When you're too tired to cook and your little family craves Lao food cause you've been away for two weeks... they have to cook! I do the Lao food cooking mainly in our household so it was a rare treat to have laab made by Tui last night. He said it's been like over 20 years since he recalls cooking laab and he said he used to make it often when he was a single guy. I asked him how he made his laab good and his response was it was from his 💙 #laofood #laoamerican #family #dinner #livingoutlaod #laoculture
Sometimes I'm in a very traditional mood and cook old G Lao food like Gang nor Mai, Gang kee lek w/ pork ribs, Gang nor Mai Som w/ fish, and Aww beef flank. These dishes are so nostalgic of comfort eating with my parents and makes me miss them all the more. Life is so short and precious friends so enjoy every single second of it doing what you love and eat what makes you feel good and happy. I spent zero dollars on my tablescape using greenery I have in my garden. The ripe mangoes are palette cleansers in between eating different kinds of dishes. #laofood #comfortfood #lifeisshort #enjoylife #livingoutlaod #asianfood
I love it when my daughter tells me exactly what she craves for. It makes cooking easier when I don't have to think about what to cook for dinner. I haven't had a chance to go to Costco yet so I made chicken curry with whatever I had in the kitchen. My pak bong (Asian water spinach) and basil from my garden is a lifesaver cause I had zero green in the fridge! Those one dish dinners are sometimes the best tasting. We both had two big heapings of jasmine rice with the chicken red curry. #dinner #monday #chicken #curry #asianfood #livingoutlaod #foodblog
Harvested some bamboo this evening to make some gang nor mai (bamboo soup) for dinner tomorrow night. Ma der foodie friends! #bakcyard #bamboo #california #life #livingoutlaod #laofood #laos
Tell me your Lao children is Lao without telling me they are.😂🤣 After one week of college camp and eating non spicy no umami flavored food, my daughter and niece both craved comfort food so much. I didn't have time to cook for them so we took them to a pho spot in town. It was "saap turp" good enough for their desperate craving. Hehe! #laofamily #laofood #laopride #laoculture #livingoutlaod #asianfoodblogger
Have you guys missed Tui at all?🤣😂 Does anyone know what "saap turp" really mean? Haha! I think it means good enough, right? #tui #laolanguage #language #culture #loveandmarriage #livingoutlaod #parkcity
Hi my dearest Foodie friends! I'm so sorry I've been MIA! I've been so busy preparing my backyard to host my niece's garden Laotian baci ceremony next weekend. A little garden accident landed me in the ER and 7 stitches. I didn't feel immediate pain when I got hit in the head with a 4 x 4 post but my first thought was about my bowl of khaopoon noodles soup that I was happily enjoying. I was feeling bummed that I didn't get to finish it yet. LOL! My mom used to tell me, "mun see thie yon kong kin" which translate to you're going to die because of food, because even back, then I would do anything for food. Lol I'm healing perfectly fine and quickly. I really don't have that much time this month but I made a promise that I would brew Padaq Mae Kesone in June so I'm squeezing the brew in on Father's Day. Hehe. It's my special gift to hubby Tui for being an amazing dad and padaek lover. 😂However, I will not be able to ship out this month. After the wedding, I have a two week road trip with my hubby so I won't be able to package and ship out until mid July. I am very grateful for your patience and understanding. I love you guys and your amazing support! #padaqmaekesone #inmemoryof #gonebutneverforgotten #laos #liquidgold #special #laofood #livingoutlaod
"We brought over chocolates just as a mutual sign of respect since you guys are having us over for dinner so just to be nice" was what foreign students from Israel and Germany both expressed about why they brought chocolates for me at dinner. My heart and jaw dropped when Champa and Eva's friends shared how in both their cultures it would be impolite not to bring something for the host. A few days ago when I first met them both at our home for an end of school party, they came to introduce themselves and say thank you for having them at the party. They said it would be considered rude in their culture if they didn't come say hello to the host. I was so touched by how polite and thoughtful they were that I invited them to come over for dinner. These are things I try to instill in my children as well and it makes my heart so happy that these kind of things are important and practiced in other cultures too. These sweet teens melted my heart so much that I felt inspired to host international exchange students in my home in the near future. Thank you to my sis for cooking dinner tonight cause I got so sidetracked gardening today. #dinner #foreignexchange #intetnational #students #germany #israel #highschool #livingoutlaod
We heard that June 2 is National Papaya Salad Day so no matter how late it was last night we had to make us some thum makhoung. Everyday is papaya salad day for us! 😂 What style of papaya salad is your taste preference? #nationalpapayasaladday #thummakhoong #papayasalad #laofood #livingoutlaod #foodblogger #padaqmaekesone
It's been my bucket list to travel and see as much as I can of this big beautiful world we live in and included in that list is to be able to thum (make papaya salad) everywhere I go. Doing this gives me a chance to share about Lao culture and to connect with other fodies in the local area. Food has a magnetic way to bring people together and preparing a dish together has a specialness about our deeper connection with others. I'm truly grateful for my Aussie Lao foodie friends who've reached out to show me a slice of Sydney and importantly giving me a generous piece of their hearts and time. I'm very excited to meet you guys for some thum picnic and catching the sunset together. Let's make the most delicious Aussie Thum Taad (Papaya Platter) the world has ever known together as a community of Lao food lovers! Please meet me here tomorrow!
Sunday 5/28 at 3:30 pm
Mrs. Macquaries Chair
1d Mrs. Macquaries Road
Sydney NSW 2000
I'm sharing a video of Sydney's Vivid Light Festival opening fireworks (on 1.5 speed) and last night was opening night. I'm so lucky to happen to be here during this festive time of year. #livingoutlaod #traveltoeat #sydneyvivid
Before packing for my trip to Sydney tomorrow I still need to plant some long green bean seeds tonight cause I couldn't find any plants at the Asian market. Perhaps it's so late in the growing season? Long green beans is a veggie I always add to my thum makhoong but it was not fresh at the store so hence why my thum today only has eggplants. I still also need to pack my "essentials" so I can have my comfort flavors at the hotel for ten days. If I have time I will do a video of how I pack Asian stuff in my suitcase. I've no set in stone plans for my time there but I do hope I get to connect with and hang out with my fellow foodie friends! Please tell me some of the places I should visit or restaurants I should check out in Sydney... 🙏🏽🙏🏽 #thummakhoong #papayasalad #laofood #spicyfood #livingoutlaod #foodblogger #padaqmaekesone
Reaction Reel😂 A hot day calls for an even hotter dish. Hehe! We had Champa's best friend Ava finally try this very classic Lao dish, Thum khaopoon (noodle salad). I think Champa is a bit wary that her friend may not like it as she kept saying it's an acquired taste. She's definitely more brave and proud of our food, especially padaek, than I ever was at her age. As a much more seasoned adult I have so much pride about our cultural cuisine even the pungent funky taste and smell of padaek. #padaqmaekesone #liquidgold #laoculture #laofood #livingoutlaod #laos * I don't own rights to music in background.
When your daughter tells you she's not hungry but ends up stealing your bowl of khaopoon curry noodle soup.🤣 My heart has been full all day but my tummy was feeling hungry tonight. Words can't express how happy and humbled I am at the amazing response to preorder Padaq Mae Kesone that was dropped via story at 1 pm Pacific time Wednesday May 10. Within 40 minutes all 72 jars were quickly sold out but leaving so many not able to place orders. I'm beyond grateful for the incredible support and love! My daughter Lela helped create a new method of purchasing and it was a super easy and efficient process. THANK YOU so much guys for being supportive and I'm truly sorry to those of you who missed this batch. I promise I'll brew a June batch after these jars are shipped off and when I come back from my trip to Australia. It's been a fun day as I reflected on where I got my Hmong textiles over the years when I traveled throughout Laos. #padaqmaekesone #liquidgold #legacyoaoflaos #papayasalad #livingoutlaod #hmong #culture
I grew up in the Central Valley where there was a large Hmong community and some of my closest friends were Hmong who taught me words I probably shouldn't say as an adult.🤣 Some of my most warm memories when I visit Laos are the ones I travel to the mountains of Laos. Life there may seem hard to us but at the same time I find so much peace and happiness in the simple and beautiful way of living up high where you can almost touch the clouds. I collect pieces of textiles and Hmong clothes in every village I visit and these colorful and unique pieces are memories of my time with the sweet and kind Hmong families. I'm so humbled and happy to wrap Padaq Mae Kesone in the textile that tells the story of our Hmong brothers and sisters. I have so much I can write but I have 75 more jars I need to work on today. Presale link will drop today at 1 pm on my story. Thanks so very much for your love and support and making my passionate hobby even more special to me. #padaqmaekesone #liquidgold #legacyoflaos #padaek #livingoutlaod #hmong #culture #textile
Proud Mamma La Moment... When my daughters were little they used to make home videos with my older one Lela directing her younger sister Champa on their videos. It was the way they both played house together and had fun doing it. From time to time I'll go watch their videos that older brother MJ had uploaded on his YouTube channel that tech illiterate mom took over and called it Living Out LAOD. 🤣 Years later they're still being cute and making sweet videos and are best friends even with being 7 years apart. We flew Lela from Utah to help us with this special event. Both of them are missing school to be a part of this papaya pop up fundraising effort. But sometimes, lessons learned outside of the classroom are more important and can only be taught from experiencing it themselves. @ramen_vs_pho #charitystartsathome #butdoesntendthere #familyfirst #livingoutlaod #givingback #payingitforward #givingfromtheheart
The story of how I met your father... 😂🥰 Tui came into my family's grocery store in Merced, CA to buy Lao food (oua sausage, sticky rice, laab) that my parents prepared every morning and Thai CDs. I was the cashier girl and also making papaya salad to sell after school. Back than it was only $1 a Koke (mortar) and that was good money in the early 90's. He ordered spicy thum makhoung in Lao and my family was impressed he could speak Lao really good so my dad quizzed him on a bunch of hard words and he passed them all. He said he has tasted a lot of papaya salad in the almost two years he had been serving the Lao community throughout the Central Valley but ours at K & K Market was the best he's ever had. Since then he's been hooked on Padaq Mae Kesone and her daughter.😂🔥💕 #padaqmaekesone #inmemory #laoculture #livingoutlaod #liquidgold #sauce
I've been jarring Padaq Mae Kesone all day and haven't had a chance to sit down to answer all of your comments and DM about PMK. The amount of inquiries from you guys is overwhelming in the best way possible. I didn't expect this kind of feedback since I just sold a batch last month already. But I'm really very happy and grateful for your amazing support and love!! I told my husband the other day that we truly have the best followers. I feel nothing but positive vibe and light from everyone. Rarely do I experience negative energy from someone. Again and always, thank you kindly for following me and my family's cultural journey! #grateful #padaqmaekesone #inmemory #livingoutlaod #laoculture #liquidgold #sauce
Padaq Mae Kesone ASMR 😂 Last night I finally was able to take a shower close to midnight and shampooed three times. Hehe! It felt like the best shower of my life. Honestly though brewing #padaqmaekesone doesn't make me tired. Rather I feel so energized with motivation and connection. I feel connected to my late Mae, to my Lao culture and to my supporters who love and appreciate my time and effort in making PMK. I handcraft each and every jar myself from brewing to packaging to shipping. I don't do PMK as a side hustle so please forgive me that I'm not professional at it. I do it out of my love and passion for the culture and mainly to preserve my Mae's legacy. She was such a sweet and big hearted woman who always taught me to serve and give from your heart. She reminded me that while we may be poor someone else is more poor than us and we should help them. I'll never forgot some of her random acts of kindness even to those who didn't treat her kindly. I didn't mean to get sentimental but when talking about my Mae I can't help it. If only she was here to watch me be so Lao and Proud now. #maeandpaforever #gonebutneverforgotten #livingoutlaod #laoculture
I couldn't find anyone of my foodie friends in Orlando to have lunch with me today so I convinced my hubby to sneak away to be my lunch date. As we were waiting for our food, a lovely lady came in with the biggest and sweetest smile. Then she sees Tui and recognized that we are social media food friends! As luck would have it she said she mentioned her friends has mango and longan trees! Being the extroverted person that I am and love making connections, I invited myself to visit their trees tomorrow. 😁 I hope she really does call me though and not think I'm some crazy lady.😂 Anywho... Thank you wonderful foodie friends for recommending me to Isan Zaap in Orlando. The cook happened to be the daughter of the foodie friend I just met! She was a sweet woman who even came out twice to talk to me and asked how I liked her thum makhoung. I am very particular about papaya salads at restaurants but I enjoyed the authentic taste and texture of this thum Lao style. #livingoutlaod #traveltoeat #orlando #traveltoeat #thairestaurant #laofood #goodeats
When you're married to a food content creator... 😂😅😁 #livingoutlaod #tui #patience #lunchdate #marriage #love #vietnamesefood
Finally Padaq Mae Kesone (PMK) is off today! I'm sorry it took me a couple of days to get PMK to the post office. There was some technical issues online with shipping and it took a while to get it squared out. But I'm so happy it's out the door so I can get ready to garden!!! #padaqmaekesone #inmemoryof #maeandpaforever #laos #livingoutlaod #laoculture #laofood
Does any of my sour and spicy snack loving friends remember eating lime with jeo when we were younger? And who's still snacking on these classic sour snacks? Back then we didn't have green mangos or tamarinds to choose from. Spring time was my favorite especially if you're in the Central Valley of California cause we'd be able to get almonds when it's still green and plums that are unripe. This evening I found my Champa had sliced some lemon and drenched it with the Jeo Padaq she made yesterday. Her Lao palate makes this parent proud. @mrintharriss Look at what you got Champa craving bro! #laoculture #laofood #bicultural #family #padaqmaekesone #livingoutlaod #sour #snack
I really felt I needed to make another video showing some of my non Lao Padaq Mae Kesone (PMK) supporters one of the ways Lao folks use this special sauce. It is slightly similar to the Filipino Bagoóng, a condiment made of either fermented fish (bagoóng) or krill or shrimp paste (alamáng) with salt. PMK is also perfect for spicy and sour salads using papaya, cucumber, long green beans, or noodles. Would you like to have Champa show you how to make other dishes with PMK sauce? She gets camera shy but I tell her I'm good at editing so that helps to ease her nervousness. I am really sorry many of you missed the chance to order PMK spring batch and due to popular demand I will brew a May batch soon. Thank you so kindly for the amazing love and support my food loving friends! #padaqmaekesone #inmemoryof #gonebutneverforgotten #livingoutlaod #laoculture #laofood #champa
Almost ready to ship off Padaq Mae Kesone (PMK) but first... I'm so humbled and grateful for the outpouring of love and support of PMK and the demand for more from all 50 states keeps me passionately motivated. One of the biggest compliment is when daughters tell me their mom loves it and asks for more, but they said they can't tell their moms the price cause they just won't understand.😂 I'm overcome with so much joy to have non-Laotians who said they can't live without it, cause this special sauce is very different and has that unique funk which many find takes time to acquire its taste. I'm ecstatic to have Hispanic PMK lovers getting their Filipino friends hooked on it that they buy their own jars. When a nonLao UFC fighter loves PMK it just makes my hubby Tui happy cause he loves UFC. I don't think in my or my Mae's wildest imagination would we ever think PMK would be sought after by a Caucasian judge in Los Angeles who was also a former actor of a show from back in the day. I was finally able to send a jar to him of this batch after several of his failed attempts to get one and only because I had two jars available from an order that didn't pay. And I am so proud of white wives who buys PMK cause they want their Lao hubbies to enjoy authentic tasting papaya salads. This is why I am dedicated to bringing more people the traditional flavors of Laos. #padaqmaekesone #jarofjoy #inlovingmemory #gonebutneverforgotten #honorthyparents #livingoutlaod #laoculture #pride
Even if you're on a keto diet you just can't resist some delicious Lao style khao gee or sticky rice with eggs. #stickyrice #laofood #laoculture #vanlife #camping #livingoutlaod
Find a guy who can eat what you eat and life will be more delicious😂 #life #yummy #laoculture #padaqmaekesone #vanlife #campinglife #livingoutlaod
Champa is my champion spicy jeo Padaq eater. Her favorite to eat he sauce with is baby mangos. #laofamily #laos #laoculture #livingoutlaod #padaqmaekesone
Does anyone know the Lao word for canning? 😂🤷🏽♀️🇱🇦🙏🏽 #canning #padaqmaekesone #laofood #laoculture #biracial #couple #livingoutlaod #fbreels
The best feeling after a long day of brewing Padaq is a nice hot shower and getting cleaned up for a lovely dinner. Saturday I brewed and Sunday afternoon I jarred and hubby was supposed to can but he had work so he's doing that for me today. Third day is usually where I cut my Lao textiles and then package the jars. Thank you so much to those of you who've inquired about ordering this spring batch and as soon as my daughter can help me to take presale orders I'll let you know! 🙏🏽❤️ Padaq Mae Kesone is truly a labor of love and passion to share my Mae's authentic Padaq recipe. The greatest compliment I can ever receive is when PMK supporters tell me their moms love the taste. 💕🇱🇦 #thankful #happy #humble #padaqmaekesone #laos #laoculture #livingoutlaod #fbreels
