Hanoi welcomes you with gentle cool breezes, very gentle because the sun seems light but is still dry and burning, typical of Hanoi autumn.
Your hobby is still the same as before, sitting in a quiet place with a small, pretty package of cốm fragrant with the scent of lotus leaves wrapped outside. The hands with smooth, firm bamboo shoots of the past are now gaunt and sinewy. The only movement is to use your right hand to take a small handful of cốm, place it in your left palm, then use your right hand to pick up a few grains, bring them up to enjoy and it's still the same as before.
You said Hanoi has 2 types of cốm, tamarind leaf cốm and giót cốm. Fresh, thin, flexible tamarind leaf cốm, fragrant with the smell of young rice milk. tamarind leaf cốm is the most delicious and rare cốm among traditional Hanoi cốm lines. This type can be eaten directly from the original raw food or dipped with ripe bananas for a sweet flavor and bring something very Hanoi flavor. This type of cốm is only eaten fresh, frozen for preservation and not kept in the cooling compartment.
Còn cốm giót - loại cốm đặc sản, được tạo thành từ những hạt lúa nếp non non nhất trong mẻ giã. Vì là hạt non và nhiều sữa nên tự quyện dính vào nhau thành từng khối nhỏ như hạt ngô hoặc hạt lạc nằm lại ở đầu nia. Mỗm cốm chỉ thu được khoảng 2/10 khối lượng là cốm giót, càng về cuối vụ càng hiếm.
Asking you how well you know about the types of cốm? You pause for a moment and then answer: Cốm is autumn, autumn is Hanoi, remembering Hanoi is remembering cốm. In a foreign land, autumn is just fleeting, even if the leaves are yellow, it takes a long time. There are days when the weather is changing from the heat of summer to cool and then the temperature drops to a low level - the temperature of winter. Therefore, when you have the opportunity to return to Hanoi, you only like to find a quiet street corner with a package of cốm, to let your thoughts drift aimlessly. Old friends know you came back, organize meetings and parties. After many years of separation, now returning in the arms of friends, after moments of chatting, you find your favorite scenery... ...
Then one day, still in the autumn weather, still the fragrance of cốm, the fragrance of milk flowers blending together, and the sun is still burning even though the color is very light, you change your seat. You don't sit in a quiet street corner but choose a cafe with lively music. It turns out, you discover a drink with cốm flavor. According to your description, in that drink, the greasiness of fresh milk promotes the sweetness of cốm, adding a bit of tea to create enchantment. You suddenly find tradition in modernity, making you no longer feel lost.
The only thing is, choosing the Mid-Autumn Festival time to return to Hanoi after many years of separation also has a reason. That is the word "Tet" in the Mid-Autumn Festival. This Tet and countless other Tets you do not have the conditions to return to Hanoi - where you were born - so you choose the Mid-Autumn Festival. Also Tet and also reunion, only different in reunion in the autumn season with full tradition and modernity.
