I came across fresh tamarindo (shout out to the Winco in Lacey)!!! I ate so much tamarind that my tongue was wrecked…

Tamarind tastes like sweet, sour, pucker, childhood, Asian market snacks, laughing, legacy, connection to my mom.

In the Philippines, I came across a huge tree and sprinkled around it was little pods, some of which were cracked open. I thought that it might be tamarind even though I had never seen what it looked like. While it’s probably advised to not eat random things off the ground in countries you’re not familiar with, I cracked open a pod and the sweet and tangy smell swirled around me, mouth already watering. I put some in my mouth and felt the connection to the land, to my home. The good memories when I was a child eating tamarind candy met my first time meeting my extended family in the Philippines.

Family, food, connection.