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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’

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)

I had to buy them some items to bring with us to Monterey tomorrow because I don’t think they understand what it means to be somewhere ‘where you can’t have rice or noodles before 9am’

Like I told them that and they were just like what do you mean?? that doesn’t exist in their head

Luckily I have a small two person rice cooker over there so I’ll just put that in their hotel room, bring a small bag of rice, and they can sort out their proteins and vegetables at Trader Joe’s over there haha

The next few days will be.. interesting (they’ve clearly been to other countries but I think they were so used to the idea of ‘we can have any food we like in San Francisco’ so it hasn’t occurred to them that California is.. not all SF / Oakland / San Jose)

It’s not that we don’t want to eat non Asian food

It’s also that food in Monterey is like $50 per meal and

Kind of bland

lol

My dad set up his little kopi station with the sock filter at my house

Fa cai yu sheng (a Singaporean / Malaysian Chinese lunar new year tradition also known as ‘lo hei’, or the prosperity salad toss hehe)

Normally in the month before lunar new year, coworkers and friends and family will go out to lunch and do this together (even a few times a day with different groups of people). There’s usually sashimi involved because there’s a food pun:

年年有余 nian nian you yu, a new year greeting about prosperity, kind of sounds like ‘lots of fish!’

@Littlebobbytables most people from that part of the world do not like crunchy bread at all, almost as much as people here do not like soft breads. Just isn’t done or desired or wanted

Rocks is just a metaphor for the texture!

@skinnylatte @Littlebobbytables That's a big difference between European and Asian food culture.

There's a reason why the most-widely spread Christian prayer includes the line "Give us this day our daily bread.."

I love having a cold sandwich lunch. Prawns with rocket on wholegrain bread.

My South Asian friends are not nearly as keen. They want it at the very least to be heated. So many panini lunches.

@mjausson @Littlebobbytables I really struggle with food that isn’t warm. I have friends who have moved to NL or Ireland and they tell me about how they cry when they first encounter a cold breakfast and lunch.

It.. would be a struggle for me. I appreciate some things like a good Danish open face prawn sandwich, or very good cold cuts, but in general I can only deal with cold food when all of the components are extremely high quality.

Salad is another good example. I always thought I hated salad.. until I started making warm salads.

@skinnylatte @Littlebobbytables Yes, as strange as it seemed to me, cold food is an acquired taste.

OTOH many Europeans who aren't from the UK struggle with a Full English Breakfast.

@mjausson @skinnylatte

I hear you on the full breakfast. When I was in Scotland/Ireland I had to give up.

@Littlebobbytables @skinnylatte It takes some getting used to, for sure.

For me a breakfast heavy on protein and slow carbs is great. I could keep going until 2 or 3 pm on a full English.

Much better than, say an American pancake breakfast. Hello 11 am sugar crash!

@jasonli yes he wanted to buy me a 18 pc cookware set, queen bed made of wood, and many vacuums

@tedmielczarek oh yes... NOLA feels like the sort of place I will spend a lifetime exploring..

@skinnylatte we randomly stumbled into this unassuming place because we needed to use the bathroom, then looked at the menu and wound up getting their charcuterie board where virtually everything (down to the mustard) was made in-house: https://toupsmeatery.com/

@tedmielczarek i would LOVE this sort of place. thank you!

@WigglyWigtails oh! Yeah Sydney’s definitely got the Chinese and Vietnamese and some other stuff. But I was definitely only exposed to other stuff from the other Americas here. And also the immigrant foods from many other parts and other continents. (Huge west African scene too)

LA is even better! My friend from Mexico City says that you can have street tacos around all of LA and basically have every type of super regional Mexican food that she would have to travel further for in Mexico.. and also very good.

I personally don’t care for the super foodie / media focused California food scene but have enjoyed the little immigrant stories and adventures

Like this road trip I want to go on https://la.eater.com/22421212/california-barbacoa-mexican-tacos-los-angeles-bay-area-central-coast

@skinnylatte asians (me included) just take that meme about "Have Experiences, Not Things" to be all about food. Eg, my son knows that when I travel, my itinerary has 2 major stops "food" and "live music".

@Bronwyn they do! Every day I think

But lunch of course

@skinnylatte this is excellent and timely information because my niece and nephew are visiting next Friday and they love dim sum. Also I can introduce them to taking public transportation to get there.

@Bronwyn yay

@iyamwhoiyam good eye

@rednikki seaside is so much better haha

@skinnylatte Seaside has CHANGED since I lived there, I think!

@rednikki good Mexican food! Korean markets etc

@douglasvb haha yesss

They like pancakes too. It’ll be ok (for a day)

@skinnylatte hopefully it's a clear day so you can go to Nepenthe for the view!

@SVChucko soon!

@Grey Yep like yuba (tofu ‘skin’) but in stacks and rolls