Forming Stronger Bonds With Family

 They say that bonds are formed when a group of people struggle together right? I unexpectedly experienced this today with my grandparents. They are currently visiting Saigon for a whole month! This is their first time ever visiting Asia and I've been doing my best to show them around the city. We have been partaking in one of their favorite activities, eating food. My grandparents are from South America so they have no problem in eating all the local food in Saigon. Duck intestines? Pig brain? Chicken feet? No problem!

We started off the day eating something nice and familiar. Spicy Italian bagels and hot cups of coffee at New York Bagel in Thao Dien. Our meals this week have been special for more reasons than just the food. My grandparents and I have been catching up about our family history, my parents, their parents, misunderstandings, struggles, success stories and just about everything that the moment invites us to discuss. That has been the most powerful part of our trip in my opinion. And suddenly this afternoon the three of us were unexpectedly thrown into a challenge of fiery proportions!

After over an hour of sitting in the shade of the huge buildings around Landmark 81 (the tallest building in Vietnam) and having many deep conversations, it was about time to partake in my grandparents' favorite activity. DEVOURING FOOD. We walked for a bit to see what we could eat. Broken rice? Nah we already tried that a few days ago. Hmm what is something new and exciting? Oh! We came across a sign that said Hai Di Lao, this is a Taiwanese style hotpot restaurant. I had been there a few times before so I knew my grandparents would like it. I prepared myself to get their reactions on video!

The restaurant is located in the bottom floor of Landmark 81 itself. From the outside of the restaurant we could only see the hostess and some ice cream that was being sold to people walking around. Table for three please. The hostess signals for us to follow her down a hall, and suddenly we see rows and rows of tables with families eating hotpot. My grandparents were surprised to see this big restaurant was hidden from view. We were seated and handed an iPad to order the soup base and meat. Grandma you want spicy food right? She says yes. So I order the SPICIEST hotpot possible. Now time to choose the meats. Pig brain, chicken gizzard, duck intestines, pork belly, beef, fish whatever you got we'll take it!

The pot arrives and the staff pours this red hot soup base into it. It already LOOKED spicy as fuck. Then the meat arrived and we started to place it into the boiling soup base. We were excited for those pig brains, yum! I was ready to be as smart as Peppa. Suddenly one of the restaurant staff arrive with our noodles and starts doing a dance for us, with the noodles! I had witnessed this in the past but I wanted to see my grandparents' reaction to this so of course I got it on video and it was hilarious. My grandma's face was like - what the fuck is going on?

After letting the meats boil for a few minutes we figured that hey we should start eating. I used one of the ladles to scoop some food out for my grandma. A big scoop of red hot lava with the most random meats were placed into my grandma's bowl. There were also some little red veggies camouflaged in this magma-like soup, I didn't pay much attention to them as I served my grandma her food. She doesn't know how to use chopsticks so I see her scoop up this spicy food with a spoon, this is where the fun begins.

Out of the corner of my eye I see my grandma take her first bite of her food, and she starts coughing! After seeing her reaction to the noodle dance and the spicy food I felt like one of those indigenous people on the show Jackass who would laugh at Steve-O while he suffered trying to drink reindeer blood. It was awesome. I was so surprised, my grandma usually makes the spiciest ceviche on Earth! If this food was making her cough, then this food must be the real deal. And those red veggies? They were entire chunks of spicy as fuck chili hehe. This made me excited. I see my grandpa is also struggling a bit to eat this, but the flavor itself is enjoyable! It's finally my turn... I'm so goddamn excited to try this food. I serve myself and eat the food with chopsticks. Hey this is great! Spicy but not too unbearably hot. Let me take a sip of this soup base. *Slurp* HOLY FUCK DON'T COUGH DUDE, DON'T COUGH AND SPILL THIS STUFF ALL OVER YOUR GRANDMA. THIS HOTPOT FEELS LIKE WERE EATING STRAIGHT OUT OF SATAN'S BUTTHOLE. 

After the initial burn had subsided and we had all felt the mighty fury of the spicy food, there was an unspoken agreement between the three of us. It felt something like this. Yes, this food is spicy. But we know what the fuck spicy food is. We are not beginners. We are now all committing to finishing ALL of this food out of straight up honor for our family. Challenge accepted MOTHERFUCKERS. I imagine my grandma actually saying this and it hypes me the fuck up.

Breathing hard and with teary eyes, we finished every single peace of meat in that hotpot. We even ordered dessert! I was so goddamn proud of us. The three of us had attacked this spicy food head on as a team and we were victorious. My plan for next time is for us to try some extremely hot food from Laos, we are ready for the next struggle! If you are currently in Saigon and would like to experience this with us, you are more than welcome. My grandparents will be here for a whole month!

Much love everyone,

And I wish you and your family can work together to surpass a challenge soon!