Vivian Xiao

Robert Louis Stevenson High School

Junior

My fondest memories from the summer of 2021 were my mother’s cooking. Throughout month-long quarantines, we’d bond over the ritualistic conversation of what we could make for every meal of the day. My mother, always the perfectionist, would whip up the fanciest dishes she can manage. To her disbelief, I loved her simple recipes better - ones that require almost no cooking at all. A plate of washed cherry tomatoes and lettuce, a scoop of soba noodle right out of a boiling pot, and just a few slices of the instant salmon from IKEA were my go-to favorite from her. The easier her work is in the kitchen, the more energy she’ll have in hearing me yap away about how good her food is. Don’t tell her I said that though.