The smell of Mom's Vietnamese pancakes

May brings incessant rain. On long, dreary rainy nights, lying with my hand on my forehead, I listen to countless memories come flooding back.

In the old days, when my mother was still alive, especially on the Dragon Boat Festival in May, the whole family would gather around the gently burning fire, eagerly awaiting the pancakes my mother would make. These pancakes were made from rice flour that my mother had soaked and ground herself all night. The filling was minced monitor lizard meat that my siblings and I had dug up from the fields, seasoned, and mixed into the batter. The rain made the fire warm, and the pancakes were hot and fragrant. As soon as my mother made one, we all devoured it. Watching her children eat, my mother wiped away her sweat and smiled, saying, "Pancakes taste best when hot; they're awful when they cool down." But she didn't eat any herself; she just sat there scooping batter and making pancakes for us. Only after much pleading did she pick up a little burnt edge of the pancake, smack her lips, and nod, "Yes! It's delicious, eat your fill, I'll eat some later." At that moment, I saw my mother looking incredibly happy, her face radiant in the firelight, a contented smile always on her lips.

In my hometown, almost every house has a pan for making Vietnamese pancakes (banh xeo), and those who can afford it also have a stone mill for grinding flour. During the rainy season, especially around the Dragon Boat Festival, the whole neighborhood competes in soaking rice, grinding flour, digging for lizards, and catching shrimp to make banh xeo. Children and grandchildren gather in every house. The crackling of the fire, the sizzling of the pancakes in the pan, along with the joyful laughter and chatter, make the village feel even happier.

Now, after so many rainy seasons in May and July, and so many Dragon Boat Festivals have come and gone. The old house is still there, the old kitchen is still there. But Mother is gone! The pancake I waited for her to say, "I'll eat it later," has grown cold with time. Mother! How I miss the smell of your pancakes from the old days!

Source: https://baobinhthuan.com.vn/mui-banh-xeo-cua-me-109919.html