The street food in Vietnam was amazing. If I had skipped it, I would of missed out on a huge part of the culture. My favorite things were the fried hard boiled quail eggs on a skewer.
This was my favorite street vendor in Da Nang. He had the quail eggs and this delicious, sautéed corn. The kernels are larger and chewier then what we have in the US. It is served with a chili type sauce and it is delicious!
This vendor is making a traditional Vietnamese sandwich called Bun Mi.
This adorable little lady was making a flat bread of sorts along with flattened banana snack. I never got hungry walking the streets. There was something new to sample around every corner!
Shellfish anyone?
Bun Mi in Ha Long Bay. I love Van’s t-shirt and smile!
More delicious corn!
Anything your heart desired could be found on a stick at a street vendor!
This was a typical “street restaurant”.
Every city had it’s own signature noodle dish. This was in Hue. It was like a spring roll but it was wrapped in a thicker noodle. It was pretty yummy.
Hey, do you think I liked the corn???
We drank a lot of fresh coconut water. Half the fun was watching someone hack it open.
A typical night scene along the streets of Saigon. I love the woman’s face in the polka dots on the right. Two piece, same patterned outfits were very popular with the women.
Stay tuned, there are still more adventures from Vietnam to come!
The crazy power lines and scooters were the first things I noticed when we got to Saigon.
Look at all the stuff she is carrying on that scooter!!! Amazing!
A typical afternoon near our hotel in District 1 in Saigon. Note the child on the scooter without a helmet. That is just the norm.
(My apologies for the “vertical videoing”! I know Carrie is cringing! What can I say? I was caught up in the moment!)
Wade, at the rooftop bar of our hotel, The Duc Vuong. It was very scenic, a great place to have a cold beer, and the staff was super friendly!
Good Morning Vietnam!
Our first Pho of the trip at the morning market. It was delish! This noodle dish is served morning, noon and night there!
It was very common to see people preparing food along the sides of the streets. They don’t have the health department “A, B, C” ratings we have in LA. “When in Rome” was a theme on this trip!
Ice delivery!
The little kids were the cutest!
Saigon also had a lot of modern, high end boutiques. I loved this ad from a shop window.
I got these fun sunnies from a shop in Saigon!
This temple is at the top of a hill in Van’s hometown of Tay Ninh, about 3 hours outside of Saigon. Now you can take a sky tram up to the temple, but when Van was little he had to climb the mountain to get there.
This was another beautiful, ornate temple in Tay Ninh.
We spent a day with Van’s family for the End of Mourning Ceremony for his father who passed away 3 years ago. White is the color they traditionally wear for funerals. Here, the family was praying with Buddhist Monks. There were 19 of them present.
All of the white gowns worn for the ceremonies were burned for The End of Mourning. It was so special to experience this with Van and his family. A day I will forever cherish.
Stephanie and I got to participate in a prayer and offering to the monks.
These boxes were made up for the monks and included toiletries, a new robe, and cash. There were 19 of us who held the boxes on our heads and walked around the monks in a line 3 times before placing the boxes in front of them.
After the ceremony Van’s family had a delicious, catered, vegetarian meal for everyone. It was a very emotional and beautiful day.
Saturday night in Saigon. Look at how cute the girls are on the scooters in their date night dresses.
Party scene in the streets of Saigon where the tourists and locals intermix.
I loved this couple. They were a little apprehensive to have their picture taken as they didn’t understand English very well.
Van, Wade and I taking it all in. Saturday night in Saigon.
We have so many photos and I had such an amazing trip that it is hard to narrow it down. In this case, I feel the pictures speak louder then words. I couldn’t even begin to describe some of the things we saw, experienced, and ate. So, I will continue to share my trip through photos city by city. Stay tuned for more from Vietnam!
Last year, I finally came around to liking salmon, and now I can’t get enough of it. One afternoon, Wade made this delicious salad and now it’s one my favorite meals! It is a little time consuming to make, but all the ingredients can be made ahead of time, and they store really well. Here is Wade’s awesome recipe!
Poached Salmon Nicoise Salad with Citrus Tarragon Vinaigrette
Ingredients:
salmon fillets
butter lettuce
cucumber
capers
tarragon
hard boiled egg
red onion
lemon zest
grape tomatoes
green beans
asparagus
In a large pot of salty water boil asparagus, green beans and potatoes until tender. Cool in an ice bath then drain on a paper towel.
Poaching Liquid:
1 lemon grass stalk roughly chopped
1 lemon sliced into 1/2 inch rounds
3 cloves garlic smashed
1/2 onion roughly chopped
1 tablespoon pepper corns
1 tablespoon dill
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup seasoned rice vinegar
1 cup rose wine
2 cups water
1 carrot roughly chopped
Place all ingredients into a pot large enough for all of the salmon to fit on one level. Bring poaching liquid to a boil for a couple of minutes, submerge salmon in liquid and simmer covered for 5 minutes. Remove and chill in refrigerator or place in and ice bath. The trick here is to not over poach the salmon because it can get real dry real fast.
If storing, place cooled salmon in plastic bag with a little of the braising liquid. The salmon can be made a day ahead! Joel Brown thought this would make a great picnic salad!
Citrus Tarragon Vinaigrette
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
pinch of salt and pepper
1 tablespoon fresh squeezed oj or other citrus
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
2 tablespoons finely chopped tarragon (and more to garnish)
Top the salmon with more fresh chopped tarragon and lemon zest and enjoy!
My favorite holiday, Valentine’s Day, is just a week away and I couldn’t be more excited! I love all of the pink and red heart stuff out in all of the stores, like these fun glasses. They totally remind me of Alison of The Alison Show! When I was a little girl, my mom and I made a big, gingerbread style “Valentine house” that I took to pre-school and all the kids deposited their Valentine’s into it. Then, at the end of the day, I got to play “mailman” and deliver all the Valentine’s to my classmates. It was a super fun and special tradition that my mom created with me. My husband and I have our own special Valentine’s Day tradition of making homemade pasta together and sharing a bottle of champagne. Do you remember last years VDay “booty” post? I got comments on that all year!
This year we decided to change things up and make heart shaped pizzas. We kept it simple with ready made pizza dough, fresh mozzarella, fresh basil and one special ingredient. For the sauce, we used a jar of tomatoes that my friend Amy canned with her bare hands! It doesn’t get better then that!
To turn Amy’s tomatoes into a thick and robust pizza sauce we turned to the master of pizza in LA, Nancy Silverton!
Heat 1/4 cup of olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat until the oil is almost smoking and slides easily in the pan, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the tomato purée slowly as it will splatter when it hits the oil. Stir in 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1 scant tablespoon of kosher salt, 1 heaping teaspoon of ground , black pepper, reduce to a simmer and cook until the sauce thickens, about 30 minutes. Not putting herbs in the sauce allows you to really taste the flavors of the herbs you top the pizza with!
Making the pizzas together was quick, fun, and delicious! What are some of your Valentine’s Day memories and traditions?
On day 2, I spent most of the morning sitting in on a round table discussion involving a new project hosting web videos! I made a submission video yesterday and am keeping my fingers crossed! I will keep you posted! In the afternoon, The Land of Nod took over one of the lounges and threw a tea party with a swan theme. How fun is this photo op?
These black swan floral arrangements rocked my world, and the black and white napkins…just stop it! Too cute!
At Alt., it is all about the business cards. The card wall is filling up! There were 650 attendees this year.
OK, Fridays lunch and keynote speaker Stephan Sagmeister blew me away. You can imagine the rooms surprise when his naked photo appeared on the large screens next to him a few minutes into his talk. He is a world-famous graphic designer, has given TED talks and wrote a film called…The Happy Film. He was hilarious, captivating and super inspiring!
How adorable is this candy table by Kara? Just incase you needed an afternoon pick me up! The style and attention to detail at Alt. is spot on. It’s like a fantasy land.
Jessica Alba was there talking about her brand The Honest Co. It was cool to be in the same room with her again! I just adore her and she is so sweet. I met her last year at The Lucky FABB event.
This was a giant cork board map of the US and everyone tacked their cards to the area they were from! Look, there I am!
Ahh…the beautiful Grand America Hotel at night, and no, that deer family isn’t real!
Myself and the lovely Tamera Beardsley at the Friday night mini suite parties. The entire 3rd floor of the hotel gets taken over by sponsors who create themed mini parties in the suites. It is so much fun! This year Better Homes & Garden hosted the Color Pop Dessert Bash, Blurb hosted a Reunion Class of 2013 party, Flipboard’s theme was Rolling Out the Red Carpet, Go Mighty + Red Envelope had a Crush on You Party, Hayneedle hosted a Great Gatsby Lawn Party, Method + The Girls with Glasses hosted an It’s a Mod Mod World dance party, Vecco + Brita Olsen had a Tinsel & Timber party and Weathermob had a Weather With Style party. It was an amazing evening of food, fun and lots of giveaways!
This was the photo booth at The Hayneedle party where we ran into Lia Griffith of ellinée.
