Roots & Recipe Draft Essay

My Grandma’s Delicious Ko-Pai!

Walking inside a sweet smelling Ko-Pai house in Pearl City, I see all my 24 brothers and sisters having fun with each other and happy to see everyone again! As I kissed all my aunts, uncles, and cousins hi, I asked one of my cousins, “Where’s Grandma,” they told me, “Oh she is in the kitchen.” As fast as I could, I sped walk without looking like I was running, to the kitchen and I rapidly jumped into my grandma’s warm, loving arms. She told me with a gentle kiss on my forehead, “WOW, you have grown so much Abby! Pretty soon you’re going to be as tall and a chief like grandma.” We both smiled and laughed and continued to communicate among ourselves.

After we all finished eating dinner, we all sat and talked so we could digest our food and have room for dessert! J “YUM!” About around 8:14, grandma got up and walked to the kitchen and started getting out the ingredients for a special surprise dessert for everyone. Once I heard her take out a pot and poured water into the pot, I stood up and made my way to the kitchen. At first, I was eager to see what grandma’s surprise dessert as going to be, but when I found out what she was going to make, I decided to go see how she makes her specialty dessert.

Once I stepped into the kitchen, grandma was already starting to make her specialty dessert called “Ko-Pai!”

My grandma’s way of making Ko-Pai is the best, because she and her sister-my Aunty Chris-puts a special ingredient in the dessert that nobody knows what is in it! J

I remember when my grandma and I would go over to Aunty Chris’s house to have dinner or hang out with her down in Waipahu. Most of the time my aunty would make the Ko-Pai by herself or her and my grandma would help each other to make the Ko-Pai. I also remember that my aunty would make extra Ko-Pai to take home for everyone else that did not go to her house. But now that my aunty is gone and my grandma has arthritis, there are not many of us kids or adults that know how to make Ko-Pai any more.

It was around 8:37, and grandma started to make her Ko-Pai all from her head. The way my grandma made her Ko-Pai was:

1. Pour Flower (Mix with water)
2. Make dough hard as a rock
3. Use a table spoon to scoop the dough out of the bowl, one at a time
4. Boil hot water in a pot
5. Dip the scoop of dough into boiled water. One at a time.
6. When finish dipping dough into boiled water, close pot and wait for 2 minutes
7. Add Carnation milk (1 whole can)
8. Add sugar (usually 1 cup) but depends how much you are making/if you just want to add more you can.
9. When the pot starts to boil with all the ingredients, then your Ko-Pai is finished.

Extras

1. If you want to make a sauce for the Ko-Pai, then…
2. Burn the Brown Sugar
3. Add carnation milk/coconut milk (however much you want)-usually about 2 cups.

Or

1. Add however much chocolate cocoa
2. Add milk
3. Then you can mix either sauces with the Ko-Pai

After grandma was done, she told everyone, “Time for dessert! Come get, enough for everyone!” I was for sure the first one in line to get dessert, because Ko-Pai is my #1 favorite Samoan dish! J While I was eating the hot steaming Ko-Pai, I could think of so many wonderful thoughts, every time I had taken a bite of the Ko-Pai! I was so happy and very excited to see my family, but especially my grandma, also I was happy to be able to eat Ko-Pai that grandma made. As everyone was grinning the Ko-Pai down, grandma said to all her grandchildren and her sons and daughters, “This is what you call a loving Aiga (family in Samoan) bonding!” We all smiled and began to eat again.

Around 12:03 PM, little by little, aunts and uncles and their kids were leaving. We finally started packing up getting ready to leave. As we were leaving, I told grandma, “Thank you so much for the food and everything.” She smiled and said, “You’re very welcome. It’s nice to see everyone again.”

As the door shut behind me, I yelled, “LOVE YOU GRANDMA!” She yelled back the same thing to me.