Bitter melon

After waiting two years and two and a half months, I got to be a part of one of my favorite things on earth: BBQ with Hawaiian family. The main reason is getting to be completely surrounded by family- cousins, cousins kids running around or playing in the pool, auntie and uncle hanging by the grill and keeping all in line. Family is one of THE things I miss most when in Taiwan, and when I'm there with all of them, it's like my soul is finally able to be filled of something it was meant to have and went way too long without. The second aspect: the FOOD. Mind you, everyone thinks they make the best bar-b-que, but not everyone has Hawaiian relatives. We won't blame them for what they don't know. My islander family knows how to eat. I cannot remember one instance of leaving their presence in any state other than completely full of delicious food. The regular menu for BBQ includes grilled steak, chicken, char su chicken, grilled pork, fried wonton (stuffed by Auntie and fried by cousin), salted shrimp (very fresh Hawaiian shrimp, they even come with grass skirts..jk), poki (seasoned raw fish- very good stuff), rice, potatoe salad, and whatever cakes, desserts and snacks everybody else throws in.

After putting in some time in the pool, I sat and listened to my cousins "talk story" with my aunt and her sister. I heard my name from where my uncle and the other uncle, Uncle Ed, were talking, and got up to talk with them. That was the first time I'd met Uncle Ed (he's my uncle's brother-in-law), at least that I remember (he'd probably seen me when I was a kid, but both of us had forgotten). What started out as me answering his questions about what I did in Taiwan turned into a conversation I won't forget. We talked about the simplicity of life, how good life is when it's devoid of the distractions of over-convenience and fast paced. Thankfully, I've gotten to live in a place that has yet to give way to modernized chaos and materialism, demands to keep up with the rest of the world. People still know everybody in their community, family sticks together and friends help each other out. He told me how life was in his younger years (at least 40 years ago), how Hawaiians had worked hard and lived off of their own hard work. When he recollected working at the pineapple plantation , he paused to look over at Auntie Sandy, who was still talking it up with the other women. A gleam came to his eyes, and a smile spread across his face. "That's where I met her." I listened as he continued on about how life was, and how new rennovations to the islands were stealing away from the local community and economy. Seems like modernization in the islands was promised to be "good" for the community, yet the profits of it tend to get lost somewhere in the investors' bank accounts.

And bitter melons? Thanks to Uncle Ed I am well educated on the health benefits of bitter melon, and how to cook them. "Just slice them up real small, yeah. And den add some really din slices of beef and cook it with da peppers and lemon juice. You know it smooths out da bitter taste, yeah. If dey ever found a super food, it would be bitter melon."

The conversation ended, and on a happy note. It still makes me smile when I think of it. "You know Hawaiians, we like da kine simple life..."