Paul Fix

"The only reason some people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory."

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James Reston

"This is the devilish thing about foreign affairs: they are foreign and will not always conform to our whim."

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Honore de Balzac

"Nothing so fortifies a friendship as a belief on the part of one friend that he is superior to the other."

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Cha Hue – Hue Style Vietnamese Ham

Guest Post from Ravenous Couple
Vietnamese hams, or chả is ubiquitous part of Vietnamese cuisine. But like many Vietnamese dishes, the people of each region add special touches to a dish and call it their own. And it’s no different with chả Huế, a relative unknown compared with chả lụa. This ham originates from Huế, the ancestral capital of Vietnam and is often eaten as a snack and as a meat topping to the classic bún bò Huế soup. In fact, we’re always a tad disappointed when we don’t get a nugget of chả Huế in our soup. Why so? Well, to the generically mild pork paste giò sống, a generous amount of minced garlic and cracked pepper corns are added, transforming a typically mild chả into one with a delicious kick.





You can make your own pork paste or buy them premade in the frozen or refrigerated section of your Vietnamese market. Individually wrapped and steamed in banana leaves, these make for great gifts when visiting friends or relatives, especially with the Lunar new year, Tet, right around the corner. Here’s a short video on how to roll chả Huế.



Chả Huế

Yield: 10
Ingredients:

• 1 lb raw pork paste (giò sống)
• 1 tbs of coarsely cracked white or black peppercorns
• 1 head of garlic finely minced
• 1/2 tbs sugar
• 1/2 ts fish sauce
• ~10-12 sheets of 4 x 6 inch banana leaves and thin 6x 1/4 inch banana leaf strips to tie

Directions:

Prepare your steamer. Combine all the ingredients into a mixing bowl until well incorporated. You can pinch off 1/2 ts and microwave it for about 30s and season to taste. Add more garlic and/or peppercorns if you like it more spicy.

Place about 1 heaping tbs of mixture onto one end of the banana leaf. Fold over the side edges and roll the pork mixture. Seal with the banana strip by giving it several twists and tuck the loose ends under. See video above.

Steam for 10 minutes, or until thoroughly cooked. Enjoyed immediately or at room temperature.

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Song : We wish you a Merry Christmas

Gần tới ngày Giáng sinh , chúc các bạn một giáng sinh hạnh phúc với bài hát nổi tiếng "We wish you a Merry Christmas"

We wish you a Merry Christmas;

We wish you a Merry Christmas;

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Good tidings we bring to you and your kin;

Good tidings for Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Oh, bring us a figgy pudding;

Oh, bring us a figgy pudding;

Oh, bring us a figgy pudding and a cup of good cheer

We won't go until we get some;

We won't go until we get some;

We won't go until we get some, so bring some out here

We wish you a Merry Christmas;

We wish you a Merry Christmas;

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

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Scott Adams

"The best way to compile inaccurate information that no one wants is to make it up."

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No Action Will Get You Nowhere

Guest Post from Susie:

 

Sometimes you learn things in elevators. Especially when you get into an elevator and expect the elevator to read your mind.

Yesterday when I was out on the town in Vegas shopping at the outlet stores, my sister and I got into an elevator. We waited patiently for the elevator to move and it wasn’t until my sister chuckled and asked whether or not I had actually pressed the floor button that I realized we hadn’t moved.

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Canh Chua Vietnamese Sour Tamarind Soup and Life in the Mekong Delta

Guest Post from Canh Chua Vietnamese Sour Tamarind Soup and Life in the Mekong Delta




From Tebetian highlands to the lowlands of southwest Vietnam, the Mekong river and it’s thousands of tributaries meanders it’s way across 39,000 square km in Vietnam known as the Mekong Delta or miền tây (western region) , encompassing the lands immediately west of Saigon to the very southern tip, Cà Mau.



Dubbed as a biologic treasure trove, the waters of Mekong river is a way of life for over 17 million inhabitants. It’s waters and rich soil help to produce half of the countries rice crop each year as well as an abundance of fruits. It’s also home to large aquacultural industry raising catfish, basa, and shrimp.



Life here revolves around the river–owning a boat is just as important as a scooter, if not more, as it means you can ferry your crops to the market to sell to earn a living. The Cái Răng market in Cần Thơ, is one of the largest floating markets in the region. Mainly a wholesale market for fruits and vegetables, this normal way of life has become a must see destination for anyone visiting this area.



Each morning at sunrise, the market is teaming with activity. Hundreds of large wholesale boats from all over delta converge and drop anchor in the market, hanging their crops on bamboo poles to signal what’s in season and for sale. We’re not sure if there’s any order to it all–bananas on one end or dragon fruit on the other, but the the large boats create lanes, or market aisles if you will, for smaller retail boats (and tourists boats) to weave through. Instead of aisle numbers and shopping carts, check the bamboo poles weave your boat to your vendor, place your order and soon bundles of fruit and vegetables are tossed onto your boat. It’s an extraordinary way of doing business that you’ll ever experience.



If you see household items on the boat such as cloths or pots and pans, or even pets on boat it doesn’t mean it’s for sale. Some families actually call the boats home!



As with markets on land, there’s no shortage of food options to satisfy all the hungry vendors and visitors. You can flag down floating cafes to indulge your cafe sua da morning fix as well as banh mi boats to satisfy your breakfast cravings.



Oh, but you’ll rather have a bowl of hủ tiếu instead? No problem! There’s a boat for that too. Just good luck trying to eat a bowl of noodles in a floating boat. After you manage that, the noodle lady will navigate around find you and retrieve her bowl and chopsticks. The ingenuity and perseverance of these people are simply amazing.



But the Mekong Delta isn’t known for hủ tiếu or even pho for that matter. It’s known for dishes that uses the abundant seafood and vegetables from the region such as hot pots called lẫu mắm made from salted fish as well as one of our favorite soups, canh chua. We adore canh chua because the contrasting flavors of sour, sweet, and savory and we also love the contrasting textures of all the different vegetables. Literally translated as sour soup, canh chua combines all the wonderful abundance of this region, incorporating seafood (such catfish, snakehead, eel, shrimp among others) along with colorful medley of tamarind, pineapple, tomatoes, okra, elephant ears, bean sprouts and a variety of herbs such as lemony ngo om. Enjoy canh chua with some steamed jasmine rice as part of a traditional Vietnamese meal or alone with some rice vermicelli noodles.

Everytime we make this dish, we’ll always remember the floating fruit vendors and life on the Mekong. If you’re visiting, hire a private small private boat to visit the market early around sunrise or slightly after when it’s most busy.



Canh Chua Sour Tamarind Soup with Prawns

Yield: 4 servings


We love using prawns for this dish but you can use your favorite seafood. Any firm white fish steaks would work well.

This recipe requires preparing tamarind pulp. It's best to use wet seedless tamarind typically sold in 14 oz blocks instead of juice or concentrates, although you certainly could if pressed for time. For why and how to prepare the pulp, see this link. by Leela of shesimmers.com
Ingredients:

• 6 cups of water or fish stock
• 1/2 lb large prawns, cleaned
• 1 cup tamarind pulp puree
• 1/2 sweet pineapple, peeled, sliced into bite-sized pieces
• 2 tomatos, cut in wedges
• 2 tbs sugar, plus additional to taste
• 1 tbs koshar salt, plus additonal to taste
• 1 tbs fish sauce
• 1-2 elephant ear stems, peeled and sliced on diagonal 1/2in thick
• 1 cup okra, sliced diagonal
• 2 red chilli, sliced (optional)
• 1/2 cup of bean sprouts
• 10 springs of rice paddy herb, roughly chopped
• fried garlic

Directions:

Combine the tamarind pulp in equal amout (i.e 14 oz block, 14 fl oz water, roughly 1 cup) of hot water in a large bowl and soak for 15 minutes. Work the pulp with your hands until dissolved, squeezing out the puree and then tossing away the membranes. You're left with just the thick brown pulp puree. You can also strain the pulp through a fine sieve instead of using your hands.

In large pot bring water to boil and then add prawns, tamarind pulp puree, tomatoes, pineapple, okra, fish sauce, salt and sugar and bring back to boil.

When prawns are pink and tomatoes are just tender, add bean sprouts and elephant ear stems and season with additional salt or fish salt and sugar to taste. It should be sweet, sour, and savory.

Remove from heat and transfer to serving bowl. Finish with rice patty herb, fried garlic and optional chili.

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