My complicated relationship with fruit
I’ve always had a complicated relationship with fruit. As a Vietnamese kid growing up in the US, dessert more often than not was just the fruit sitting in a bowl that had been staring at me all throughout dinner. My Banana self revolted. Why didn’t my parents get that it...
Secret Saigon: Mean Girls Edition
With the finale of Parks and Recreation last week, TV has entered a sad, sad era. It’ll be the first time in nearly 10 years that neither Tina Fey nor Amy Poehler will be on the small screen. In honor of their comedic genius, I’ve decided to give this edition...
Zombies, Cheese and Bacon Pillows – Can You Ever Go Home Again?
When exactly is that moment where you realize that you’ve been traveling or living abroad for so long that what you’ve always called home is no longer home? Is it when you’re more excited to get back on the plane than you were to get off it? Or when you...
Saigon’s Secret Supper Club
“Mung bean”, I whisper to the boy in square hipster glasses dressed all in black and hugging an iPad. “This way”, he says as he checks me off the guest list and leads me to the elevator and an upstairs apartment in a non-descript corporate-looking building in Saigon. The door...
Beach Eats in Nha Trang, Vietnam
There’s something about that first whiff of salty sea air that gets me all giddy. Then come the maddening slivers of blue and green that you can barely make out through the trees, like a harbinger of pleasure. Just being near the beach, I can practically feel the tension easing...
Dim Sum and Then Some
I love my parents. Despite growing up in a lower-middle class family when we immigrated from Vietnam in the 70’s, they indulged my every extracurricular whim. I remember walking to the nearby strip mall in my shiny new black tap shoes, hearing the clickety-clack of the taps on the sidewalk...
Pretty in Pink
I have a confession. I’m a bit fancy. There. I said it. I just spent $100 on a water cooler just so that I don’t have to drink water from a jug in the fridge like a plebe. People who come over always remark on how many pairs of shoes...
Magic Spaghetti vs Pan-fried Fois Gras with Porcini and Pear Marmalade
Ever since buying a brand new pressure cooker from a friend for the princely sum of US$40, I’ve been doing slightly more cooking lately. By slightly more, I mean once a week. And by cooking, I mean throwing hastily chopped ingredients into the pressure cooker. The one-pot wonders that have...
Food Craving #57: Strawberries in Vietnam
As a kid, my favorite TV snack wasn’t popcorn, peanut butter and apples, fruit roll-ups or any of the other typical “white people” snacks. It was a big bowl of canned lychees over ice. Anytime I had a whole bowl to myself meant I had done something right. This was...
My Asparagus Dealer
A few weeks ago, I had my first taste… and I was hooked. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. The cravings were powerful. Almost daily, I’d find myself going back for more. But alas, the supply had run out. I asked everyone I met if they knew where I could...