#sagosoup

Matcha makes me happy

People make me mad

Used to love people like Izaya

but now what?

People are trickery and misery

low effort? dont want that

i need high tier matcha

a floor to sit on

an open window to stare out

and sweetness from them...

but for now i just wander somewhere

and drink my matcha

In the Pixar film, Ratatouille, food critic, Anton Ego, goes to Gusteau’s restaurant to review it. Wanting to impress the critic, the protagonist, a rat named Remy, serves Ego ratatouille, a French Provencal stewed vegetable dish. Upon eating, the taste of the dish transports Ego back to his childhood, when his mother would make him the same dish. Studies have shown that there is a powerful link between taste and memory. The equivalent of the ratatouille dish for me would be sago soup. 

Sago soup is a Cantonese dessert made of tapioca pearls (sago) and coconut milk and can include toppings such as mango or taro. This was one of my favorite Chinese restaurant desserts as a kid (in addition to mango pudding). And since the restaurant would give you the dessert and would not let you decide what you want, it was always more exciting when it came. This also meant I had no idea what it was called. It wasn’t until last year when my family went to Hong Kong that I discovered what the name was. Judging from the picture on the menu, I was pretty sure this was the dish I loved, but wasn’t 100% sure. My sister wanted to get a bowl for each of us, but my mom didn’t want to buy 5 bowls, so we only ordered 1 and had to share it. When the soup came, we realized we should have gotten 5 bowls because one was not enough. We passed around the bowl so everyone could get a bite and my sisters said loudly, “It’s so good!” When it finally got to me, I took one bite and I thought I was going to cry. I felt transported back to my own childhood just through the taste and I had to pause for a moment with my eyes closed to get myself together. “It’s so good!” I yelled when I finally came back to reality. And everything about it was so good.

Last weekend, I went home for Mother’s Day and decided I was going to make sago soup at home while we watched The Mandalorian. Following this recipe, I dove headfirst into making it. When I was heating the coconut milk and the sugar, it smelled so good and familiar. The tapioca balls were taking longer to cook and due to the anticipation of eating, my family and I were becoming impatient. When the tapioca balls were clear and translucent, we were ready to add the steaming coconut milk. Once it was finished, we placed the tapioca balls in the freezer to expedite the cooling process and then topped them with mango. When I had my first bite, I yelled, “It’s so good!” and then promptly started choking on it due to my excitement-and probably eating the pearls too quickly. I am definitely excited to make again-with a few tweaks-but it will always have the same taste that I first remembered.