Because you just can't have enough French Hops in your day (yeah, I know....sad isn't it?)
Boungning and her brother, both under 6 at the time, were adopted by a French family, while their parents moved to Paris to find work and settle down. Boungning was given her French name, Michelle, and she lived with her adopted family for 15 years, visiting with her parents on weekends and holidays before moving back in with them outside Paris. She moved to Milwaukee 17 years ago after she got married [...]
On sustaining their Asian culinary traditions in France: In Paris we had the thing called the Chinatown. It was a huge place where Asians could go and buy their ingredients. They had a huge grocery store. The French have an abundance of spices and exotic products. It wasn't hard at all. When we didn't go (to Chinatown), (Mom) would go to the French supermarket. Each village, each town has its own butchery, spice store - it's all separate.
My mom cooks a lot - because of the Lao culture that she has - she cooks a lot with lemon grass, with galangal, lemon leaves. Those are the main spices for her dish. But with that she also combined the French stew, the beef stew the French make - boeuf bourguignon - my mom would use that (recipe) but she would add lemongrass and hot pepper.
