Goi Cuon-Shrimp Roll

To my two sons, Anh Vu and Hong Bao, I am a very good cook. Anh Vu loves my cooking so much, he prefers to stay at home and commute to Davis instead of living in the dorm. At the end of every meal, Bao always says: "I love your cooking, thank you for making this dish!" "You are a good cook, mommy." or "Humm, this is delicious!" Their favorite, common Vietnamese dishes are: pho (chicken or beef noodle), cha gio (spring roll), and goi cuon (shrimp roll). I would like to share with you the recipe for making goi cuon. It is really fun to roll your own and enjoy the meal with family members.





You need:

Rice papers
Rice noodles
Shrimps
Pork
Chives
Lettuce
Basil and mint
Cilantro
Cucumber


Sauce for dipping:

Fish sauce 1 cup
Water 1 cup
Granulated sugar 1 cup
Chili sauce 1tsp
Fresh chili pepper 3 or 4 small ones (cut into little pieces)
Limes 2
Garlic 2 cloves








Boil a pot of water, sprinkle in some salt. Put pork in and cook until tender. Put shrimps in and boil until pink. Scoop out pork and shrimps, cut pork into thin, long strips. Peel shrimps ( save the broth for making soup later.) and cut them in half, length wise. Boil some water, sprinkle in some salt and cook the rice noodle (follow direction on package). Wash the vegetables and cut cucumber into thin strips. Put everything on the dish.

Making fish sauce mixture: In a small sauce pan, put fish sauce, water, and sugar in, bring to a boil on low heat (watch carefully for it may boil over). Turn off the stove and let it cool down. Squeeze 2 limes, crush 2 cloves of garlic in a jar. Pour in the mixture of fish sauce in the jar. When ready to serve, scoop out the fish sauce mixture in a small bowl. Add one teaspoon of chili sauce and fresh chili peppers to make the dip. (You can save the rest of the fish sauce mixture in the fridge, and it's good for a month or two.)

When ready, pour some warm water in a big dish and wet each sheet of rice paper on both side. Put this rice paper on each person's dish(each person should roll his or her own roll.) Lay a piece of lettuce down on the now soft rice paper, then some rice noodle, vegetables, pieces of pork, 2 half shrimps and then roll into a tight roll. Dip into spicy fish sauce mixture and enjoy.

Signs

I found these signs and stores in Oakland China Town and San Francisco.


Tan means "new," Duc sounds a bit like Dick and therefore the name New Dick. I guess the owner of the store doesn't know the slang for Dick.


If it looked good on the models, then it would look good on me. If it looked good on the maniquins, then it'd look much better on me?





I love these monkeys. "Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil." I have to take this advice to heart.





What do they sell in the Virgin store? Virgins?




Public toilet in San Francisco. The sign says that your use time limit is 20 minutes, I wonder what would happen if I used it for more than twenty? Would it have washed my bottom? The toilet would retract? Too bad it was out of order so I couldn't take the picture of it inside. Maybe next time.




Father and son went shopping for a bikini. That was fun.




Does this sign look similar to the "f" word? I went inside the store and asked the clerk how to pronounce it. She said: "It's an acronym for French Connection United Kingdom." "So how do you pronounce it?" She spelled out each letter: "f.c.u.k." I guess it like CIA or FBI. But how do you know when to pronounce an acronym as one word or say each of the letter? How about HUD (Housing and Urban Development) and AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome)?



Go Liberal, Feel Repulican?

Doan A- Vu's Art Work

My 17 year old son's name is Doan T A- Vu. He is a freshman at UC Davis majoring in Atmospheric Science. In his spare time, he likes to draw cartoons, read and write mostly science fiction. Here are some of his beautiful drawings and paintings.




Anh-Vu drew this picture for BPL's teen summer reading program.












Between the year 2000-the present, Anh Vu's drawings are getting more and more sophisticated. He is a self-taught artist in his own right.







When Anh Vu was five, dinosaurs was a the biggest craze at the time. Every child would want something that has dinosaurs in it, whether a toy, a book, a song or a movie. Anh Vu really loved dinosaurs, and he drew lots of dinosaur and monster pictures.







Anh Vu's self portrait.



COMMENT:

Chau xem hinh Anh Vu va Hong Bao ve rat dep. Nhat la Anh Vu. Chau hy vong la se doc duoc truyen do Anh Vu viet. Con tranh cua Bao ve cung rat la sinh dong va mang mot chut tinh tre con. Anh Vu co the vua viet truyen, vua minh hoa thi rat tuyet. Trong do em co the mo ta het noi tam cua nhan vat ma em yeu thich.

Chau Khue.

Doan H- Bao's Art Work

My eleven year old likes art too, he said that it makes him happy when he creates something out of nothing or from something else. His full name is Doan H- Bao (I write it the Vietnamese's way), and I am very proud to present his art work in my blog.



In this drawing, Bao used his father's architectural drawing to draw his own. The drawing depicts a scene: Bao comes out to greet mom. His mother (me) is pulling a grocery cart up the stairs. Inside the living room, the TV is playing. His older brother (Anh Vu) is in another room. It is a very clever and beautiful work.






I taught Bao how to do this picture when he was five. It's a paint-drop, rub, symetrical painting that every child in pre-school or kindergarten knows how to do. A great thing about it was his interpretation of the painting. Bao called this "A Monster With Two Red Shoes."






I cut these silver shapes out of used aluminum food trays for Bao to make a mobile, but he drew pictures and then glued them on. They turned out to be quite interesting and pretty.




Bao's self portrait.






Bao loves animals, especially birds, and so there are lots of birds in his work.

Collage-Anh Vu & Hong Bao

I love taking pictures, especially pictures of my beloved boys. Through out the years I have taken hundred of their pictures. Some I keep in albums, the rest I save in boxes and make collage of them. And here are some of the collages.

Our Trips to Viet Nam

Man


Dua-Coconut


Bai Bien Nha Trang-Beach



Cung Dinh Hue-The Citadel of Hue



Nha Khung-The "Crazy House", Da Lat





Hoi An






Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh- HCM City













Vinh Ha Long-Bay





Quoc Tu Giam-Viet Nam's First University


Den Ho Chi Minh-Mausoleum




Chua Mot Cot-One Pillar Pagoda



Chua Tran Quoc-Pagoda


Nha Bac Ho-Uncle Ho's house





Den Ngoc Son-Temple




My parents came from north Viet Nam. They both went south in 1942 to follow their jobs. In 1954 Viet Nam was divided into two and the war dragged on, and they did not return to the place of their birth until the country was reunited in 1975.

I, my three sisters, and four brothers, were born in the south. We speak Vietnamese with a mixture of southern and northern accent. In April 26, 1975, my brother-in-law, who is an American, came back to Viet Nam to get us out because he had heard rumors at the time that families with daughters who married Americans would be killed. My mother, a brother, two sisters, and I came to the United States with only clothes on our backs, and we spoke very little English. After 20 years of going to school and working here, in 1995 I came back to visit Viet Nam for the first time with my husband and my two boys. We went back again in 2003 and 2004.

2004 was the first time that I went to visit Ha Noi, capital of Viet Nam, with my husband and my sons. We hired a local driver and his car to drive us to places. We also rented a boat that took us to the beautiful and breathtaking Ha Long Bay. We visited the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, and joined a long line of domestic and international people to pay a tribute to him. We also visted temples, Viet Nam's first university, museums, restaurants, and shops. Our first trip was to see family and relatives. Our second and third trips were to get to know more of Viet Nam from south to north. These trips were memorable and eye-opening for us all, and we came back to the States with a treasure of pictures and sovernirs. We are looking forward to subsequent trips to learn and find out more about Viet Nam.

Note: It is a mistake to spell Viet Nam, Ha Noi, Da Lat, Ha Long and the like as one word. How would you like me to spell UnitedStates, NewYork, SanFrancisco, LosAngeles, and so on as one?


COMMENT:

August 26, 2006

Hi Nga,

We are looking to your new pictures from Viet Nam, and I will be visiting your website often.

Melanie Lane in Seattle