somewhere over the mekong: food

Showing posts with label food. Show all posts

12.7.11

Reason #2 + The process of canh bí đỏ (pumpkin broth soup)

Anytime, anywhere.Why I love Vietnam!
Reason #2

Anytime, anywhere you can find people singing with no shame in the form of Karaoke. (As the Vietnamese say: KA RA OKAY!) You would think that the prevalence of "saving face" would serve as a deterrent to really bad singing but no, it does not. I've actually grown quite fond of it. The way that a mother grows fond of her baby's never ending crying and tantrums. No special event is needed. Unexpected and unpredictable, Karaoke surfaces in the morning, on a Wednesday late afternoon, and even when there's a wild party at 7:15 pm at night.

I'm trying really hard to share my abroad experiences through stories, photos and video clips. Hopefully I can post everyday. Enjoy!

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The process of canh bí đỏ (pumpkin broth soup)

I fucking love soup. My friend Linh says I make good soup. Here, I've learned that soup is not easy to make. It requires patience, knowing the right amount to put in without measuring cups and the correct order of putting things in. In America, I never quite understood how to make soup. Unfortunately my mom's attempts of teaching me were not exactly conducive to soup making.

While mom is cooking soup
Come here and learn how to do something.
How do you know how much to put in?
I just know.
Yeah but how do you know? Like one teaspoon or what? I don't get it.
You just know.
Okay...
I attempt to "help"
Stop that, oh just get out the kitchen.
But...
You're going to burn the house down.

That was the extent of my soup lessons. I mean teaching soup lessons to a kid is like reading Moby Dick to a toddler. We just got no patience.

However, after a few attempts and learning from fabulous cooks, I now know how to cook soup.

Step 1: REALLY IMPORTANT. Turn on stove to boil water.

Step 2: Get tools ready. That is a certain kind of pumpkin - I don't know it's name. Don't use the pumpkin that you find on Halloween. You will not be happy.

Step 3: Use tools and peel that shit. I hate this part. (Hey Kim how did you take that picture if you live by yourself? Tuck it into my chin.)

Step 4: Scoop mushy insides out. (Martha Steward would be proud of my instructions).

Step 5: Try to cut into evenly divided pieces.

Secret Step 6: Heat up the garlic first to let it sizzle and smell good. My mom may beg to differ, since this actually burns the garlic but I enjoy burnt things.

Secret Step 7: Cook the pumpkin! Yes! You don't throw it in the soup, doing so will cause the pumpkin to disintegrate into stringy pieces. Stir frying it first keeps it together.

Step 8: Viola.

Step 9: Water should be boiling by now.

Secret step 10: Dried shrimp. This is like Vietnam's quick fix, sort of like Prego spaghetti sauce. Instead of stewing over the stove waiting for your beef to cook, just throw these suckers in and your soup is savory and fishy smelling.

Step 11: Throw everything in. Marinate with salt, sugar, and stock according to your tastes.


Step 12: YAY! Add cilantro, green onion, and pepper. Makes it look prettier and taste better!

I almost fell asleep writing this blog post. I thought for some reason soup would be mildly entertaining. I suppose I can tell you why I really like this soup. I live with this amazing staff member named Thao whose an artist and lived in Hungary for 15 years whose story telling skills have people lying on the floor laughing or captivated in still silence. She cooks me this soup. When she's out on field visits, I attempt to cook the things that she cooks but can never quite match up in wholesome goodness. Also a trafficking returnee showed me some of the "secrets" to this soup such as stir frying the pumpkin before I throw it in the water. I use the word "secrets" but it's probably my dumb ass not knowing very basic Vietnamese soup 101.

Now that I am about to leave Vietnam, I not only have awesome soup recipe's up my sleeve, but also have ever lasting memories that come with it. And that's why I fucking love soup.

18.6.11

G.R.whhhhhhhaaaaat.

Vestiges of soft unrequited love remain nestled between the cracks of broken cement and dirty brown carpet. Masked by straight lines and squared lawns, his love for her was reduced to the consistent inaudible drone of Chinese and Vietnamese radio, hum drums delights of celebrity Taiwanese game shows, and the wailing rain of Korean dramas. Outside of this, the clanking of dishes and sizzle of blood-fresh meat and pounded garlic occasionally surfaced. It was hard to believe that love existed in this place.

For their daughter, love was finite and existed at her desk. Her desk was small, made of plastic plywood and had an eclectic variation of shelves. Dents and marks were covered with stickers. Stickers were layered with even more dents and marks. She would methodically place her school papers to the left, her aladdin picture on the back and whatever novelty items she hoarded.

Her dad's peculiar obsession with moving furniture around the house kept her desk moving. Her desk was familiar with many rooms in the house. For a period of time her desk spent time in the dining room/living room. She rather enjoyed this lack of privacy. She saw her dad more this way.

...to be continued

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Dear Arcade Fire,

You are good to me. Thank you for filling my morning with inspirational dance goodness through the harmonious belching of your preachy songs. Thank you for existing and creating.

hugs, kim

I've been in a frenzied state because I have my GRE's in 4 days and continue to score very poorly on practice tests. I realized that most of this has to do with stress and me concentrating on "finishing" rather than answering each one with caution and care. I'm just going to relax and breath and concentrate on the test. Listen to Arcade Fire. Try to do my best and if I don't do well, it won't be the end of the world.

Afterwards I'm getting a cupcake for myself and my friend Linh and we're going to eat fuckin' crab. Linh will fly to America back to Des Moines, Iowa the very next day so I am sad. However, I am very delighted with the fact that I have friends in the Midwest. This means that I can probably satisfy my dreams of midwestern way of life by being a stupid California tourist who can't tell the difference between Idaho and Iowa in the very near future.

June 23rd will mark the "last stretch" if you will. Here are my travel plans:

July 2nd - July 4th - Hue, Vietnam - final VIA hooplah! Goodbye to Ellioto.
July 11th - 13th - Phnom Penh, Cambodia for work (maybe Siem Reap?)
August 16th - 21st - Taipei, Taiwan - to do what I don't know but I really want to speak Chinese.
August 21st - Los Angeles, CA, USA (!) - land of people who speak English!
August 28th - Huntington Beach, CA - ADAPT Inspires - Pacific Links Foundation fundraising luncheon - I'm a speaker!

In there I want to fit in another rendezvous in Hong Kong to see some friends and a trip to Hanoi and our shelter for trafficking returnees in Lao Cai province. In addition to all the goodbye Vietnamese dinners I must do before I leave.

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And what is a post without videos? Arcade Fire!

I GUESS WE JUST HAVE TO ADDJUUUUUUUUUUUST!!! My Vietnamese neighbors probably don't know what hit them.

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I really like this blog entry from good girl dinette in Los Angeles, CA - "American diner meets Vietnamese comfort food." I like how she captures her parent's early dates with such color and liveliness.

Because her blog is nestled into her website I am unfortunately am unable to get the link to the exact entry. If you scroll down you can find the entry under the title "date" Here's a snippet:

banh khot
the tiny stall is packed with hungry diners waiting in front of dimpled pans in which a mixture of rice, coconut milk, and scallions is sputtering in oil. when the banh khot with dried shrimp and mung bean come out, they are perfectly blistered and crisp. she eats deliberately. he can see her mind working. she knows the basic recipe, but cannot discern the ingredient or technique that distinguishes these cakes from the others at the market. he laughs as she looks from their empty plates to the coveted batter next to the fire. he lets her take one last look, then takes her hand and they exit onto the street.

che
before too long, a vendor stops in front of them. in today's yoke are mung beans and red beans in coconut milk, neatly poured into plastic bags, each with a straw fastened by rubber bands. they take two bags and resume their saunter.

cine
the marquee advertises charlie chaplin's "modern times." they walk toward their seats, arms carrying beef jerky, coca-colas, and popcorn. the cool and dark of the movie house and her perfume do their magic and he falls asleep halfway into the film. this time it's she who indulges him and lets him sleep. when the movie ends, she nudges him awake and takes his hand to leave the theater.

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I've realized that I'm very good with creativity if I have limitations or guidelines. Like a homework assignment. I love K-12 homework assignments, I'm very good at them. Make this. Make that. Do this using these things. I may entertain the idea of doing a project that gives me guidelines to make this and make that. I also love following rules (like a martinet) and hate not following rules, and I say this with as much veracity as I can. Breaking rules gives me a heart attack.

If I can focus this much time to my GRE's I probably damn could focus it on other things...like learning how to read music, doing art and trying to practice and be good at it, exercise, spend time with family, old friends.

15.11.10

The process of nước ép chanh dây (passion fruit juice)

My second favorite fruit now, right next to mangosteens.

12.10.10

Cục Gạch Quán is my favorite restaurant in Vietnam.

Really, this is my favorite restaurant in Vietnam. For English click here. I have been meaning to write about this place for a long time, but since I don't really write about food, time passed and I ate here another 3 times to test it out again. har har.

My aunt, who I refer to as Mommy, was extremely skeptical of a restaurant that I would recommend. Being the great cook and picky eater that she is, she gave me a hard time before I convinced her and the family to come along with me and trust me.

"This place is probably for foreigners."

"Okay, Kim and Rebecca can eat here first and then me and you [my uncle] can find another place later."

"Just because this place looks nice does not mean the food is good"

"This place is so empty"

And so with a series of ego hurting remarks I became sorta paranoid that my aunt would not like the restaurant therefore be grumpy the whole night. However, my aunt has been back three times since then. YES WIN!

Cục Gạch Quán literally translates to Stone Restaurant (Correct me if I'm wrong). The decor was what originally drawn me to it, owned and designed by a Vietnamese architect I had really wanted to go just because of the vintage music devices they had lying about the place but it was the food that had me coming back for more.

The atmosphere is warm and welcoming like your "grandmother's home." I was confused when I first walked in because it literally seemed like I just busted into someone's house.

Reservations are recommended for big groups, but I've been able to drop by with no problems every time. In order to go upstairs you have to cross this small river bond (see photo below.)

They serve traditional homey Vietnamese dishes to your liking. Like it fried? Then have it fried. Like it sautéed? They can do that too. Or would you rather just have it boiled? Then request it. The entire restaurant only has one vietnamese menu and one english menu. People usually just come in having already ordered what they wanted over the phone or just asking the waiter what's good. Each dish I've tried is pretty damn good. Though I don't have any of the photos here (since I gobbled down the food before I realized I forgot to take a picture) I'd recommend the fried soft tofu with fried lemon grass and their fried soft shell crab. YUM. Each dish is suppose to have a "homey grandmother" feel to it. Basically you come in and tell them what kind of soup, vegetable, and meat you'd like and how you would like it and there it is - you have a feast of a meal made just how you want it to be.

Is that a stalk of morning glory (rau moung) used as a straw? YES!

Besides the awesome decor -outside the door it says "Office of the architect" in Vietnamese - It's all the small things in this restaurant that draw me back again and again. You can see the owner's ideas and thoughts really come to life from the building itself down to the utensils you use. Their vintage dish ware is from a long time ago, the glasses are purposely egg carton shaped, and the entire restaurant looks like someone's home. There are three areas of the restaurant: the front of the house (1st Floor), the attic, and the book room (2nd Floor). I prefer the attic, personally since the small door that enters that area makes it seem like your stepping into a whole other place. There is a bed that is turned into a table, and comfortable lounging chairs.

I'd recommend not coming on the weekend as it gets outrageously busy and crowded which is not the atmosphere that I first fell in love with. Service tends to be really overwhelmed at that point as well. I'd recommend a tad early around 5:30 pm, on a weekday. The restaurant is pretty much all yours.

Done. ăn ngon miệng nhe!

So enough of my nonsense talk. Just try it. Aw hell, if I had a date this would be the place I would take him. For folks coming by to Saigon I'll take you to this place if you'd like, as long as you don't give me a hard time like my aunt.

Address: 10 Dang Tat, District 1
Price range: 30,000 vnd to 200,000 vnd

12.5.10

Man, I'm tired.

Mentally and physically tired. Today I got some pho from my favorite pho stand in Long Xuyen. He's been making pho for 17 years he told me once. His lines age as he smiles. "Haven't seen you in so long! Where have you been" I mumble that I've been working a lot. A strange guilt arises for some reason, as if I was a traitor. The feeling quickly erases itself as I come to the conclusion that guilt can only be felt if I went to eat at another pho place, which has not happen.

There is something about a good bowl of noodles in the morning that calms me and slows me down. It's the process.

When you get a bowl of pho you have to add things to it.

So it becomes just right.

Perfect.

This takes patience. Reaching over to the fresh green plate of vegetables I toss them around a bit and find the ones I like most. Picking each leaf off and breaking them, they leap into my bowl.

And the sauce.

My GOD THE SAUCE.

Handmade hand crushed burgundy goodness with dried chili seeped in chili oil.

And now I'm going to faint onto my bed from exhaustion. Under my mosquito net, because I just don't want to think anymore.

Tomorrow I will have no electricity. After Vietnamese class off to Saigon I go. Long Xuyen seems a tad stranger to me, since I've been on the go for the last month or so. The bridge is connected. Dark gray clouds seem to linger. And the sun seems to be angry at me.