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 […]
Category Archives: Friends
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 […]
Team Hai Lun v.s. Homecoming Boys
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Some of the town boys came home from their months of service to the Vietnamese Army. As a welcome back, the Hai Lun Restaurant soccer team challenged the homecomers to a soccer match. The Hai Lun boys gave the homecomers a 10 point advance. The winning team would take the other team […]
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 […]
Vong Co
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
My friends asked, “What are you doing tonight?”
I replied, “Tonight, I’m going to watch Vong Co with my aunt.”
They all made faces. “Why are you going to watch that? You’re going to fall asleep, it’s so boring. The king kills the princess, but the princess takes a half an hour to die […]
Body Art
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
One day The asked me, “Can you wait here? I have to practice Body Art.”
“I want to see it! Body Art? What is that?”
I watched the practice. It was 5 guys moving around in a specific formation really really slowly. At first they were just an abstract shape, then they lurked towards each other and […]
Quan Coc
Monday, October 15, 2007
“One day you should come to my café, and I will show you a real Vietnamese coffee shop.”
The next day, I went.
“It is my dream to show artwork in my café because at cafes, people can relax, get a chance to enjoy art,” The told me as we rode on his motorbike.
We rode through a […]