I was raised in a one-cook household. My mother has always been the authority on all things food in the Kaowthumrong home. Even when she worked long hours at our family’s gas station when I was a kid, Mama always found time to whip up moo palo (black soy sauce-tinged egg and pork belly stew), kaeng khiao wan (spicy-sweet green curry with beef), and other Thai and Chinese specialties for our family. She continued this tradition after her retirement, cooking three square meals a day for my father—whose only kitchen skill is managing the rice maker—and producing extra portions for me and my husband, Gavin, on a weekly basis. I’ve spent a lot of time shadowing Mama in the kitchen but never really prepared food for my parents beyond the occasional container of Louisiana gumbo or green chile. That all changed in late November, when Mama fell ill with COVID-19.