was just passing through and had
only a few days and contacts at hand.
When I arrived in the area of Angkor Wat
to visit the temple, I asked the driver of the
73 YEARS OLD
tuk-tuk who had brought me there for help in
finding a granny for my project. He said, Of
course, I can find a granny. I can take you home if
you want. Forty minutes later, after passing through
at least twelve miles of jungle, we arrived at the house
of his mother, Gnep. It was a house on piles, about six
feet above the ground. During the wet season, the level
of the nearby lake rises at least three feet, she explained.
Her house, or rather hut, is entirely made of intertwined pieces
of wood and banana leaves. There are no windows or doors, no
electricity or running water, but, despite all this, her house is perfectly tidy, and even under pouring rain not a drop gets inside.
Gnep has spent all her seventy-three years in this tiny fishing
village. I tried more than once to ask her the number of her children
and grandchildren, but she never gave me a precise number. She always
answered, A lot.
162
Lok Lak
SERVES 1
teaspoon sugar
teaspoon salt
teaspoon freshly ground black
pepper
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 garlic cloves, minced
5 ounces beef sirloin, very thinly sliced
FOR THE CHILI SAUCE
teaspoon salt
teaspoon sugar
teaspoon freshly ground black
pepper
teaspoon minced garlic
(1 medium clove)
For a little more punch, add the chili sauce to the marinade rather than when
163
T H E H AG U E , H O L L A N D
Tineke
Reijndorp
226
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons sugar, plus more to
taste
1 full cup fresh strawberries, stems
removed, leaves left on, plus more
for garnish
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
leaves
Vanilla sugar is granulated sugar combined with the seeds scraped from a
vanilla bean. The seeds are kept in the sugar in an airtight container for 2 weeks
so that the sugar takes on the flavor of the vanilla (the longer the storage, the
fuller the flavor). You can make your own by simply storing a vanilla bean in a
jar of sugar.
227