The Legend of Ada

Jacob walked at a relaxed pace outside of the Blu Jam Cafe in Los Angeles. The plan was to have Sunday brunch with his sister Ada. Jacob arrived early to put their names in, which proved to be an effective strategy considering that six or seven names were added to the list since he wrote his. Jacob made it a habit to always arrive early to meetings, appointments, and especially brunches. He wasn't concerned about being late- arriving early gave him time to read.

"Fitzgerald again? You were reading this same book earlier this year," Ada exclaimed, tilting her head to the side. "You are perpetually stuck in AP Literature."

"Rereading books is the way to go. You don't absorb anything the first time you read a book. And plus, when you are rereading, you already know the story and can relax and enjoy the details."

"But every time you reread a book you miss out on a new book. Also, we are both in our 30s now. You won't impress women quoting Kafka."

"Jacob!" a frazzled waiter yelled from the entrance of the restaurant.

Ada took a moment to glance over the menu, but couldn't focus as a thought entered her mind.

"Now that I give it some thought, it's not just books. You eat the same thing everyday and wear the same outfit everyday!"

She was right. Jacob was inspired by Minimalism and over the years had discarded most of his possessions. Today he was wearing his usual uniform of heather grey pocket tee with the sleeves rolled up, black pants, and black boots.

"Life is too short to not eat exactly what you want and wear your favorite clothes everyday," Jacob said while winking. He grabbed a menu with one hand and flagged a waiter. "Let's order. I'm having the usual. What are you having?"

As the waiter approached the table, Ada tilted her head slightly. She always did that while thinking. "I'm having the Florentine Benedict with poached eggs and sun dried tomatoes. And YOU are having the French Toast Churros."

"Thanks you two. Order will be up soon." The waiter whisked away our menus and darted to the kitchen.

Before Jacob could object, Ada proclaimed, "Jacob. The time has come for you to discover your next favorite food. The timing couldn't be better since this is the start of the new year. Discovering your next favorite food should be your New Year's resolution."

He gave it some thought. When Jacob thought, he leaned back in his chair and looked up at the sky. "Okay, I'm already having mild anxiety at the prospect of eating new food, but let's do it."

"Great. You may have noticed I ordered Churro French Toast for you. I figured you loved getting churros at Disneyland when we were kids, and I haven't seen you eat a churro since. I'm hoping the nostalgia of churros coupled with the novelty of a french toast hybrid will win you over."

"haha wow, it just might win me over."

It didn't. While the Churro French Toast was good (Jacob licked the vanilla glaze off of the plate at the end), Jacob realized that it was missing the crunch of a regular churro. It was also missing something else that Jacob couldn't put his finger on.

As they walked out of the restaurant, Ada said, "well I'm glad you didn't fall in love with the first new thing you ate this year. This gives us a whole year to try new places."

"Ada, I forgot to ask: what is your New Year's Resolution?"

Ada looked into the distance and sighed. "I want to make a decision and stick with it. I know it's a bit meta, because when people make a resolution they usually elect to stick with it by default. But in my case, I wanna leave some wiggle room to find the right decision to stick to."

Ada did have trouble making a decision and sticking with it. She had gone through phases where she aspired to become a veterinarian, start a Coldstone Creamery franchise, or write guides documenting her travels. In each case, after a few months to a couple of years Ada found herself feeling inspired to try something different. From Jacob's perspective, there was nothing wrong with that (and in fact it made his life more interesting to hear about Ada's pursuits) but Ada internalized a deep feeling of insecurity from it.

They left the restaurant and walked separately to their cars as more people jockeyed for position in line to get into Blu Jam Cafe.

The winter months in Los Angeles always caught Jacob off guard. He somehow never remembered how cold it gets in Los Angeles. Ada took Jacob around Los Angeles to discover his next favorite food: tsukemen ramen at Tsujita on Sawtelle, shrimp tacos at the Mariscos Jalisco food truck in East LA, and the breakfast sandwich at All Day Baby in Silverlake.

A couple of weeks later, Ada and Jacob found themselves in line at Din Tai Fung, a Taiwanese soup dumpling restaurant. "Ada, do you ever think about the meaning of life?"

Ada tilted her head to the side. "Nope. Never. As a kid, I remember Mom passing away. She had a huge funeral, and everyone said such nice things about her. But that was the last time I ever heard those nice things. The more time that passed, I came to the realization that it was really just you and me who still remembered her. And with every year, I remember less and less about her."

Ada caught herself and smiled. "I suppose the meaning of life is to just try and squeeze as much meaning out of every moment that we possibly can. Which is why we are here, on a Thursday at 4:30 pm in line trying out the soup dumplings at Din Tai Fung."

"Ada, I didn't know you felt that way about Mom. I do remember less and less about her, but I still remember some of the best moments. I don't remember the details, but I remember the broad strokes. They have transitioned into lore, or maybe legend. Like, the "Legend of Mom and the Bangkok Meditation Challenge."

Even though the family was poor, Jacob and Ada's mom prioritized travel. More than schooling or anything else, their mom wanted them to have an international education. Besides loving travel, Jacob and Ada's mom loved to compete and would try and turn mundane, everyday activities into a competition.

On a humid summer day in Bangkok, Jacob and Ada's mom could tell that her kids were getting bored during the tour of Wat Arun, or the temple of the Dawn. She surveyed the large hall of meditators.

"Kids, see that guy over there? You can tell that he's an expert meditator because of how straight his back is while he sits cross legged. His head is in the perfect tilted position for meditation as well. Most likely, he thinks he's the best meditator in this temple. What he didn't realize is that I am also here in this temple, and it just so happens that I can meditate better and longer than him. So watch me out-meditate him."

With that, Jacob and Ada's mom sat next to the expert meditator and assumed a surprisingly expert meditation pose. Two hours later, the expert meditator was still there, but Jacob and Ada's mom was determined to win. Finally, after two and a half hours, the expert casually stood up and walked out of the temple. Jacob and Ada's mom got up and let out a howl. "I DID IT!" she cried.

"haha yes, I still remember feeling mortified as 50 Thai meditators stared inquisitively at Mom." Ada said. "I wonder what your Legend will be about, Jacob."

"The Legend of Doing the Same Thing Over and Over."

"Haha no one is going to be inspired by that."

"Yes, I agree with you. But your Legend will be great Ada."

"I wonder." Ada said, and looked off in the distance. "I suppose you will be in charge of cobbling together my Legend once I'm dead. There isn't a ton to work with, I'm sorry to say. And I'm not convinced there ever will be. My New Year's resolution was to make a decision and stick with it. But I'm afraid I've made many decisions and haven't stuck to a single one of them."

Before Jacob had time to respond, the waiter brought out their soup dumplings. Soup dumplings are best when they are first brought out, so the conversation was suspended and subsequently forgotten. The soup dumplings at Din Tai Fung were delicious and Jacob was convinced that he had found his next favorite food. But as the weeks went by, he noticed his cravings dissipated, which made him think that his declaration was premature.

Winter turned to summer. Ada's work had picked up and Jacob and Ada's food adventures became few and far between. It wasn't that Jacob and Ada were not close. Their lives simply operated in separate circles. When you are stuck in your circle, it's sometimes hard to remember the people you love that are outside of them.

Jacob had a sudden craving for churros and decided to continue his quest himself. Churros always made him remember Disneyland.

"Don't get me wrong, I love Disneyland. But why do I love it? I think it's because Walt Disney took the best parts of fantasy, sci-fi, and history and put it together in a cohesive whole." Ada and Jacob's Mom said while carefully unwrapping her churro. Ada, Jacob, and their mom were leaning against the guardrail of the bridge overlooking Tom Sawyer's Island in New Orleans Square.

"But sometimes I long to see what inspired Disney's creation. Like did you kids know that castles in Germany that are hundreds of years old inspired Disney to create Sleeping Beauty's castle?" their mom stated.

"I'd love to see the castles in Germany. But more than the castles, I want to see the Charles Bridge in Prague. First of all, it's romantic as fuck. Second, the date of completion of the bridge was September 7th, 1357 at 5:31," Ada said while taking a large bite of her churro, which diminished it to half its size.

Jacob put his churro down and a smile slowly formed on his cinnamon-encrusted lips. "Ah. It's a palindrome. 1357 9 7 5:31."

"Yes exactly. King Charles IV believed that the palindrome would imbue the bridge with additional strength. And it seems to have paid off. The bridge has survived floods, plagues, and world wars."

"Alright then it's settled. The three of us will visit the Charles Bridge together and get imbued with strength from its favorable numerology," their Mom said. With that, she ate the last of her churro and walked to the trash.

"Palindromic bridges. Ada was a weird girl," Jacob thought to himself as he walked back to his apartment. He felt a gust of wind on his face. It was unexpected and he had a bad feeling that something was wrong.

Jacob found out that night that Ada had committed suicide in her apartment. She left no note, and it came as a horrible shock. Ada's funeral was small and intimate, and even though the guests had wonderful things to say about her, Jacob was left with the feeling that the memories that they had would slowly fade away.

The three of them were never able to go to the Charles Bridge. That didn't sit right with Jacob. He booked a flight to Prague to visit and a few days later found himself in Prague's Old Town Square. He longed for a feeling of closure.

The Old Town Square of Prague was spectacular, with cobble stone winding paths, grandiose churches, and a large astronomical clock. "Walt Disney definitely stole something from here," Jacob thought.

Following the winding road to Charles Bridge, Jacob noticed an assortment of chimney cake stands sprinkled along the path. A chimney cake, from what he could gather was a pastry made from thin strips of dough, which was then browned over an open coal fire. Next, it was glazed in sugar. Many of them were filled with ice cream. The aroma of the chimney cake reminded Jacob of churros and he had to have one. He opted for a chimney cake with cinnamon, hazelnut butter, strawberries, and vanilla bean ice cream.

Standing on the Charles Bridge, Jacob took in the scene. He tried with all his might to remember his sister, Ada, and all of the memories they shared. Just like Ada had described, his memories of her started to fade into legend. "The Legend of Ada and her Infinite Interests," Jacob muttered to himself.

He took a bite of his chimney cake and immediately his eyes lit up. The pastry reminded him of a churro, but had more of a body to it and that, coupled with the fresh strawberries and ice cream, worked perfectly.

"You succeeded Ada. Today I found my next favorite food," Jacob whispered unequivocally.