How to Cub Mov (Steam Rice), Hmong Style
The following is a chapter from Yia Vang’s cookbook memoir showcasing Hmong food and her experience as a first generation Hmong American learning to cook from her mom.
Doors Open to Everyone
When I was homeless, I didn’t have a choice of what to eat. If it was cold food, milk, bread, peanut butter and jelly, an apple, I’d eat it. At Free Food, the food is great. We make it ourselves. We make it out of our hearts.
4th of July in Chi town
I sat on the couch of our 17th floor apartment, staring out the floor to ceiling windows and seeing a sea of fireworks that stretched across the city of Chicago. A city I had never seen before, where my first memory of it is glowing and lit up with vibrant color. 4th of July has […]
“How Much for a Flower?”
We were loading all our bags of food and supplies up on the curb for the short drive over to the church when a man stopped me to ask about the flowers. We had a bucket stuffed to capacity with colorful roses and peonies, all donations from a local flower shop in New York, Eros […]
Food and Love – Connecting the Dots
For as long as I can remember I’ve loved to bake for people, to love them though food. My mom despised cooking and my dad had no idea how, but somewhere I picked up the love of baking. I remember having birthday parties when everyone would get a cupcake and get to decorate it to […]
Black Joy & Genius Tour 6.29.22
Next stop NC. I stepped off train, and was greeted by my parents. No sooner than I got to their house, did I test positive for the Rona. After all this time living in my redwood cloaked, clean California bubble, I figured it was only a matter of time before la covida loca got me. […]
Black Joy & Genius Tour 6.20.22
Sitting in Union Station, in awe and digesting my DC experience, I drifted off and missed my train to NC. I rebooked on a later train, but the only seating available would be in a sleeper car. I interpreted sleeper car as a kind of luxury. Maybe I’d have that first class experience I wrote […]
Black Joy & Genius Tour 6.16.22
After being in NY for 11 yrs, my move to the redwood forests of Northern California was an extreme switch. After NY, I couldn’t just go to an in-between suburban bardo. I turned in my Dockers and desk for MUCK boots, thirty chickens, two cows, six goats, a mini donkey and a gang of friends […]
Booorn to be Wiiiild
It looks like acknowledging the genius in people who have done things that we hate. It looks like respecting the decision of a homeless person who has chosen a life in the wild over the trappings of a mortgage and a nine to five.
Black Joy & Genius Tour: 6.09.22
I visited the Ruby and Calvin Fletcher African American History Museum in Milford, CT. My 97 yr old grandmother loves it. She loves taking anyone who visits her there. They’ve done a really nice job with the museum, in a historic New England house. At my Age (47), I’ve seen various versions of this collection. […]
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