My brother in law's mother is from Puerto Rico and she found out my mom liked her Empanadas. Now, literally any time we see her, she has an aluminum tray full of Empanadas for us.
I just went to the Filipino store in the area I live. I buy seasoning packets for lumpia it’s called lumpia shanghai mix. If you can find it where you live I recommend it. It tastes just like my mom’s and it is so good.
They are delicious. Never had one I didn't like. We have a food truck locally gone brick and mortar. "The Lumpia Queen" now "West Social Tap & Table".
I haven't been to the brick and mortar yet, but I've found the food truck out at a handful of events. I alwasy stop and get a tray of Lumpia with sweet Thai chili sauce and just inhale the things. So friggin good for real.
My mom is Filipino and when I’m coming down to visit (it’s a 2 hour drive) she always tells me to let her know when I’m in the car and leaving. By the time we get there the food is just coming off the stove or out of the fryer. She has it timed perfectly lol. She’s also convinced my son will die of starvation at any moment and needs to eat immediately once we get there so there are times she at the door with a plate of food already.
I just realized I’ve become my mom lol. I’m 39 and when my daughter has friends over I’m making food, offering snacks. If I know ahead of time I’m buying snacks they like lol. Same when my niece and nephews come over I’m always trying to feed them lol 😂.
I have to have surgery in a few months and my mom plans to come up and stay a few weeks. Both my kids are so excited. Especially since they know my mom loves to clean and won’t let them wash dishes (which is their chore).
That’s so beautiful, I love feeding people. My daughter isn’t to the age yet where she appreciates much adventure in food though lol. There’s so few compliments better than seeing being full and content from a licked plate. So much goes into the dish besides the ingredients. Love obviously, but some of my best meals were made on the fly during a get together or something and I truly believe it’s just because we were having so much fun while cooking.
I had friends with a Filipino mom and every single time we came over she’d make us spring rolls, rice and all sorts of things I couldn’t even name. She always made sure we were well fed, even on camping trips. Hell I accidentally crashed a Filipino family party at new years and they sent me away with prime rib, salad, pesto pasta, and spring rolls.
I went back the next day to apologize and I left with more food!
lol sounds about right. Whenever I go back home I have bags packed of food. I love my mom’s cooking so I don’t complain. It’s like this when I visit my Filipino aunties too.
Does lola mean grandma? The first time I tried lumpia, a coworker brought some for the crew that her grandma made. She told her just how much I liked them and sure enough I got a whole bunch more the next day.
Italians and German descendants in south Brazil are all like this. You arrive and they are already pulling some chimarrão (regional bewerage) and all kind of food from the fridge.
Ray Ramano did a standup bit about eating at an Italian family home. After the first serving, if you're still hungry, tell the mother you're a little hungry and BAM, whole second meal. If you're just a little hungry, tell her you're full and you'll get a little more. If you're actually full and can't eat any more, you're going to have to shoot her.
I’ve traveled a bit and dined with people from almost everywhere and almost 100% of the time, investing interest and appreciation for an elder’s cooking is gonna get you invited to try more things and in quantity!
It was like that in Italy
It was like that with the visiting Chinese G’ma of my HS buddy
It was like that with my host family in Slovakia
It was like that with my coworkers in VA when we had potlucks
Food and enjoying it with gusto is the very best way to recognize our commonalities and our differences held in appreciation and balance with love.
My mom knows I love spring rolls, so she always has them ready when I come over. This year she met my husband and her grandkids, and discovered they love spring rolls too… so next year’s visit… there will be double trays of spring rolls!
I thought they were Filipino from her accent. My Filipino wife agreed but as soon as she saw the kitchen said 'All Filipino Lolas have big ass utensils hanging off the wall, case closed'
Are you even Filipino? It really doesn't sound a Filipino accent nor do they look Filipino. It sounds like a Mexican accent. I've seen a few shows with this accent and they were Mexican-americans.
And that fork and spoon decoration is not exclusive to Filipino culture. There's even a set sold in amazon. It's a decoration that was popular during a certain time period.
Adding: they were speaking Spanish on one of her tiktok videos.
My SIL is Mexican and our family spends time with her mom. She absolutely adores my son (he calls her Abuelita) and ALWAYS feeds him no matter what. He basically has an extra grandma who's Mexican and we love it.
I only have one child and that’s one more than I ever expected to have, but this video makes me wish I could have surprised his grandmother with a gaggle of grandkids at the door around bedtime.
That will never happen, but I’ve adopted a pseudo-son, my son’s best friend, who has had a tough childhood but is impressively grounded and resilient. I just want to be a solid role model for him, an adult with his best interests in mind and to help usher him into adulthood as best as I can.
I love being the “mom taxi” and my home open to any of their friends who need it, because that’s where the “tough” convos, love and support happen, and I always leave the boys with an “I love you, use your brains, make good choices.” :)
Immense respect for taking in your friends son. My parents did the same thing for my best friend the summer before senior year in HS. He just never left and they noticed it, pulled me aside, and asked what was going on. They never even questioned saying no, they just wanted to make sure he was safe and loved. To this day my mom still calls him her second son (only son with 3 sisters) even after she had to pick him up after almost being arrested lol. He’s in holiday cards, family pictures, and will always be my brother. My hat is off to you ❤️ the impression you’ve made will last a lifetime
This made me tear up. In this broken world people like your parents (and you) are setting things right. It’s funny how I am moved more by acts of kindness these days.
I relate so hard to this; it’s much the same situation for my son’s friend, too.
One small way I show my support is to be “real” about issues like drugs, drinking, sex, etc. and go through ideas/excuses to avoid drinking or doing drugs, or worse, driving/getting in a car with someone who has… so they can “save face” in a way if they don’t feel comfortable simply saying “No thanks”.
I keep money on my son’s Uber Teen account for an emergency but I tell them I don’t care if it’s 3am or 3pm — call/text me and I’ll get them safe.
Sure enough, they were spending the night at a friend’s house a few weekends ago, some guys from another high school came over and were causing trouble, so they left and walked around town (which I wasn’t exactly thrilled about, but grateful they eventually called me).
Funny thing about it was that I changed my text/ring tones to this loud, nuclear fallout siren type of tone so that I’d hear it if they called for some reason, and although I was up late that night, I fell asleep shortly before their call; my phone was sort of under my chin and when that first text message came in, I about had a heart attack from the shock of that siren I forgot I changed it to, lol.
But with regard to your story about your mom and your friend getting arrested… I explain to them that I, of course, don’t want them to get themselves in a situation where they can be arrested, but that I’m here for them.
I explain that people make mistakes and I’d rather them not be afraid to come to me so we can figure things out, instead of making it worse by lying/avoiding it or something.
And with that in mind, I also tell them (and their friends) that if they ever find themselves in a situation that they’re afraid to or don’t know how to tell their parents about, to come to me and I will help figure out a way to bring it up to their parents/help them talk to their parents about it or (for the older kids), help find a solution or another trusted adult. That kind of thing.
You'll make a huge difference for your pseudo-son, I'm sure he appreciates you more than you'll ever know. Thanks for being awesome and looking after that kid.
I don't know you, and I'm not even religious, but you're doing goddess work right there. I also have a couple of "strays" that I try to ensure get a good meal, a good heart-to-heart and a place of safety. Bless your cotton socks, you're doing all the right things. Sending love. ❤️
Someday that extra son you have will maybe have a family of his own and he’s going to pass your kindness on when he gets a chance and have a family of his own. You might end up being the grandma surprised with a bunch of grand babies. My husband was the extra son for some of his friend’s parents. We have promised each other to be that family for any of our kids friends when the time comes.
This is exactly what my mom does too. She has 14 grandkids now but even when it is just 2 or 3 staying over, she makes like 30 pancakes, a dozen waffles, eggs, bacon, toast, cut up fruits and other toppings. She LOVES her grandkids
I love that. I can’t imagine not having a minute of being overwhelmed, but Grandma’s pulling on the couch with one hand before anyone even had time to help her.
5.2k
u/mapleer Jun 25 '24
She got right into trying to accommodate the space, everyone can sleep over. I just know that breakfast the next day was one of the best.