// butternut-walnut stuffed shells //

In October, my Ba Noi (grandma on my dad's side) passed away. She was a hardcore Buddhist who lived until the age of 95. She came to us from Vietnam when I was in middle school and I remember that we didn't get along at first. It was a lot of cultural differences and language barriers (she had a different dialect "nguoi bac" than my typical conversational Vietnamese skills). I was able to learn the Vietnamese kyoto/zither because she brought the instrument over for me. I used to be embarrassed of her black-coated teeth (think it was an enamel for protection), butt hen she ended up Americanizing them after awhile. She's lived w/us ever since she moved over here and it's going to be sad when I come home to visit and she's not there blaring the t.v. watching any kind of music video that came on (Bollywood, K-pop, B.E.T., etc.) or praying at like 6 am w/her loud gong and wooden knocking thing. I am grateful that we got to have her live with us and help take care of my bros. and I as we were growing up. The house was never empty. She also went to the temple almost everyday. In Buddhist tradition, if someone passes from your family, you cannot eat meat/seafood for 49 days (7 weeks). I'm on my 3rd week now and have been trying different recipes that are vegetarian. This one was a really satisfying one and even my non-vegetarian friends and bf enjoyed it.