Trau Cau, or The Betal and the Areca Tree, is one of the most famous Vietnamese legends. This version is from the book Vietnamese Legends and Folk Tales from The Gioi Publishers.
During the reign of the Fourth (some say the third) Hung King, there lived a mandarin whose family-name was Cao. He had […]
Category Archives: Eastern
Trau Cau (The Betal and Areca Tree)
Sunday, January 13, 2008
The Vietnamese Wedding
Sunday, January 13, 2008
It was wedding season. In a traditional Vietnamese wedding the groom, with his family and friends, go over the bride’s home and askes her parents for her hand in marriage. More often than not, the parents agree. Then, the bride and groom pray to the ancestors of the bride. The bride’s parents express their happiness […]
Mountain Kings
Sunday, January 13, 2008
In the mountains that border Ha Nam (which are actually in Ninh Binh, a larger bordering town) are the temples devoted to King Dinh and King Le from feudal Vietnam.
Dinh Bo Linh was a distinguished officer at the end of the Ngo Dynasty. In 968, he became emperor and took the name of King […]
Xoi Gac (Momordica Sweet Rice)
Sunday, January 13, 2008
To make xoi gac (momordica sweet rice) you take gao nep, which is a sweet and sticky rice, and mix it with gac fruit, which is momordica fruit. Then, cook the rice and fruit for about an hour. Meanwhile, cook up some dau xanh, which is mung bean. When the dau xanh is ready, smush […]
Tiet Canh De (Deer’s Blood)
Saturday, January 12, 2008
At Hai Lun Restaurant, and at many other places, Tiet Canh De (Deer’s Blood) is a V.I.P dish. A deer, which has been properly fed and nurtured, is butchered in the morning so that this dish can be served for dinner. The blood of the deer is saved and refrigerated. In the […]
Cats
Saturday, January 12, 2008
We went down the road from Hai Lun Restaurant and ate cats. They were served in pennywort and coconut soup, in porridge, sautéed in sesame, and steamed with chili, salt, and pepper.
Ha Nam and Hai Lun Restaurant
Saturday, January 12, 2008
The final destination of our travels in Northern Vietnam was Ha Nam. This town is the invisible place that we think of when we read folk tales. Grey mountains border this town. Boulders, rocks, stones, and pebbles stumble down from these mountains and the people build their houses and markets out of them.
Watch:
Hat […]
Hanoi Oi!
Saturday, January 12, 2008
On a Friday night, some of my friends and I took the soft-seater 29 train ride from Saigon to Hanoi. On the train, we talked about things over bags of beef jerky and cuddle fish, kilos of grapefruit, cans of pasticcios, jars of pate, and dozens of boiled eggs. Vietnam is a beautiful […]
Cam On Minh Da Yeu Em (Thank You for Letting Me Love You)
Saturday, January 12, 2008
My aunt Co Nhung took me to see a Vietnamese contemporary play at Idecafe, a French cultural center in Saigon. The play was called Cam On Minh Da Yeu Em.
The story opens with a couple of grandparents and a young couple. The grandparents appear happy in their old age, and the young […]
Enrichment in Can Tho
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
I went to Can Tho to attend the Fulbright Enrichment Seminar. It was a gathering of all seven of the Fulbrighters in Vietnam. We met at Can Tho University, a very large university in Vietnam that is famous for its agriculture department. In a conference room, we shared the progress of our […]