"Does this taste like Burmese food?" I asked Annie, at our Burmese dinner on September 24, 2023. Annie served most of her LDS mission with Karen immigrants in Kentucky. The Karen tribe is one of the groups that lives in Myanmar, formerly called Burma. "No," Annie said, "but that's a good thing. The basic taste is the same, but if this chicken dish was like what I ate in Kentucky, it would have chicken feet and chicken fat and lots more fish sauce!" I remember a Brazilian woman from Jonny's mission saying she had to leave out some of the best parts of the meat for her fejoida when the missionaries came. There's apparently a difference among cultures as to what makes really good cooking!
Alyssa and Kirsten were my helpers in cooking the Burmese dinner. My guests are always good sports, as they cook ethnic foods they may have never seen or tasted before.
Another important role for guests is to wait patiently until the food finally appears!
The dinner included chicken and beef curries, salad, tropical fruit, and lots of rice.
The appetizer was a mixture of pineapple juice and lemonade, the drink my mother often served, and a memory of oriental lands.
One challenge of cooking ethnic food is finding dishes that children will actually eat.
Alan and Shauna were pleased with their dinner!
And the chef was pleased, too.
The Burmese dessert was especially good--sauteed bananas with coconut ice cream.
Lily is a beloved guest. She brings her "baby" with her--a stuffed panda.
Lily and J seem to be making friends with each other.
The best comraderie may be going on in the basement, rather than upstairs. Jonny and Jenny's boys are strickly limited in their TV time during the week, but on Sundays their parents let them watch TV in my basement after they eat dinner.
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