Cơm nước mắm (steamed rice with fish sauce) is my forever favorite dish. It is a dish of the old poor time when my mother could not afford meat, or fish, or eggs for every of our meal.

She is a big fan of homemade meals but ironically cooking is not her favorite. One Saturday night, she flew home very late after a business trip so she had to miss her dinner. A few things that she misses when she is away from home are Huế specialties and homemade meals. She went to bed with the hope that her mother whom she nicknamed chef Mama would cook her a big lunch on Sunday instead. She woke up the next morning to find out that chef Mama would be away from home for the whole day. She sighed. Thinking about eating alone at a quán cơm bụi (a kind of local food stall serving cheap rice meals) or a restaurant made her stomach rumbled.

Many local people will shake their head without hesitation if you ask: “Would you like some mưa Huế?” For me, I’d love some. Mưa Huế always arouses my appetite.

Nậm loves her outfit made of green banana leaf or dong (a kind of leaf whose scientific name is Phrynium placentarium) and wears it all the time. Lọc is a naughty guy. Sometimes he puts on the same banana leaf outfit as Nậm does, but sometimes he just enjoys being uncovered. Huế people call him Lọc Gói (wrapped Lọc) when he has clothes on and Lọc Trần (topless Lọc) when he goes naked.