Boiled Pork with Mustard Greens brings back many memories

Boiled pork with mustard greens. This is one of Hmong's well known traditional dish. Today when I see this dish. It reminds me of year 2005 when I went to Laos with my parents. It was the first dish that we ate when we arrived to one of my father's relatives village. The village was called Long-hay. My sister and brother in law who lived in Laos, in a town called 52 took us to Long-hay. It was a very very far drive, we woke up very early that morning. The sun didn't rise yet and we were already on our way. There, my brother in law drove us to the highest mountains where Long-hay was. There were no lights at all. I was shocked, mostly afraid. I was afraid we will get into an accident because the only light there was, was my brother in law's headlights! I don't know how he drove in the dark until the sun rise but I was amazed. Still amazed until this day because it wasn't just dark. We were going downhill, uphill and the roads were also curvy. The roads to get to Long-hay was also very bad. The roads were not paved therefore it took us the whole entire day to get to our destination. When we arrived, it was already dark.

My father's relatives did not know we were going to arrived that night so they had nothing prepare for us but they all welcome us with a genuine smile and everyone kindly invited us all to sleep at their house. Then when my parents decided to sleep at one of my aunt and uncle's house, my aunt quickly gathered what they had and made a quick meal for us.

I remembered my aunt set food on a round bamboo table. There was one medium bowl of warm rice, one medium hot bowl of boiled salted mustard greens with no meat and one medium bowl of water. She gave us each one spoon each and told us all to eat. There was five of us. She apologized for a bland meal. So did my uncle, he apologized to us the whole time that we ate, that he had no meat for us and he was very sorry. My parents, sister and brother in law told them continuously that it was okay and they thank my aunt and uncle for the kind meal. I felt so bad and sad because my aunt and uncle apologized to us the whole time. Even if there was no meat, I honestly did not mind at all. They were very nice and I was very full from the simple delicious meal. Even if there was no meat. I was fine. I have more than enough meat to eat at home, in the U.S so i did not mind such simple meal.

Recipe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Sls-HZP5mc&t=1s