The other day I went to pick up my mother's prescriptions for her at our local pharmacy. As the cashier handed me my order, I heard a voice from behind the counter, "Tell your mom she needs to open up a restaurant with those spring rolls of hers!" Uh....ok....stranger pharmacist lady who I've never met in my life. As the holiday season approaches, I'm reminded of that entire week in 2012 that I spent driving between 3 different counties delivering my mother's spring rolls to two different primary care physicians, my dad's cardiologist and his physician's assistant, "that nice lady that answers the phone" at the cardiologist's main office in Lexington (who my parents have never met in person), and my dad's entire physical therapy staff.
Here's a little 4'9 Thai lady, who makes up 1.3% of the Asian population in her state, and probably more like 0.2% in our little town - completely and utterly oblivious to racial and cultural differences, breaking century long barriers with her perfectly crisp (but not oily), chicken and shrimp spring rolls (not to be confused with egg rolls - these babies are made with a special kind of Thai wrapper). In her culture, no good deed goes unappreciated and a verbal thanks just doesn't do it. Some of her other random beneficiaries have included my son's kindergarten teacher, my friend Nolan - who helped stain our deck, and my entire staff at work.
My dad's physical therapist, Rodney, isn't much into Asian cuisine and asked if my mom could make the spring rolls without all the vegetables, and maybe add some cheese? My mom indulged him by holding the cabbage, but of course refused to add the cheese. And adoringly, she told him, "That would be a taquito, Rodney, not a spring roll."
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