I’m going to be real cheesy for a moment and just say thank you for being here. It’s nice to know I’m not writing into the void…I hope you’re enjoying the rest of your summer. Currently, I’m in Houston, TX, having some memorable meals. Speaking of which…
Have you ever had one of those meals that stays with you for a long time, the kind that when conjured up from memory, you’ll remember everything about it?
My husband and I were talking recently about the jobs we had in our younger days. We lamented on the fact that in the past decade or so, our jobs have been in one way or another, unsatisfactory. Is it the money? we wondered. No. Stagnating wages aren’t it. Is it the company? Not exactly.
Then we realized—it was the people.
Toxic work environments seem to be growing more common nowadays—perhaps now we’re just noticing it. The more we talked, the more we realized that the jobs we had when we were in our early 20s and still in college, were the jobs we were fond of the most. For my husband, it was working at Best Buy as a sales associate. When he told his supervisors he was leaving for a job at a hotel, they offered him more money. But at the time, he was studying hospitality so he wanted to gain experience in that industry (eventually, he’d burn out from it and leave.)
For me, the job I had in my early 20s that I loved was being an Orientation Leader at the university I attended. It was a minimum wage job that required me to show up at 7 a.m. during the summer, the kind I applied on a whim, thinking I’d never get. Surprise, surprise—I got it. I couldn’t believe it.
Being an Orientation Leader means that your job is to welcome new students and their parents, lead groups tours around campus, and being a general social butterfly…which as an introvert, was hard for me to do. But it opened up my eyes to other people and other cultures and other families, of which I am grateful to have experienced.
Part of the training process involved going on a retreat. It is exactly what it sounds like—hopping on a school bus with your teammates and leaders (whose names were Bill and Hillary, which became an inside joke), going into the woods, and sleeping in a cabin for the weekend. During this bond/training weekend, we’d do “exercises” to step out of our comfort zone.
The point is to allow your teammates to help you—for example, they were supposed to pull you back right before you jump into the river so you’d never actually hit the water; another involved holding on your partner’s hand as you walked across the rope. At any rate, I learned to trust my teammates.
I recall one of the exercises that terrified me to death was the one where we had to walk across a tightrope anchored 50 ft in the air. (Not great for someone with a fear of heights. Ahem, me.) We had to do it in pairs. My partner, a Middle Eastern guy named Saaed, appeared quiet and serious.
Admittedly, because of his “seriousness” I made presumptions about him that turned out to be entirely wrong. During the exercise, he proved to be an excellent partner. If he had any fear about heights, he didn’t let it show. While I was freaking out and crying, “I can’t do this! Ahhh!” he remained calm, held my hand and said I could take as long as I wanted…I only made it halfway there before they announced it was time for lunch.
It was in the cafeteria where we all bonded the most. In between French toast and bowls of cereal and fruit, we talked about anything and everything. And when we weren’t eating or doing team building exercises, we played Uno.
Sadly I cannot find any photos of this event or of my Orientation Days, but while I was going through photos of my high school and early college days, I stumbled upon images of an event that I completely forgot about—my 17th birthday party.
Seeing the images reminded me of how wonderful that meal was. You can see that there’s a lot of Vietnamese food! Egg rolls, rice dishes, grilled meats, all the works… plus a cake! We even drank Mountain Dew and Coca Cola. My 17th birthday party was the only birthday party I’d ever get in my life, and the last party that occurred before my dad passed away. All of my closest friends were in attendance, including my niece, sister-in-law and more. It was wonderful.
Thanks for reading. Now it’s your turn—what is the most memorable meal you’ve ever had? If you have more than one, pick your top favorite. What made it special? If you could recreate it, how would you do so?
Food (and non-food) bits
While you’re thinking about memorable meals, here’s some of my recent work. Feel free to share!
🍽Lunchables—remember those? They are still as popular as ever. I dove into the reasons why.
🇻🇳School lunches in Vietnam is a little different than in America. Here’s how.
👣While we’re still on the subject of lunches, I take shortcuts whenever I have to pack for my kids’ field trips.
🌈Did you grow up in the 90s? Chances are you’ve been to one of these play spaces that is slowly dying.
🍚I bought too much rice, and I admit—it wasn’t the best idea.
🕎Thanks to Ruth, who ignited my interest in being kosher, so I went down a rabbit role in my research on how companies go kosher.
🧃Sweet drinks like juices are now being replaced with monk fruit. Here's an explainer on what monk fruit is.
🍷Collagen infused wine! Can you believe it? What the heck is collagen in food anyway? Hint: it’s not what it’s hyped up to be
🤷🏻♀️Tried out IHOP’s new Minion-inspired menu…and it was disappointing. Save yourself the money and just see the movie.
🎡Corn dogs! Need I say more? These are a wonderful, deliciously bad for you summer treat for me. Best of all, it has roots in Oregon.
👩🏻🍳I was SO EXCITED to find out about this Vietnamese restaurant, doing things in a completely new way—drive through ethnic cuisine. (On my list of places to visit in Houston!)
Book rec
We Came, We Saw, We Left: A Family Gap Year by Charles Wheelan. A memoir/travelogue about a family who goes on a trip around the world for nine months. Such a fun read! Makes me wish I can do the same thing.
In case you missed it…
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On some memorable meals of my youth
Thanks for the shoutout, Hoang! I thought you did a good job with the “rabbit hole” that is kosher food. I like the many subjects you explore in your food writing for The Takeout--a good gig (and read) for those curious about food products, places and trends. ...Also that was an interesting story about your early job as an college orientation leader. Many of my first jobs weren’t so pleasant. They were primarily lessons in what I DIDN’T want to be or do. Perhaps I’ll write more about that sometime...
Lovely read as usual Hoang, those spring rolls truly woke up my appetites.