When I was a teen, our Vietnamese neighbors made the most amazing egg rolls. Once a year they piled them high on a huge platter and brought them to our house. As long as they lasted, I didn’t need to eat anything else. When it comes to egg rolls, spring rolls, or anything else with vegetables in a wrapper eaten with a sauce, I think the Vietnamese versions are the best.
I didn’t discover pho until later. My nephew Alex showed it to me during our year of trying a new restaurant every Tuesday. I’ve now eaten it many times. There are (according to the Internet) 2916 Vietnamese restaurants in California, so pho is not hard to find. Of those many restaurants, here are just a few that I’ve been to with friends since I started tracking for this blog:
· In 2021, Vonnett and I went to Tasty Bakery in San Diego for dessert. I tried the pandan cake with coconut cream filling (light, fluffy, mildly sweet, green, and delicious). Vonnett got a bun with bright orange egg custard, again mildly sweet. Tasty Bakery has durian as a special order cake filling or in one of the many smoothies. Because durian is famous for being stinky but delicious, the durian smoothie intrigued me enough that I came back for it. Vonnett said it smelled like smelly socks, but she liked the taste. We saved some for Kevin, who said it smelled like a plant in the garden, but the flavor made up for it. I couldn't smell it (I still don’t have my smell back). It tasted a little different, but fine.
· In 2022, Erika, Kathy, Gladys, Lidia, Laurie, and I went to Fuzion Five in Palm Springs. We shared lettuce wraps, a vermicelli noodles salad, drunken noodles, Fuzion stir fried veggies, and salmon. They also have coconut purple rice for dessert.
· Also in 2022, Karina and I met at Asian Food Restaurant in Hesperia. I had the egg rolls and vermicelli (it was so good!) and she had the grilled pork sandwich.
· And to eat more Vietnamese food this week, Vonnett and I ate at Phuong Trang in San Diego Friday night. We chose Phuong Trang because they have a huge menu. Besides the egg rolls which came with lettuce, fresh mint, cilantro and sauce, Vonnett had Banh Tam Chao Tom (char-grilled ground shrimp in sugar cane) and I had the vegetarian crepe with tofu, Chinese mushrooms, bean sprouts, and mung beans. We shared the Che Trai Cay for dessert, which has various fruits and jellies floating in cream and shaved ice. We loved it all and were so excited to try new things!
Events where you can eat your fill of Vietnamese food are at the Asian Garden Night Market in Westminster on summer weekends or the Tet Festival at the Orange County Fairgrounds in January. Expect traffic and a very long line at the fairgrounds, especially when they let those who wear Vietnamese native clothing in free. Everyone is dressed up and beautiful. I had the quail egg dumplings, a grapefruit dessert, and sugarcane juice when I went this year. I also enjoyed the various programs, especially the drumming.
To make your own Vietnamese food, try one of these webpages:
One of my favorite books of all time is The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen. When we discussed it at a book group, I brought snacks from the Vietnamese grocery store Hiep Thanh Super Market in San Bernardino. I also read The Refugees, a collection of short stories by the same author. More works by Vietnamese authors can be found here: https://wordswithoutborders.org/read/country/vietnam/
Netflix right now has two rom coms, two concert films with Vietnamese pop stars, and two reports on anti war activities. I picked A Tourist's Guide to Love and enjoyed the scenery. Heidi recommends the movie Vietnam: Fast Forward that she saw in Borrego Springs at a film festival. She also pointed out the annual Viet Film Fest in Orange County in October.
To learn a little about how the Vietnam War came about, see here: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/postwarera/1960s-america/v/vietnam-war
A Vietnamese playlist on YouTube starts here (Mom, you’ll like this first song with children in it):
There is so much beautiful detail in the videos of the artist Hùng Viet Nguyen producing various artworks: https://hung4art.com/news.html
There are amazing things to do in Vietnam. Some of them are found here: https://www.wanderlust.co.uk/content/top-10-things-to-do-in-vietnam/. I would love to go! I hope for a time when broad travel gives us new perspectives. In the meantime, I’m hoping we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace, health, and safety to flourish in Vietnam and throughout the world.
Photo Credit: Ruslan Bardash https://unsplash.com/photos/8MhejqEghLk
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