Remember when I was a kid, remember the first time my mother taught me and my sisters how to make a fire to cook rice. In the countryside that day, starting a fire was very simple, just a little dry straw, a piece of rubber band or a little bagasse is enough. Firewood is collected around the house, stacked and interwoven, leaving a space for the fire to enter; There are times when lighting the fire first and then arranging the firewood around. The fire burned, my sisters and I happily clapped their hands in excitement. Small round eyes looked curiously at the burning sticks. The gray-white smoke followed the slits of the tree trunks flying in all directions, piercing the eyes and noses of the children who were staring at them, stinging. Yet we were still laughing and joking, using our hands to “slash” the smoke like real warriors. I remember the most days when it was raining, when the firewood was wet, my sisters and I blew the stove and coughed because of the smoke. Or on summer days, when the southwest wind blows strongly, the fire is blown to one side by the wind, the rice cooker on the stove has a ripe day. For a long time we were attached to the wood stove, with the smell of kitchen smoke. When I remember those days when I was a child, my heart feels happy again… The strong aroma of the kitchen smoke lingers here and there. From the small kitchen, that smoke followed the wind up to the dark thatched roof, crept through each wall of earth, ran to the back of the house, and flew straight to the sky with many unique shapes. In our imagination, it is sometimes a flying dragon, sometimes a leaf in the wind, or a rope stretching up to the blue clouds… There are afternoons we are busy chasing in the fields, the smell of smoke The kitchen mixed with the aroma of food made us children stop, inhale, and then hug our hungry stomachs and run straight home. In the minds of the children, the smoke from the kitchen was rising and it was time for lunch. Grilled dishes in charcoal are always attractive to any child, are the favorite dishes of children in the countryside, and arouse curiosity for children in the city today. Sometimes it’s just a hastily dug sweet potato in the garden or a cashew nut that has just been picked from the tree, immediately put in the embers on the stove, buried in the gray ash and wait. The faint aroma follows the smoke into each cell, evoking each sense, making people irresistible. Hold the potato and just poke it out from the coal stove, blow it and eat it, hot and fragrant. Memories of a small day suddenly came back so clearly and warmly. For those who grew up in the countryside, the fire is also a place of peace and a place to return to. My mother often said: “On the first day of the year, what can be forgotten, but must not forget to light a fire to warm the house, it will bring good things to us”. And that was also the first thing my father did on New Year’s Day, no matter how many years passed. My sister and I sat around the fire with our hands warmed. The strong scent of kitchen smoke wrapped us again, interspersed with children’s stories. That lovely image keeps reminding me… In modern life, the wood stove, coal stove has gradually been replaced by gas stove, electric stove. The corner of the kitchen is also clean now, no longer black on the walls, and no soot flying around. I was also reeling in society, seeming to have forgotten the smell of smoke rising from the branches of the trees. Suddenly I realized how long I had rushed through the best memories. I am grateful and grateful for the habit of cooking water every morning with my parents’ dear wood stove so that today, I can smell the smoke from the kitchen. Even though my eyes sting because of the smoke, I still feel as happy as celebrating. Apparently, it’s been a long time since I’ve had time for myself, with my mother, back to the peaceful countryside that raised me up. And to return to my childhood days with the light, fragrant smoke in the morning… MAKEUP

Plums at the beginning of the season Moc Chau (Son La) are sold at markets in Hanoi at the price of 100,000 – 150,000 VND / kg. Early season plums from Moc Chau (Son La) in recent days are being displayed for sale at many local markets in Hanoi or on online markets, groups specializing in selling fruit. Surveys at some markets such as Dai Tu (Hoang Mai), Nam Trung Yen market (Cau Giay) or some toad markets, kiosks around densely populated areas in Linh Dam, Trung Hoa … show that plum cherries are is sold at a price of 100,000 – 150,000 VND / kg, depending on the size. Ms. Thu Huong – owner of a kiosk specializing in selling fruits in Linh Dam area, said that she is currently selling plum plums for 120,000 VND / kg, this price of Ms. Huong is “softer” than the shops. another because she has a row in the garden. According to Ms. Huong, unlike the off-season plums, the plum at the beginning of the season only has a sour taste, not acrid; even the old, about to ripen fruit has a slightly sweet taste. “Early season plum is the early plum of the first batch of flowers. Each time I set up a garden house on Moc Chau, it takes a few days for the gardener to deliver the goods, each trip about a few quintals. Plums come on the right time, so they are quite expensive, in less than 2 days I have sold all 50kg of plums ”, Ms. Huong said. Having just sold out 20kg of plums in the morning, Ms. Nguyen Duong who sells online in Thanh Tri district continues to gather customer orders to sell new trips. Accordingly, the first plum bought by Ms. Duong sold for 100,000 VND / kg of plum and the price of 50,000 VND / kg of rice plum. Ms. Duong said that fruit at the beginning of the season is usually more expensive than the main season. However, this year the price of plum is cheaper than the beginning of last year, from 20,000 to 30,000 VND / kg. Normally, Ms. Duong will gather the application first and then put it on the garden and hand it over to her customers.

Ms. Vuong Mai shared on the culinary forum, the idea of ​​building a wood stove on the 5th floor of a house in the street was initially opposed by her husband due to fear of explosion, heat downstairs … but then she was convinced. husband.

And then, the wood kitchen right in the high-rise house of Hanoi was formed. The kitchen was built with refractory bricks by Mai and her husband, built away from the wall, creating openings to reduce the heat of the oven …

When the construction was completed, Mai returned to her hometown to buy galangal, pineapple, peanut shell and pick up longan firewood from her garden and find some cast-iron pots to cook rice as well.

Ms. Mai shared her idea of ​​the wood stove: “I am a rural girl, so memories of dishes from the wood stove. I miss very much … the smell of kitchen smoke enters her hands, in, hair, into food. The food is so dear, the food is also amazingly delicious. ”

“I do all the daily dishes of fish stock, cook rice with cast iron to burn, boil meat, grill fish, grill meat …”, Ms. Mai said. And now her kitchen is a place to regularly welcome friends and relatives to enjoy dishes cooked from firewood.

Mai’s words made the forum members extremely admired and touched.

“When I was a child, every time I went back to my hometown, the first thing I did was rush to the kitchen, to see if my grandmother was there, to sit with her by the aromatic fire, to enjoy the happy and simple moments of hometown … “, many people recalled their childhood through sharing of Ms. Mai.

The firewood kitchen was built by Ms. Mai’s house on the 5th floor of the house

Stir-fried beef with green onion is made on a wood stove

The old pots of parents in the countryside should be reused (in the countryside, nowadays, it is rare to cook firewood, let alone in the city)

Roasted peanuts

Fry the meat

Boiled rice cooked in a cast iron pot, which friends often order Ms. Mai

Cast iron pot to cook rice, fish grilled on wood stove

Braised fish with soil

Fried tofu

Boiled potatoes

Last Tet, Ms. Mai’s family boiled 4 pots of banh chung. Everything is carefully and meticulously made by her family and boiled by wood stove.

The lovely wood stove, making all the dishes of Ms. Mai’s house