The first time he returned to play, the overseas Vietnamese-German groom was surprised to see his wife going to the garden to pick all kinds of vegetables and fruits, and fish caught in the pond to cook rice.
“Going to the river to eat fish, going back to the field to eat crabs”
Last summer, Le Thi Tuyet Van (36 years old) returned to Vietnam from Germany after 3 years of separation. Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic, she has not been able to visit her family. Nostalgia for her homeland made her decide to bring her husband back to spend the summer for 3 months.
Ms. Van’s family has a total of 10 brothers, about 40 grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Although the family has many children, only two grandparents live together, the children are far away, have work or New Year holidays, and they sometimes run over.
What makes Van the proudest is her parents’ 1,500m2 garden in her hometown of Long An. Each pineapple clump, vegetable bed, flower branch… are taken care of by his 83-year-old father.
The garden is 1,500 square meters, including the fish pond next to the house
The garden is like a mini supermarket, growing more than 40 different types of plants such as gourds, squash, melons, amaranth, centella asiatica… and dozens of herbs, from the smell of thorns, chives, lettuce, chili. Alternating between the corners are luxuriant fruit trees, lemon, toad, guava, tamarind, banana, coconut, custard apple, mango… Outside is a fish pond, raising all kinds of giant fish, coriander, goby eggs…
Although Van’s three sisters are old, they still spend time taking care of the garden little by little. The vegetable garden by his own hand caught worms, weeded, and hoped the ground. The fish pond is also because the two grandparents collected ripe fruit, discarded it, and then chopped it up for the fish to eat. He said it was the joy of old age, growing mainly for his children and grandchildren to eat, not sell.
Ms. Van often calls her father by addressing him intimately: “Thunder thanks to God’s mercy to give her strength and endurance, none of the brothers at home are made of purple.
Tia likes to take care of her own garden. Many people still say, don’t let purple escalate so high, it’s too dangerous, but actually, at home, no one can advise you, so you have to give up.
My mother said: “The ripe jackfruit fell to the fish to eat, but he did not accept it, he had to climb a ladder to pick it up”. Purple peeled off the cooked jackfruit seeds and then pounded them to feed the fish. The rest of the jackfruit was finely chopped and thrown into the pond, Tía said, it had to be done so the fish would eat it all, so the pond wouldn’t rot. The most caring fish feeder in the solar system that I met was purple!” , Ms. Van confided.
Gourd, melon, pineapple, star fruit… all have enough
The vegetable garden and fish pond are taken care of by Van’s father
Son-in-law was surprised because no one went to the market at home
The past 3 months of summer have been an unforgettable experience for Van and her husband. The groom from Germany was surprised by his father-in-law’s shady garden, even without going to the market for a week.
Ms. Van still remembers the time she received her husband’s unexpected question: “That day when I came back, I saw that no one was going to the market in the morning, so I asked: Wow, this afternoon we didn’t cook rice or did we go to the restaurant to eat? I don’t see anyone going to the market?!”. I said, no, I ate at that house this afternoon. Then I went around the garden, picked all kinds of things to cook in a pot of sour soup, and my father sat fishing. That’s the end of the meal, no need to go to the market.”
Indeed, Ms. Van’s family rarely goes to buy cooking food because for every meal, just go to the garden to have food, fruit is available in season. Occasionally change meals to buy more pork, beef…
Fresh food in the garden makes for a delicious meal
Each dish has a taste of the domestic wind, making her shiver, recalling childhood memories. Previously, she and her husband were both in Germany. Because of the cold all year round, they could only grow vegetables in the summer. Ms. Van likes to eat rolls, her house is far from the Vietnamese market, so she can’t go often. Inheriting the gift of “cultivation” from her father, she used the balcony to turn into a vegetable garden, growing vegetables in Styrofoam boxes and pots.
However, 6 years away from home makes her still yearn to find country food cooked by herself, vegetables grown by her father. Now, fish with pepper, sour soup of snakehead fish cooked with pineapple, mint picked in the garden. Then crabs grow in a few pots, sometimes picked to squeeze salad with beef. Van’s favorite dish is deep-fried coriander with fish sauce and boiled vegetables, every time she cooks, she “empties the rice cooker”.
“I always remember the lyrics of the song “Going to the river to eat fish, going back to the field to eat crab.” Although the meal was simple and not fussy, for me it was the most delicious meal, very delicious, different from the daily meal that only had to be eaten. couple.
Going home without knowing how to eat fish, eating fish sauce will always lose. In the countryside, there are many dishes like in the city, braised fish, fried fish, salted fish with lemongrass and chili, dried fish, braised fish sauce, sour soup, vegetable soup, boiled vegetables, and so on. From time to time, there are guests or children who come home to cook this dish… I stay with my grandparents for 3 months, stay at home with two loves, don’t need to travel far,” said Ms. Van.
It was 3 months of summer that made Van decide to arrange a job to return to Vietnam to live with her parents. For her, there is no place like the homeland, with a tray of rice filled with love, a very strange taste that children far from home cannot find anywhere else.
I did not expect that one day I would meet my ex-husband in such a difficult situation!