Tahini Date Shake

The last week before Vietnam. Monday through Wednesday were a blur of final errands, last-minute packing adjustments, and the specific anxiety of a man who is about to board a plane for the first time in fifteen years. I called the airline to confirm the seats. I called Duc to confirm the pickup at Tan Son Nhat airport. I called Linh to confirm she'd check on the house while I was gone. I called Emma to confirm she was okay (she is — fourteen weeks pregnant, the nausea is subsiding, she told me to stop worrying). I called Tyler to tell him I'd bring the coffee. I called Lily to tell her to keep thinking about the restaurant. I called everyone because calling is what I do when I can't sit still.

Thursday night I went to Mai's house. She was sitting at the kitchen table with her suitcase open, looking at it like it was a problem she couldn't solve. She'd packed and unpacked three times. The suitcase contained: four outfits, her áo dài (in case of a formal occasion, she said, which made my heart do something structural), her medication, a photograph of Huy, and a bag of dried red dates that she always travels with for reasons she has never explained and I have never asked about.

I sat next to her and said, "We're going to be fine." She said, "I know." She didn't sound like she knew. She sounded like a woman who was about to do the bravest thing she'd done since climbing onto a fishing boat in April 1975. Which she was.

Saturday morning. 4 AM. I loaded the truck. Mai was waiting at her house, dressed and ready, her suitcase by the door. She'd been up since 3. She was wearing a nice blouse and her jade bracelet and she looked like a woman going somewhere important. Because she was. We drove to the airport in the dark. She was quiet the whole way. At one point she reached over and squeezed my hand. She doesn't do that. She did it. I squeezed back.

At the gate, waiting to board, Mai looked at the departure screen: HOUSTON → TOKYO → HO CHI MINH CITY. She stared at it for a long time. Then she looked at me and said, in Vietnamese, "Let's go home." I said, "Let's go home." And we boarded the plane.

No recipe this week. No food. Just a mother and a son and two plane tickets and forty-seven years of waiting, finally over. We're going home.

I said no recipe this week, and I meant it — but when I got home from the airport I kept thinking about the bag of dried red dates sitting in my mother’s suitcase, tucked between her áo dài and the photograph of my father. She has carried dates on every trip she’s ever taken, for reasons she has never explained and I have never asked about, and somewhere over the Pacific I decided that when we land, when all of this is real, I’m going to make her this tahini date shake. It’s the closest I know how to get, in a kitchen, to whatever it is she carries in that little bag — something sweet and sustaining and quietly essential, the kind of thing you bring because you know the road ahead is long.

Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 5 minutes | Servings: 2

Ingredients

6 Medjool dates, pitted
2 tablespoons tahini
1 1/2 cups whole milk (or unsweetened oat milk)
1/2 cup ice cubes
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon honey, optional (depending on the sweetness of your dates)

Instructions

Soak the dates. If your dates are very firm or dry, soak them in warm water for 10 minutes, then drain before using. Medjool dates that are soft and sticky can go straight into the blender.
Combine ingredients. Add the pitted dates, tahini, milk, ice, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla to a blender. If you’d like extra sweetness, add the honey as well.
Blend until smooth. Blend on high speed for 60–90 seconds until completely smooth and creamy. If the shake is thicker than you like, add a splash more milk and pulse to combine.
Taste and adjust. Taste for sweetness and spice. Add a pinch more cinnamon or a drizzle more honey if desired, then blend briefly again.
Serve immediately. Pour into two glasses and serve right away. A light dusting of cinnamon on top is a nice touch.

Nutrition (per serving)

Tahini Date Shake — For the Bag of Dates My Mother Always Travels With