On Friday afternoon, Lawyer Bom seemed to be in a rush to visit me at the prison. I thought that he must have come bearing good news. The first words out of his mouth when he picked up the phone in the consultation room were, “Older brother, Issaranon is refusing to eat. How do you make soup for him? We tried to do so with carrots and other things. But when we finished, Issaranon wouldn’t eat it.”
I didn’t know whether to be sad or amused. Actually, when I was still outside [the prison], I often made food for Issaranon at the office. It was no big deal. All I did was buy pork bones, pork ribs and vegetables, and brought along a blender. Once it was all done, I put it in a thermos. When he was ready to eat, I microwaved it. The junior lawyers and Issaranon’s mom probably misunderstood. I didn’t just boil the ribs and vegetables and then blend the soup with rice, but I boiled the soup until the pork bones turned the soup sweet.
The way to make it is as follows. Buy 1 kilo of pork bones and 1 kilo of pork ribs. Boil water. Once it boils, add salt. Add the pork ribs and bones and boil them until they are fully cooked. Turn down the heat and simmer with garlic for another 2 hours. Once the soup becomes sweet, take out the bones and add the vegetables. Then blend it with rice. Put it in a thermos and store it in the freezer. It makes enough for many days. The leftover pork ribs then become snacks for the aunty and uncle lawyers at the office.
Talking about food makes me think of Aunty Yong. She is another one who makes delicious food, and likes to make it for other people. She has been planning to make tom leng and bring it to us for a while now. Talking about food also makes it impossible not to think of the laab-koi collective [at the office]. I don’t know when I will get out and get to eat soi ju, laab, and sharp koi. I miss Laab Krung Restaurant. I miss all of my friends.
Please look after Issaranon and Pran. I heard that last week he had a fever. Please look after his health and wrap him in blankets before he sleeps. I’ll look after my health, too.
Love and thinking of you,
Arnon Nampha
Original letter reprinted from and with permission of อานนท์ นำภา Facebook page.