About Vietnamese Cuisine

This Month's Film: Indochine
Cuisine: Vietnamese

A little over a year ago, I made my first foray into Vietnamese cuisine, and in the process, I researched the history and the ingredients involved in the creation of an authentic Vietnamese-style meal. And since the essence of Vietnamese cuisine has not changed since then, here is what I wrote about it the first time around:

Although Vietnamese cuisine is unique, it has evolved over many centuries from Chinese, Indian and French Colonial influences. Vietnam is also distinctly regional, from the cooler northern region, the rich cultural Hue region in the center, and the tropical southern region, each with its own indigenous vegetables, seafood and wildlife, each with its own style and spice. Northern cuisine is lighter and less pungent, the cuisine of the central Hue region, once the site of the ancient capital, is flavorful and elaborate, while the southern region falls under the influence of Chinese cuisine, with more pungent spices and stir-fry techniques. The southern region is also the melting pot of French and Indian influences characterized by curries and European ingredients such as bread, potatoes, asparagus, shallots, and fine herbs.

The quality of Vietnamese cuisine relies mainly on fresh ingredients lightly prepared and beautifully presented. Many classic dishes are simple variations on a couple dozen basic ingredients, including bean sauce, chicken stock, coconut milk, fish sauce known as nuoc mam, 5-spice powder, ginger, ground chili paste, hoisin sauce, jasmine rice, kafir lime leaves, lemongrass, mung bean sprouts, mushrooms, oyster sauce, rice noodles, rice paper and tamarind.

The preparation of Vietnamese cuisine requires remarkably few utensils. Most any Vietnamese meal can be made using only a mortar and pestle, a rice cooker, a wok, a small charcoal stove, a basic set of chef's knives and a large pair of chopsticks. The most common cooking methods are braising, stir-frying, deep frying, steaming and grilling.

With such succulent memories of my 'Scent of Green Papaya' Dinner & a Movie, I can't wait to try it all over again with a different palette of Vietnamese dishes and an evening spent enjoying them while watching Indochine.

A Call for Chopsticks Click here for details.

03:58 PM PDT Permalink |

Indochine: About the Film

This Month's Film: Indochine
Cuisine: Vietnamese

A novel variation on the 'Electra Complex' adds an element of tension to Indochine, as Catherine Deneuve in the role of Eliane, an iron-willed rubber plantation heiress and her adopted daughter Camille ply their feminine wiles for the affection of a handsome young officer in colonial Vietnam. The dance scene is not to be missed...

A Call for Chopsticks Click here for details.

12:01 AM PDT Permalink |

Welcome to Dinner & a Movie for the Month of June

This month I will be revisiting both the cuisine of Vietnam and the classic French-Vietnamese film Indochine, starring Catherine Deneuve. With the delightful, delicious and unexpected success of my first attempt at Vietnamese cuisine over a year ago, when I chose it as my very first Dinner & a Movie meal for The Scent of Green Papaya, I'm looking forward to trying some different dishes that weren't included on last year's menu. And now that I'm much more familiar with Vietnamese cuisine and am on a more relaxed cooking schedule, no doubt, the results will be even better.

A Call for Chopsticks Click here for details.

The chopsticks in today's photo were a gift from my friend and award-winning videographer extraordinaire Alice Jackson, the very first contributor to my 'Call for Chopsticks' campaign. The set was a souvenir from a trip that Alice took with her husband John to the city of Suzhou, China. Thanks again, Alice, especially for parting with such a cherished memento from your travels, and congratulations on your People's Choice 'Napacademy Award'.

12:01 AM PDT Permalink |

'Raise the Red Lantern' Photos & Recipes

This Month's Film: Raise the Red Lantern
Cuisine: Chinese

My 'Raise the Red Lantern' Provinical Chinese Dinner & a Movie is a fait accompli. With this being the first month of my new, more relaxed cooking schedule, it has been a very rewarding and enlightening experience. Instead of going crazy in the kitchen making a dozen dishes in one day, I prepared each one at various times throughout the month, which allowed me to focus on each recipe in much more detail. And the wonderful thing about that is if a dish doesn't turn out perfectly, I have the option of making another attempt the next day without ruining a whole meal. Taking photographs of the finished dishes is also much more relaxed and focused [pun intended], although it does present a daily challenge.

So without further ado...Here is a link to all the Recipes and Photos.

A Call for Chopsticks Click here for details.

04:55 PM PDT Permalink |

Film Reveiw: Raise the Red Lantern

This Month's Film: Raise the Red Lantern
Cuisine: Chinese

Raise the Red Lantern was as good the second time around as it was the first time I saw it, and has now taken its place alongside Babette's Feast as my favorite international film. Here is a link to my Raise the Red Lantern Film Review .

A Call for Chopsticks Click here for details.

05:57 PM PDT Permalink |

Luscious Lychees

This Month's Film: Raise the Red Lantern
Cuisine: Chinese

I have a confession to make. I have been so hyper-focused on finishing my manuscript and getting caught up on my gardening that I have no inspiration to bake Chinese almond cookies, not to mention that it's too hot in the kitchen today to light the oven. So I decided to focus on the lychee fruit instead, which is an amazing story all to itself.

Nearly two years ago, I interviewed Bill Mee and Crystal Folino, the owners of a lychee orchard in Florida, for an article on ThingsAsian.com. As part of my research, I had them send me a shipment of lychee fruit since I had never tried them fresh, only canned in syrup. Little did I know what an abundant treat was winging its way to me. When the package arrived, I was overwhelmed by a bag filled with two pounds of the perfumed treasures. Of course I couldn't resist the temptation to taste one immediately, so I plunged right in. I must have eaten a dozen lychees in that first encounter with the fresh variety, and shared a generous portion of them with Rene and Will that evening. But lychee fruit spoils very quickly, and therefore should be consumed as soon as possible so that none of its fragrant beauty is wasted. So I gave lots of them away to friends and clients. But since I'd read in my research that lychee fruit freezes remarkably well, I kept a dozen or so to save in my freezer for a rainy day.

Well...it wasn't raining today, but I got out the frozen lychees anyway. And amazingly, they were still as firm and sweet as the day they landed on my doorstep, and even survived the move to my new home. They do become slightly mushy upon thawing, so it's best to eat them while still frozen. Not to mention that a frozen lychee is similar in texture but better than any popsicle or sorbet I've ever tasted. So the next time you have the good fortune to find fresh lychees, be sure to buy a few extra to stash in the freezer for a rainy day.

Here is a link to my ThingsAsian article For the Love of Lychees.

A Call for Chopsticks Click here for details.

04:50 PM PDT Permalink |

At Long Last...Mandarin Chicken!

This Month's Film: Raise the Red Lantern
Cuisine: Chinese

With my busy social schedule this week, it took several well-intentioned but failed or postponed attempts to produce the perfect batch of Mandarin Orange Chicken. But tonight, I finally succeeded, and boy was it ever a success. I'd found a recipe on the Internet that looked tempting, but the only part of it I ended up using was the batter for deep-frying the chicken. I was a little skeptical at first, since it called for cornstarch and baking mix, but it fried up golden brown and crispy, and not the least bit greasy. The sauce, on the other hand, was a disaster last night, and not even remotely close to what I had envisioned. So I saved some of the uncooked chicken for another try today.

This time, I made a sauce from scratch, using nothing more than intuition and common sense. I started with a half cup of orange juice concentrate, a quarter cup of brown sugar, two tablespoons of soy sauce, a tablespoon of rice wine, and a tablespoon of cornstarch mixed with two tablespoons of water. I simmered it until it was thickened, and it turned out just as I had imagined, tangy and citrus-y with the perfect consistency for coating the golden brown chicken, which I tossed in a bowl with the sauce and sprinkled with a few sesame seeds. Perfectly cooked, perfectly beautiful and perfectly delicious!

A Call for Chopsticks Click here for details.

10:34 PM PDT Permalink |

Allegria Bellissima!

This Month's Film: Raise the Red Lantern
Cuisine: Chinese

After three straight weeks of total immersion in naught but Chinese and Japanese cuisine, it was a welcome and much-needed departure from my soy sauce and ginger-laden world to step out for the evening with friends for a classic Italian dinner. It all started a few weeks ago over a glass of wine at Small World Restaurant in downtown Napa, when I happened to mention to the owner, my friend Michael Alimusa, that I would be making my first attempt at preparing Turkish food for my Dinner & a Movie in November. Michael has an extensive network of Middle-Eastern friends, and when I asked if he knew anyone from Turkey who might guide me in selecting the dishes for the menu, he snapped his fingers and said that some Turkish friends of his had recently opened a restaurant called Allegria in a historic building just around the corner. He said that they had been reminding him for months to come and have dinner, and would Rene and I like to join him and his wife Jenny at Allegria, where he could introduce me to them. So we did.

Ristorante Allegria occupies what used to be an old stone bank building, with tall, narrow windows and cavernous ceilings, and according to Jenny, had been vacant for years and was used as a venue for many a town hall meeting. Rene also recalled exhibiting some of his artwork there a few years ago at a show sponsored by the Hispanic Arts Council of the Napa Valley. Its most recent tenants, however, have given the stately old building a much-deserved facelift in fine Italian style, although the furnishings and fixtures are conspicuously similar to those of Tra Vigne in St. Helena, and of Tuscany, just around the corner on First Street. Nevertheless, they've created an old-world atmosphere that is at once both cozy and spacious.

We started the meal with a glass of wine and a loaf of crusty sourdough bread served with a bowl of sun-dried tomatoes and Italian spices in virgin olive oil that was so delicious I could have been content to sate my appetite without even ordering from the menu. But there were so many tempting items on the menu it was agonizing to choose from among them, and before we even got around to placing our dinner orders with the waiter, he arrived with four plates of Skirt Steak Satay on a Bed of Braised Spinach, and what a treat that was...savory and tender morsels of perfectly grilled medium-rare beef over baby spinach leaves wilted in olive oil with a whisper of chili spice. And again, I could have been content to sate my appetite with only that...and perhaps a little more of the bread and olive oil.

Nevertheless, Michael and I both ordered the Grilled Lamb Tenderloin with Rosemary over Risotto with Green Peas, while Jenny decided on the Chicken Breast Stuffed with herbs, sweet peppers and Ricotta Cheese, and Rene chose Linguine Frutti di Mare in Spicy Red Sauce. For dessert, Michael ordered Blackberry Sorbet, Jenny chose Chocolate Gelato and Rene and I decided to share the Tiramisu. And as if that weren't enough, when the waiter appeared at the table with our desserts, he brough an extra order of Maple Bread Pudding.

Every bite of the dinner was so good that Allegria may just be my new favorite restaurant, and the only thing better than the food, was the excellent company of two dear friends. Thank you Michael and Jenny, for a truly memorable meal. And as much as I love Asian food, I certainly hope that the chef in heaven is Italian.

A Call for Chopsticks Click here for details.

01:35 PM PDT Permalink |

Hunan Hooray!

This Month's Film: Raise the Red Lantern
Cuisine: Chinese

My Hunan Beef was another tasty success last night [although, dare I say it again?... still not as tasty as my Kung Pao Shrimp the night before.] Nevertheless, the sauce was glossy and smooth, the beef was tender and savory, the broccoli held its own in the stir-fry, and the balance of chili spice and tart vinegar was just right. Definitely a dish I will make again.

The recipes and photos for my 'Raise the Red Lantern' provincial Chinese menu will be posted at the end of the month.

A Call for Chopsticks Click here for details.

12:01 AM PDT Permalink |

What a Day!

This Month's Film: Raise the Red Lantern
Cuisine: Chinese

I knew today was going to be a full one, but little did I know to what degree. It began with the postman ringing my doorbell to deliver a much anticipated book purchase: Sushi for Dummies. I was curious to check out its contents and (to shamelessly borrow the name of Dave Barry and Stephen King's band), found a "Rock Bottom Remainder" on Amazon.com at the unheard of price of one dollar and seventy-six cents, plus a little shipping. I'm looking forward to reading what every dummy should know about sushi.

And what a coincidence too, since I had a lunch date with Rene to visit Sushi Mambo, my favorite local sushi bar, for a chance to chat with the proprietor, Jose Gomez-Cazares to get the inside scoop on how a sushi bar operates for a writing project I'm working on. When Rene arrived to pick me up, he presented me with an intriguing package from Hong Kong that he had sweetly retrieved from my post office box for me.

When it comes to packages that arrive in the mail, I'm like a kid at Christmas, so I brought it along with me to open at lunch. As always, the sushi was vibrantly fresh and impeccably prepared. Jose was in an especially chatty mood, so I learned a lot in our all-too-short visit. And inside the package, I found a beautiful set of blue-and-white porcelain chopsticks sent to me by none other than my publisher. Thank you Albert.

After lunch, we stopped by Small World to say hello to my friend Michael Alimusa, who invited us to join him and his wife Jenny for dinner tomorrow evening at a new restaurant in town. As luck would have it, that's the only date on my dance card this week that wasn't already filled, so it looks like I'm going to get a much-needed break from the kitchen. But it also means that I will have to devote this evening to my Mandarin Orange Chicken recipe.

My son Will arrived in the late afternoon with his friend Jordan, having spent most of it working on an elaborate bridge made entirely of spaghetti for their physics final. I couldn't resist the urge to ask if I should make marinara [grin], but I barely had a chance to say Hi and Bye before he was dressed in his tuxedo and off to the auditorium for his last chorale performance of the year, which, of course, Rene and I attended.

The program was delightful, and Will even had a brief solo in which he introduced one of the musical selections and recited the first stanza of Robert Frost's 'The Road Not Taken'. He was very confident and polished standing there in his tuxedo before a packed auditorium, which, needless to say, made his mother very proud.

Afterwards, Rene and I came home and had Chinese food. I made a batch of Hunan Beef, and re-warmed the Kung Pao Shrimp from the night before, so Rene finally had a taste of what I've been raving about for two days. The Hunan Beef was tender and piquant with a splash of vinegar, and the Kung Pao held up perfectly on reheating, without any loss of color, flavor or crispness of the vegetables. We enjoyed our dinner while watching Finding Neverland, the story of JM Barrie, the creator of Peter Pan, starring Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet. A lovely little film.

After spending so many days in self-imposed solitary confinement trying to get not one but two manuscripts finished, it was a rare treat to get out of the house to enjoy so many unexpected pleasures. But tomorrow...it's back to the 'Modal Auxilary Mines' for this gal.

A Call for Chopsticks Click here for details.

12:19 PM PDT Permalink |

Kung Pao Wow!

This Month's Film: Raise the Red Lantern
Cuisine: Chinese

I just finished cooking, photographing and sampling [REVELING IN!] my very first attempt at Kung Pao...and Sweet Mother of God! it was far and away the best Chinese food I have ever made, nay, dare I say it?... the best Chinese food I've ever EATEN! Words cannot describe the perfect peppery spice and velvety texture of the sauce, the lingering crispness of the fresh vegetables, and the pearl-pink luxury of the extra large prawns. The only thing missing was someone to share it with. While my new and improved monthly cooking agenda is much more relaxed, with it spread evenly throughout the month instead of happening in an all-in-one stress-fest each time, but sometimes I find mysef all alone in the kitchen preparing and sampling the most sumptuous of dishes.

And having had a little time to reflect on why this particular recipe turned out so much better than any other I've made, I think it's all about CONTROL. And for a Type-A gal like myself, that's music to my ears. Just last week, on a whim, I made a wok-ful of stir-fry vegetables to serve with Grilled Chinese Five Spice Pork Loin. And while it was delicious, since I just tossed everything together in the wok with out measuring or planning, I was somewhat disappointed at how lackluster the fresh vegetables turned out. And I know from experience how easy it is to mishandle and overcook delicate prawns. So this time, I took a totally different approach.

I washed and chopped all the fresh vegetables in advance and had them standing ready to add to the stir-fry at just the right moment. The prawns were deveined with the shells intact, and I mixed up the Kung Pao sauce ahead of time, instead of adding all the ingredients separately to the busy stir-fry and trying to get the balance right on-the-fly.

To start, I put a little sesame oil in the wok and stir-fried the prawns in the shell until they were just pink but not completely done, knowing that they would cook a little more when all the Kung Pao components came together. At just the right moment, I removed them from the wok and set them aside on a plate. Next I added all the chopped vegetables and stir-fried them until they were just beginning to get tender, which is precisely the moment I chose to add the pre-mixed Kung Pao sauce. As soon as the sauce began to thicken, I added water a little at a time until it reached just the right velvety consistency. To finish, I turned off the heat under the wok, added the still-warm prawns and tossed with the vegetables and sauce just enough to coat and integrate them into the gestalt of the dish.

The Result: Kung Pao WOW!

The recipes and photos will be posted at the end of the month.

A Call for Chopsticks Click here for details.

01:00 AM PDT Permalink |

A Day in the Sun

This Month's Film: Raise the Red Lantern
Cuisine: Chinese

On a rare day out of the house after all the rainy weather we've had recently, Rene and I went to the Italian Street Painting Festival at the Copia Center for Wine, Food & the Arts this afternoon. Although it was a pleasant way to spend the day, after having seen the grand venue down in San Rafael for several years in a row, our local rendition paled by comparison. It was held in a sprawling parking lot instead of on the city street, and the artists were much more amateurish, with the majority of participants being students. But after all, it was a benefit for Tech High, so that was appropriate. For a community that probably has more artists per capita than most cities in the country, there just wasn't the impressive professional talent that the San Rafael event features. Of course this was Copia's first attempt, so I'm sure it will be much improved next year. Time will tell.

On a more positive note, we ran into my friend Michael Alimusa, who was representing his Small World Restaurant with falafels, baklava and lemon ices, so that was fun, and I really like his wife and kids, who were also in attendance. It was a broiling hot day out there on the pavement, so Rene and I spent most of our time sipping wine and lolling in a shady spot on the grass with his head resting on my lap.

Of course, by playing hooky for the third [yes, third!] time this week, I still didn't get the shopping done for my 'Raise the Red Lantern' main course dishes. But in the immortal words of Scarlett O'Hara, "Tomorrow is another day..."

A Call for Chopsticks Click here for details.

02:02 AM PDT Permalink |

Little Pillows of Heaven

This Month's Film: Raise the Red Lantern
Cuisine: Chinese

I had originally scheduled a shopping trip for my provincial Chinese main course dishes today, but decided to postpone it until tomorrow and make beignets instead. Today is a special day in our household, part of an ongoing tradition that my son Will and I share every year by watching all three of the Triple Crown horse races. Two weeks ago, we watched as Giacomo turned the world of horseracing upside down when he won the Kentucky Derby at 50-1 odds, and today we watched the Preakness to see if Giacomo had the staying power to win leg two of the Triple Crown.

Horseracing is my favorite spectator sport, and for some strange reason, derby days always put me in the mood for beignets...those little pillows of heaven that, along with its rich chicory coffee, brought fame to the Cafe du Monde on Jackson Square in New Orleans...one of my very favorite places in all the world.

In anticipation, I set out all the ingredients and utensils for making the beignets last night, including the last portion of the Cafe du Monde beignet mix that I bought on my most recent visit to New Orleans. In my first few attempts at making beignets, it took a few tries to get them just right. But now that I've made several batches, I know exactly how to make them puff up airy and golden every time. And today's batch was no exception. They were perfect, especially served alongside the basket of luscious ripe strawberries that my friend Michael Alimusa gave me on Friday when I stopped by the Small World Restaurant.

Fortunately those little pillows of heaven were there to cushion our disappointment when Giacomo crossed the finish line in third place behind Scrappy T and Afleet Alex, the odds-on favorite who led the field. Looks like there will be no Triple Crown this year. But you can bet that Will and I plan to go the distance on June 11 by watching the Belmont Stakes anyway.

A Call for Chopsticks Click here for details.

12:01 AM PDT Permalink |

Revisiting the Provincial Chinese Main Course Recipes

This Month's Film: Raise the Red Lantern
Cuisine: Chinese

The main course recipes for my 'Raise the Red Lantern' Provincial Chinese menu include Kung Pao Shrimp, Crispy Mandarin Orange Chicken and Spicy Hunan Beef. My Kung Pao Shrimp recipe calls for soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine, water chestnuts, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, ginger, peanuts, chili peppers, cornstarch, and vineger. Many of these ingredients are also included in the other two recipes as well. The Hunan Beef also calls for broccoli, and the Mandarin Chicken calls for egg white, sesame seeds, mandarin oranges, green peppers, and catsup. And while I'm at it, I realize that I'm almost out of rice. So I have a somewhat lengthy shopping list this time, but many of the items on it are already in my pantry.

I'm looking forward to trying all three of the dishes, but am just realizing that I've chosen some rather spicy recipes. Thankfully I will be serving them over the course of several nights, rather than all on the same table. Even so, I've been craving spicy food lately, so I'm feeling a little daring and adventurous. I'll just have to make sure I have plenty of cold Tsing Tao beer on hand to put out the fire.

A Call for Chopsticks Click here for details.

12:01 AM PDT Permalink |

A Busy Week Ahead

This Month's Film: Raise the Red Lantern
Cuisine: Chinese

I have scheduled several evenings next week for preparing the entrees for my 'Raise the Red Lantern' Provinical Chinese menu. They include Kung Pao Shrimp, Mandarin Orange Chicken, and Spicy Hunan Beef. But in addition to paying a visit to my favorite Mexican carneceria to buy the fresh ingredients, I have a full dance card that includes the annual tradition of watching the Preakness horse race on Saturday with my son Will, the Italian Street Painting Festival at Copia Center for Wine, Food and the Arts on Sunday, a lunch date to interview the proprietor of my favorite sushi bar for a writing project I'm working on, Will's last chorale performance of the school year on Tuesday, renewing my driver's license on Wednesday, and the opening of the 2005 Chefs Market in downtown Napa on Friday evening. Yikes! With all that going on, when am I going to find time play in the kitchen?

A Call for Chopsticks Click here for details.

09:33 PM PDT Permalink |