When I was younger, my mom always read the story Saturdays and Teacakes. This story was about his Saturday traditions with his grandmother. I would always think about how I didn’t have a weekly tradition with my parents or grandparents. I’ve recently learned that my family has a tradition with noodles, but I did not realize this when I was younger.
My family makes beef noodle soup when relatives come in to town, for any kind of celebration, or when my brothers and I leave for school. This dish is made with beef, soy sauce, tomatoes, and a variety of spices. It also includes long flat noodles and bok choy on top. My mom, born in Taiwan but raised in the United States, learned how to make this dish from her mother. They owned a restaurant in Augusta, Georgia, and beef noodle soup was their most popular dish. My mother got the tradition of eating beef noodle soup from her family when they were still living in Taiwan, and she continued it on in my family.
I never really paid attention to this dish until I got into college. When I was younger, this was just a dish we would eat occasionally. I was always excited to eat it because my mom makes it the best, but it was never my favorite. When I got to college, I realize how much I missed my mom’s cooking. I missed the way the whole house would fill up with the aromas from what she was making in the kitchen. The way I would be drawn away from my homework to see what she was up to.
A few months into last school year, I noticed that boyfriend was really missing his mom’s homecooked meals. He has only been in the United States for a few years, so some days he just really misses good Chinese food. As a surprise, I decided to try to make my mom’s beef noodle soup. He had it once when he was at my house visiting my family and he really enjoyed it. I’m not much of a cook, but I made sure to buy the best ingredients I could find. I drove to the biggest Chinese grocery store I could find and bought the most expensive beef shank. I wasn’t sure about the all the spices, so I just bought a few that I thought would go well in the soup.
Once I got home, the real work began. I wasn’t sure how big to slice the meat, or how long to fry it on the pan. I finally got the beef to a nice brown color and decided to continue with the soup. I boiled the meat and added my variety of spices I had collected from the store. Every few minutes I would stir the soup and remove the scum that had floated to the top. I left the soup to simmer for a couple hours.
Right as I was about to boil the noodles, my boyfriend walks into the apartment. “Wow! That smells great! What are you making?” He came and hugged me from behind as I dropped the noodles into the boiling water. Finally, when the noodles were done, I put everything together in a bowl. I made sure each one of us got enough noodles and a few pieces of beef along with the bok choy. I could tell he was excited to try the soup I made. That night, I told him I made this dish so he wouldn’t miss home as much. I hoped it reminded him of his mom’s homecooked meals that he loved so much.
Since then, we’ve been making beef noodle soup almost every month, trying to change up the recipe and see how we can improve the dish. These noodles were a tradition in my house, but now they are a new tradition. This new tradition helps us feel at home even when we are far away from home and I love that I now have more reasons to have this soup.
I chose to imitate Ping An Mien, a Chinese Family Noodle Story. I chose this piece because I felt as though I could really relate with her story and I could feel her emotions when she described her family and her soup. After imitating this piece, I learned about the similarities of Chinese-American families. She described her noodle traditions with her family, and I was able to see the connections to the traditions within my family. While our families make different kinds of noodles for celebrations and sending family members away, the idea is the same. Spending time with family is important and it is comforting to do it with food. I’ve learned that my culture is about sharing the special moments with the people around you and prioritizing the family connections. Our food is a great way to bring everyone together. This is a common theme in not only my culture, but also in other cultures around the world. There was definitely a lot of culture embedded in Susannah Chen’s story as well as mine. The tradition of eating a specific food when someone leaves or for celebrations is very common in the Chinese culture. For example, some people eat dumplings to send family members off while others eat noodles. I tried to tie in the love and joy and all the emotions we can get from just eating one bowl of noodles and how much it can mean to someone.
Adrienne, very fine creative writing. You could use some details and references in your reflection. You’ve lost some points in areas such as “completeness,” “engagement with materials,” and “connection making.” Thanks for all the thoughtful journal entries!