Thinking about food

I can't say I miss all Khmer food, because my memories of food in Phnom Penh are often accompanied by memories of having an IV shoved up my arm. But I still miss the food I had when I lived out in Kompong Speu province with Master Prum Ut and his family. Fresh papaya, ambok (a sort of toasted cereal made from mashed rice), local greens, and delectable peanut and lemon-juice sauces--just the thought of them is enough to make my mouth water. We only had more extravagant meals like this one when visitors came, but each meal there was its own treasure, and I never got sick from it or of it.

Last night I had Khmer food for the third time since I got back to California. Interestly enough, we had ban chau, a sort of Khmer (well, actually, Vietnamese) pancake stuffed with meat or vegetables, which was what I ate at the last dinner I had before I entered Wat Bo as a monk last February.