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As anticipated: they really don’t accept the existence or functionality or use case of a dishwasher

They are not even capable of putting things in it lol (to be fair I only started using one a year ago too. It’s such a big cultural lift)

I needed their help with translation! I go to a Chinatown tailor for alterations.. they only really speak Toishanese. A lot of my comms happen through pointing and common words. Yesterday was ‘I lost my receipt but I have these items for collection’, which I can’t say in Toishanese. My parents speak 4 or 5 different southern Chinese languages so they helped with that. The seamstress aunties were like ‘oh we thought she’s an ABC that’s why she can’t speak to us’

For lunch, we had the chadolbaegigomtang at Seoul Gom Tang behind MacArthur BART. It is one of my favorite restaurants. The whole place feels like a tiny Korean soup restaurant in the outskirts of Seoul. It was the perfect spot on a rainy, rainy and cold day.. I thought they would say it was too expensive but they thought it was very well priced for the amount and quality of food. ‘This costs as much as it does in Seoul now’

I don’t think I’ll bother with the other things that people often associate with SF tourists and food. I know they won’t love tomato based seafood soups like cioppino or won’t find the seafood good enough quality (it’s good if you’re from a place without fresh seafood but it’s not.. my seafood-obsessed parents will like it good)

They definitely will not like SF sourdough (sour and hard breads is a very challenging thing for us. I’m better off telling them to eat a pile of rocks. That’s how much I know they’ll dislike it)

I think I’ll introduce them to southern and Latin American foods slowly.. that has a much higher chance of success due to familiarity of ingredients and spices.

We get plenty of good ‘international’ foods back in Singapore so I don’t have any special ‘French’ or ‘Italian’ spots to show them either.

They really enjoyed the civic center farmers market but were very done with citrus (due to lunar new year mandarins). So lots and lots of mandarins and pears instead

I think a big part of their concerns about me living far from home was ‘are food prices much higher’ and honestly other than cooked food (like the affordable hawker food in Singapore), raw ingredients are much more affordable here.

I buy bags of veggies for a buck at my local farmers market. I shop at ‘ethnic markets’ and I get 98% of the stuff I need for the same or lower priced (since many Asian fruits and veg are grown here or near here too)

Things that few other people will say: ‘my rent and food is cheaper in SF than back home!!’

So they were happy to see that

My parents have experienced Costco and found other Chinese uncles and aunties to talk to in Cantonese about all the deals so now they dislike me being here a little less

I’ve unleashed them on the fresh seafood stores in the Mission and they are going nuts

Dinner tonight is homemade white pepper Dungeness crab.. and noodles

I love not having to cook haha

Very happy that without any prompting they picked up some Louisiana condiments at the Vietnamese seafood store. They were curious about it and felt the ingredients were familiar. I always felt that southern food and southeast asian food had a lot in common. *

They like that they can easily converse with the fishmongers in Cantonese and some Vietnamese. Even though they speak English, people here take a while to understand them.

* Vietnamese - Cajun is totally a thing in Texas and Louisiana and I want to explore that fusion more

You're probably wondering if it's true that my parents are more interested in grocery stores than museums. They are!

However, they like the outdoors as well so they are getting their steps in. They really like the Presidio, Fisherman's Wharf, Mt Sutro areas...

They had a lot of fun going to Costco today, my mum said 'if we had a Costco back home my house would be full of stuff coz your dad loves it so much'.

We visited two of my standard seafood stores in the Mission: Fresh Meat & Seafood and Sun Fat, both kitty corner from each other on 23rd St. Sun Fat is slightly nicer, we got our crabs there.

I made sure to show them some of the Mexican and Peruvian markets that I like. Even though they are sometimes intimidated by things that are culturally very different, the existence of many familiar fruit and vegetables and spices in Latin American markets seems to make them feel like they know what's going on even if they don't know any Spanish.

It makes sense also that in a lot of Chinese markets we go to there's lots of stuff catered to Hispanic shoppers as well and many shopkeepers are conversant in market Spanish too.

There are way more cultural similarities. Can't wait to take them to my favorite SF restaurant, Cantoo, which is Cantonese and Venezuelan. Where you can have empanada and fried rice while listening to salsa and talking to people in Cantonese and Spanish.

One of the things I’m trying to impress upon my parents is that there are many cities, many neighborhoods, many ways to live.

It’s hard to describe but we come from a country that is also a city and a state: that is only 30 miles.. wide. That’s it. 6 million people. (It doesn’t actually feel super dense to me, there’s still a lot of space because of architecture and the greenery)

But

If you don’t like that one city, or that one way of life, that’s it. There isn’t another one. There isn’t a rural area or other city to move to. You have to leave: as I did.

When they last visited I think they only saw San Francisco but now I’m being more intentional about taking them to the other areas in the Bay Area.

We also leave for Monterey tomorrow where they’ll see my other, quieter life.

I don’t think I would have had a similar opportunity to work with animals where we come from.

Lunch today was at one of my favorite sit down dimsum spots in the Bay Area.

Ming’s Tasty in Oakland Chinatown. Get there before 11 ideally so you don’t have to fight old Chinese ladies.

The food is good quality, substantial. As cheap as the famous takeout dimsum spots of SF Chinatown / Clement St: way better quality. Almost as good as my fave dimsum spots that cost 2x more.

This place is really good and I’ll be really sad if they ever closed.

After lunch if you still have space, get some Chinese breads at Napoleon Super Bakery, which I also really love.

Lots of good Chinese grocery stores there for all the essential items.

Remember I keep saying that the best tofu is in Chinese and Vietnamese markets in unmarked bags? This is what it looks like (seen in a Oakland Chinatown grocer)

@skinnylatte So when are you going to write a guidebook/blog about SF/Monterey Bay area restaurants? You named a couple places last week that are near my home. And now I have to check out Ming’s Tasty.