3 Quotes by Abe Opincar

In the small village I'm from we had a very old custom. On a child's first day of school, the rabbi would give him a slate on which the first two letters of the Hebrew alphabet were written in honey. The rabbi asked the child to lick up the letters and go on to use the slate to learn to read and write. The child would always remember that learning was sweet like honey.

He doesn't visit me in dreams, but the smell of garlic on my fingers reminds me of him and, by extension, he loss of him. Sulfurous, maybe a little shameful, the smell reminds me of love.

I'm Chinese and in China making a beautiful meal for someone is the highest expression of love. Food is a very sensual, passionate thing. Culturally, I understood why my husband wanted to make this big meal for me. But he couldn't understand why I was having such a strong reaction to such a silly simple thing like yams. It's hard to understand how something that tastes sweet in on person's mouth, in another person's mouth can taste so bitter.