It warms the soul. And my feet too.

It's something I've come to take for granted. Growing up in an Asian household, rice is what you have with almost every meal. We never had dinner rolls, bread was reserved for toast at breakfast. Pasta was for "American food night" where we specifically deviated from the norm. The norm that is rice.

Now that I'm not living with my parents, I'm not having rice on a daily basis. But I still can't imagine not having it on a regular basis. Somethings like fried rice or a egg over easy on top of rice with a dab of butter and a splash of soy sauce serve as comfort food to me. A big pot of juk, or rice porridge, is perfect for a cold night.

And fucking cold it's been. Over the past few years, my parents have become obsessed with a new use for rice. When I got my wisdom teeth removed, my doctor recommended using heat to promote healing and recommended microwaving a rice filled sock to do the trick. Ever since then, my parents have kept a dozen or so socks filled with rice around the house. Tense shoulders? Here's a sock. Cold feet? Microwave a sock! Menstrual cramps? A sock will help!

Over the holidays, my brother-in-law Chris came to appreciate all that is the warm sock. He spent the week with a sock draped over his shoulders and another one to warm his hands and/or feet. Enthused, my parents went sock happy and made a dozen more for Chris, Felisa, myself and even Ju Yon. So I now brave my cold apartment equipped with my sock, filled with rice.

How to make your own heating sock:
1. Get a clean unused sock.
2. With rice fill up the sock.
3. Make a knot in the sock.

And that's how you do it.