Cơm nước mắm (steamed rice with fish sauce) is my forever favorite dish. It is a dish of the old poor time when my mother could not afford meat, or fish, or eggs for every of our meal.
Huế
Huế is my home and paradise.
When chef Mama is not at home.
She is a big fan of homemade meals but ironically cooking is not her favorite. One Saturday night, she flew home very late after a business trip so she had to miss her dinner. A few things that she misses when she is away from home are Huế specialties and homemade meals. She went to bed with the hope that her mother whom she nicknamed chef Mama would cook her a big lunch on Sunday instead. She woke up the next morning to find out that chef Mama would be away from home for the whole day. She sighed. Thinking about eating alone at a quán cơm bụi (a kind of local food stall serving cheap rice meals) or a restaurant made her stomach rumbled.
A sunny afternoon at the Modest Tomb
Behind her, the mossy stele pavilion, on which a writing of Emperor Tự Đức was carved, looks more magnificent than ever before. After a lengthy cold and rainy month, it is now happy to sunbathe in such a nice sunny day. Emperor Tự Đức named his tomb Khiêm Lăng (Modest Tomb) but there are 50 architectures in this complex including palaces, tombs, pavilions, lakes, and a theatre, etc.
Bánh mì Trường Tiền – a loaf of East-meets-West
In rainy and cold days, I love sitting close to her hot charcoal pot, nibbling bánh mì in the dim light and looking toward the well-lighted Saigon Morin Hotel, where Charlie Chaplin used to honeymoon, on the other side of Lê Lợi Str.
Unwanted Huế Specialties
Many local people will shake their head without hesitation if you ask: “Would you like some mưa Huế?” For me, I’d love some. Mưa Huế always arouses my appetite.
Rainy Huế
And she keeps crying day after day, night through night. Her sorrow seems to be drained a little bit yet there is still. At first, her tears are lovely raindrops beating gently on leaves and grasses, and making them shining. Then, her tears discourage people to go outdoor and flowers to bloom. And now, each drop of her tear is a tiny yet sharp needle darting on the bare faces of the ones who dare to make it through the rain.
Nậm and Lọc
Nậm loves her outfit made of green banana leaf or dong (a kind of leaf whose scientific name is Phrynium placentarium) and wears it all the time. Lọc is a naughty guy. Sometimes he puts on the same banana leaf outfit as Nậm does, but sometimes he just enjoys being uncovered. Huế people call him Lọc Gói (wrapped Lọc) when he has clothes on and Lọc Trần (topless Lọc) when he goes naked.
Huyết
I once talked to a bún bò Huế seller and learnt that many people love huyết because they believe that it helps them to be more persuasive, more fluent and smoother in speaking. Well, of course, it’s not true. It’s just a way to explain why many Huế people are so addicted to the chocolate-colored cubes of boiled huyết.
A weird yet yummy bite of cơm hến
She does it differently. She puts the mixed veggies in a bowl, then adds some spies and then pours a little bit clam broth in. She then mixes the mixture before adding the steamed rice. Finally, she tops it with stir-fried clam, spices (again) and fried pork skin.
Her bún hến is so-so but her cơm hến is especially tasty and different. It’s the flavor of cơm hến that I feel familiar and new at the same time. I’m enjoying the cơm hến and observing her. She is like a well-known culinary performer, and her gánh hàng is the stage while the diners are a crowded audience. Sometimes I see one or two smiles on her gloomy face, which adds more passion to my experience with her food and herself.
Bạc xỉu đá
I used to think it was unfair that I was born with a love for coffee but my body refused to receive caffeine. I always had to sneak the fragrant steam of coffee from my friends’ cup to satisfy my thirst for it. I inhaled a long breath to gather as much coffee aroma into my lung as possible. Sometimes I was brave enough to sip some black coffee or milk coffee but then I ended up having butterfly in my stomach and feeling nervous for the rest of the day.