Friday family food

We thought the family was going home on Friday but it turned out they planned to stay until Saturday! Soeun had Friday off work (another public holiday) so that made everything easier. He drove us into town to a shopping centre called Sorya. We have taken the family there at least once before. It was their first time on escalators and in lifts/elevators. But this time was the first time they had been in the car. We parked in the 5 story car park, right up the top. That meant we had to go round and round as we drove up all the floors. The whole going to Sorya thing is a bit of a cross cultural experience for them. Even for me I find it so big and modern and shiny, so I wonder what it is like for them?

We went to eat at a The Pizza Company. My brother and sister in law like the food, but I don’t think my mum in law even considers it food. No rice! She tried her food but didn’t like it, but she ate some chicken wings. She said the food reminded her of when she went on the plane to Australia. I found that kind of funny, as I consider Pizza Company food a treat, and aeroplane food not that really that special. (I ate her leftovers on Saturday for lunch.)

The restaurant is a few floors up and has floor to ceiling glass walls, we sat at a table right next to the wall. So my mum in law felt like she was on a plane, as she looked down at the people in the street and across the roof tops, and tried to eat her strange food. My poor sister in law is scared of heights, and she was already feeling a bit off from the car ride.

That morning I went to the market to buy food for dinner. Yet another walk through the flooded road, and through the mud. And they happened to be doing more road works, digging up the road and pressing it flat again I think (or maybe they were putting in a pipe? ). Every time they do that its nice and smooth and flat, until it rains again, then its just a big muddy, watery expanse. And in raining season it rains quite a bit.

I bought beef and a variety of veggies. All the other meals they had had at our house my mum and sister in law had cooked. I don’t really know how to cook with them as their food is quite different and they use the kitchen differently and I get a bit freaked out. Soeun sometimes sends me away to read a book until the meal is cooked. I have tried cooking western food before, but my mil doesn’t like it.

So I decided Friday I should try to cook something they would like. Soeun cooked the beef and I cooked Char Bonlai (Stir fried veggies). I don’t know if it tasted normal to them but they ate it and said it was nice.