Vietnamese pigeon

starter: sweet potato soup

 Sunset party on the liner deck: fried spring roll and Vietnamese wine

Oh to travel! And to eat. Somehow I neglected saying anything about what I ate in Vietnam last week. Food on board Glory Cruise was not far in taste with what I am used to. Thailand and Vietnam are neighbors after all.

Our very first meal preceded the food adventure we did that evening. We joined locals on sidewalk mini stools in the Old Quarter as we explored the menu. I had beef noodles which was yummy. But my friend was brave. She ordered fried pigeon which was served with, and I quote her, "head, beak and feet intact."

 crazy girlfriends

The server, after asking where we are from, was friendly, "our president was in the Philippines last week." And to that one of us replied, "Indeed. Talking partnership, eh?" "China," he smiled and took our order.

I observed my friend eating like a pro and wondered if her appetite had anything to do with how she can stitch a lacerated forehead or extract a cyst at work (girl's a doc). She encouraged me to try and I only released a frustrated croak, "fly away! skyline pigeon fly..."  I'd rather stick to art museums.

But I have no problem trying anything else. Here's a list of  13 Vietnamese dishes that you may want to try if you haven't already.  I have tasted nos. 1-6, 8 and 10, and I would love to eat them again, except number 10. My faves are nos. 1-3.

1.  Pho beef noodles in salty broth with herbs

2.  Chao Tom grilled shrimp in sugarcane stick

3.  Goi Cuon (spring rolls) pork, prawn, vegetables, rice vermicelli wrapped in rice paper

4.  Rau muong stir fried river weed (morning glory) seasoned with garlic

5.  Bahn koht dainty, little pancakes made of coconut milk, shrimp, mung beans and spring onions with dried shrimp flakes as topping

6.  Nom hoa chuoi  banana flowers, green papaya, carrots, cilantro and chicken with peanuts and salty fish sauce dressing

7.  Bo la lot grilled ground beef wrapped in betel leaf 

8.  Ca tim kho to diced and sauteed eggplant with tomatoes, soy sauce, sugar and minced meat

9.  Xoi glutinous rice mixed with chicken or pork and preserved eggs topped with dried shallots 

10. Ga nuong barbecued honey marinated chicken legs, wings and feet

11. Com chay (vegetarian) rice crispies with mock meat like fake rubbery snails

12. Banh mi baguette filled with cheese, cold cuts, pickled vegetables, sausage, fried egg, fresh cilantro and chili sauce

13. Dau phu sot ca chua (tofu in tomato sauce) fried soy in fresh tomato and spring onion coating, seasoned with fresh herbs

Thanks to our hosts: Thursday Thirteen * Favorite Things * Sally's Blues

To travel is to eat

A certain Michelle Shapiro says that (title) in a poster on Pinterest and Beach House Turks and Caicos commented: 

Make sure while you are traveling you are eating.  Not only to survive, but to explore the culture. They [sic] way people eat and the different types of foods and spices can explain a lot about a culture, with no words at all you can be inspired by so many different things associated with eating alone.

I was in Vietnam recently. And explore Vietnamese food I did. The photo is taken from one of those meals during our Halong Bay cruise.

A Vietnamese blogger who lives in Australia says that "up until 2006-2007, Viet cookbooks were so few and hard to understand. I guess before Asian cuisines become popular in the western world, describing native Vietnamese ingredients was not easy. Now, things have changed for the better! There are more ingredients available, and some excellent cookbooks on Vietnamese cuisine have been published."

This is a list of Vietnamese Cookbooks:

1. The Little Saigon Cookbook by Ann Le (reviews)
2. Vietnamese Home Cooking by Charles Phan (reviews)
3. Vietnamese Food by Bobby Chinn (reviews)
4. Authentic Recipes from Vietnam by Trieu Choi & Marcel Isaak (reviews)
5. My Vietnamese Kitchen by Uyen Luu (reviews)
6. The Food of Vietnam by Luke Nguyen (reviews)
7. Recipes from a Vietnamese Kitchen by Ghillie Basan (reviews)
8. The Vietnamese Market Cookbook by Van Tran (reviews)
9. Into the Vietnamese Kitchen by Andrea Nguyen (reviews)
10. Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table by Mai Pham (reviews)
11. The Songs of Sapa by Luke Nguyen (reviews)
12. Secrets of the Red Lantern by Pauline Nguyen et.al (reviews)
13. Wild, Wild East: recipes and stories of Vietnam by Bobby Chinn & Jason Lowe (reviews)

Thanks to our hosts: Favorite Things * Thursday 13 *  Blue Monday

Me and Mr Darcy

The truth is I haven't read a page of Alexandra Potter's story. At least not yet.
 

 

This is one of those times when I just sit an hour or two in a tea room, my dreams weaving by themselves.
 

Have you ever had a similar moment?

Blue Monday

Monday Mellow Yellows

Pig out

Sometimes I pig out. This was a self-reward for working like a dog the past few weeks. Michael Crichton's Timeline was my mind's horse ride to the past.

Blue Monday

Monday Mellow Yellow

In celebration of International Children's Book Day

Do you write in your books? Highlight? Make notes? Or do you like to keep your copies as pristine as possible?

Yes, yes, and yes. I want life easy whenever I fancy going back to something in the book. But it's no, no, and no for books in my collector shelf.  Booking Through Thursday

~x~

April 2nd, which is Hans Christian Andersen's birthday, is also International Children's Book Day.  

What were your favorite stories as a child? One of mine is Rapunzel. My heart still skips every time I see or hear any reference to her. I couldn't resist taking her photo when I saw her again while exploring Universal Studios Singapore last year.

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!" my mother would read to me. While she did not neglect the fairy tales, she made sure I had a bounty of  Bible stories, and this is a list of those stories with keywords I remember and links in case you fancy reading more.

1. Baby in a basket - Moses, Miriam, Aaron, Jochebed, Nile River, Egypt, adopted by the Princess, papyrus reeds, Pharoah, Hebrew slaves (Photo and story in a devotional)

2. Joseph's new coat - jealous brothers, colors, doting Dad (Wikipedia commentary)

3. The first Christmas - Bethlehem, Joseph and Mary, angels, star, shepherds, frankincense, myrrh, King Herod, ('Away in a manger')

4. David and Goliath - slingshot, my first introduction to giants and snipers (story summary)

5. Go wash in the river - leprosy, Jordan river, my first introduction to army commanders (EG White writings)

6. Elijah and the time of no rain - King Ahab, ravens, manna, brook Cherith, my first introduction to droughts and prophets (Elijah's Prayer)

7. A room and a boy - headache, childless couple, being kind to strangers, widow of Zarephath, one of my first introductions to resurrection

8. Barley loaves and fishes - food multiplying, feeding thousands (story in song by Corrine May) Why they say 'fishes' I have yet to find out

9. Esther the brave queen - Hadassah, "If I perish, I perish," Haman (ministry to children)

10. When God washed the world - flood, rainbow, ark, Noah, animals marching to the ark by twos, fours, sevens (discussion)

11. Daniel and the lions - thrown into a lion's den (story)

12. Zaccheus the cheater - corrupt government official, short man, sycamore tree (story)

13. Jesus calms the storm - winds and waves, sleeping soundly through a storm, trust (lesson ideas on pinterest)

Thursday Thirteen * Favorite Things 

Ads on Inferno

Dan Brown's Inferno is noted for product placement in a review. Examples are cited like nos. 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 12 and 13. I researched the rest.  Links to the photos, which are obviously not mine, are provided. Some of these you may recognize at first glance. See which ones.  The brands are provided below.  Let's have fun:
   
1. iPhone

2. Sweatpants (The Glamorous Housewife)

3. Book (perc.org)

 4. Warren Buffet has a time-share in this company (Blogs WSJ)

5. Storage bag (Serenity Through Simplicity)

6. "Glasses for scientists" (Best Image Optical)

 

7. Ladies in Lavender were given choices of jackets for their guest (Le Chocolat)

8. Cruiser (Charterworld)

9. Suit (The Bond Lifestyle)

10. Wheels (Wiki Commons)

11. Speak softly love (Old Films on blu-ray)

12. His Holiness is on board (The Rat Zinger Forum)

13. You may have stayed here. (Stelle Firenze)

xxx

2. Juicy / 3. Paul Ehrlich's The population bomb / 4. NetJets / 5. Ziploc / 6. Plume Paris / 7. Harris Tweed / 8. Dubois SR52 Blackbird / 9. Brioni / 10. Fiat / 11. The Godfather / 12. Frecciargento /  13. Grand Hotel Baglioni

Visit: Thursday Thirteen & Favorite Things

So that's him!

"May you always have walls for the winds, a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire, laughter to cheer you, those you love near you and all your heart might desire." - IRISH BLESSING

For St Patrick's Day this week I have 13 male Irish writers from as far back as sources provide, their claim to fame, one of their works and a quote by each them. Funny how I thought Samuel Beckett was 18th century. See which ones you may recognize at first glance as the author of a novel, play or a quote familiar to you. In my case I recognized mainly the work first (except nos. 5 & 6) and had several so-that's-him moments. Here's hoping you have fun with the list as I enjoyed putting them together.

1. Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797) known for his aesthetic treatise "A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful

"Our patience will achieve more than our force."

2. Oliver Goldsmith (1730 - 1774) known for his play She Stoops to Conquer and novel The Vicar of Wakefield

"I love everything that's old - old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wine."

3. John O'Keefe (1747 - 1833) known for Wild Oats

"A glass is good, and a lass is good, and a pipe to smoke in cold weather; The world is good, and the people are good, and we 're all good fellows together."

4. Jonathan Swift (1667 - 1745) best known for Gulliver's Travels

"A man should never be afraid to own that he has been in the wrong which is but saying that he is wiser today than yesterday."

5. Bram Stoker (1847 - 1912) best known for Dracula

"Despair has its own calms."

6. Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900) remembered for his epigrams, only novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, play The Importance of Being Ernest

"When I was young, I thought that money was the most important thing in life.  Now that I am old, I know that it is."

When I was young I thought that money was the most important thing in life; now that I am old I know that it is.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/o/oscar_wilde.html#hX6Rtd4jxjEuzbEc.99

When I was young I thought that money was the most important thing in life; now that I am old I know that it is.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/o/oscar_wilde.html#hX6Rtd4jxjEuzbEc.99

7. George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950) awarded the 1925 Nobel Prize in Literature

"The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place."

8. William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) awarded the 1923 Nobel Prize for Literature

"In dreams begins responsibility"

9. James Joyce (1882 - 1941) best known for Ulysees

"Writing in English is the most ingenious torture ever devised for sins committed in previous lives. The English reading public explains the reason why."

10.  Clive Staples or C.S. Lewis (1898 - 1963) best known for The Chronicles of Narnia

"There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, 'Alright then have it your way.'"

 
11. Samuel Beckett (1906 - 1989) awarded the 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature (gave away all of the prize money)

"In the language of extinction, precision is next to godliness."

A man should never be ashamed to own that he has been in the wrong, which is but saying... that he is wiser today than yesterday.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/jonathan_swift.html#XDBCEjztAq6ZED0J.99

A man should never be ashamed to own that he has been in the wrong, which is but saying... that he is wiser today than yesterday.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/jonathan_swift.html#XDBCEjztAq6ZED0J.99

12. Frank McCourt (1930 - 2009) best known for Angela's Ashes and won a Pulitzer Prize for it

"The master says it’s a glorious thing to die for the Faith, and Dad says it’s a glorious thing to die for Ireland and I wonder if there’s anyone in the world who would like us to live.”

13. Seamus Henney (1939 - 2013) awarded the 1995 Nobel Prize for Literature
Fellow poet Paul Muldoon said, “He was the only poet I can think of who was recognized worldwide as having moral as well as literary authority.”

“I can't think of a case where poems changed the world, but what they do is they change people's understanding of what's going on in the world.”

Visit: Favorite Things * Thursday Thirteen

Inferno: two cents on reviews and comments

The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis. ~ Dante Alighieri

 
Hello, it's Miss Scatterbrain 'talking back' to reviews and comments on Dan Brown's latest book Inferno. Telegraph crime fiction reviewer Jack Kerridge observes that 'Dan Brown's take on Dante's Inferno is the thriller-writer's most ambitious novel yet – and his worst.' Kerridge then presents a review which to me sounds fair enough.

1. Brilliant reviews offer something to learn or in my case propels me to recognize who exactly has the authority to call a worldwide pandemic and be aware of what impact that could have on the planet, eg. how it takes only one person's advice and recommendations for drug industries to either hemorrhage profits or revise operational tactics. 

2. WHO ate chicken everyday during the 2003 avian outbreak and told everyone not to panic? That's right. The top guy of the WHO who is a she. Yes, girl power!

3. Do you wonder if those who give bad reviews ever wrote anything themselves other than their own reviews?

4. I sometimes scan reviewers' background or review repertoire; particularly those who give interestingly mean reviews and say why.

5. If it's Stephen King, well, I still think some bushel is left for analysis on his view that Stephenie Meyer could not write.

6. V.S. Naipaul slams women writers, singling out the very Jane Austen. My Jane Austen! Just where did he get his guts? From being described as the "greatest living writer of English prose"? I don't care. At least Henry Wadsworth Longfellow sounds kind despite writing to Newman that "Miss Austen has no romance."

7. Inferno entertains beside pointing readers to places they may want to visit in Italy. To me that's where I get my money's worth. Plus, the bit on the World Health Organization was quite amusing when you think of how it is not "just fantasy, but impossible," in the real world. So asserts a Special to CNN.

8. As an English major, my ears jut out on an aleteia review which questions the use of the word "enormity." I have yet to read this part. The Oxford Dictionary defines enormity as 'monstrous wickedness' or 'dreadful crime.' So you don't use it to describe an edifice or a statue, eg. Michelangelo's David.

9. Did Brown possibly have 'enormous,' which means 'vast, immense, tremendous,' in mind when he penned "the staggering force of the cathedral's enormity'"?

10. Some comments are a riot: "Da Vinci Code was a masterpiece / Digital Fortress was appalling..."  I'm going to buy a hard-cover Da Vinci and forgive a niece who stole my Digital Fortress.

11. It pays to go over comments for chances that another book may be mentioned which could make another read: "Jonathon Holt's Abomination is a real find. Clever, cultured, exciting and beautifully written."

12. "I don't understand it. I write at least as badly as Brown, and yet my novel isn't selling! How did he find an agent?" A cute joke perhaps.

13. Here's a no-holds-barred piece of someone's mind - "I think that it is very important to take the piss out of the not even semi-literate, nonsense disseminated by the incompetent Dan Brown, Tom Clancy and all who sail in them. It is not a matter of envy..."  Is it not? Don't we sound like specimens headed for the psychology lab?

Did you like Inferno? Have you read it or would you consider reading it? I will appreciate your thoughts.

Links
Thursday Thirteen
Thursday Favorite Things
Mrs. Nesbitt and Team ABC Wednesday
Ruby Tuesday Too

Boys will be boys

It was a weekend night. And so because it was I allowed the kiddo to choose who to sleep with: me or Grandma or a friend's kids who were spending the night with us. Obviously he's gone creative with the grocery carton as his head board, homework notebook as his pillow, skateboard as his bed, Grandma's scarf as his blanket and with Snoopy his sleeping buddy, he nearly gave me a heart attack.

The Grandma woke up to go to the bathroom and to check on him, as she always does. Well, thanks to her instincts. The entire house was in muffled commotion at midnight before we all breathed back normally at finding this handful under the dining table.  Morning found him on my bed, and me - semi-conscious on a nearby swivel chair.

When you're a mom of a handful, you never get bored. If you are like me or know someone in similar shoes, here's a list of books I thought would help keep things sane.

1

How to be a happy mum: children behaving badly

Siobhan Freeguard

Netmums guide to stress-free family life

"Do you ever look at your children and wonder where you are going wrong? Do you sometimes feel if you're doing this parenting thing all wrong, and that just when you think you've got it all under control they press those buttons and it all comes tumbling down around you?" Netmum

2

Young gentleman's handbook(x): boys behaving badly
Jeremy Daldry
A book I may read for when Mr. Handful is a teenager.


"At the heart of this book is a simple, humane message: youth can be blissful and it can be nightmarish...." Books for Keeps

3

Also known as Harper

Ann Haywood Leal

A book to help explain the economy

"...Jacki is able to maintain her sense of humor though she is forced to learn some harsh realities about the economy when the recession begins to affect her own family and lifestyle." Scholastic

4

Hour of the Olmpics

Mary Pope Osborne

A kid's book about the Olympics

"Their magic tree house takes Jack and Annie back to retrieve a lost story in ancient Greece, where they witness the original Olympic games and are surprised to find what girls of the time were not allowed to do. Scholastic 

 5

Big dog...little dog

P.D. Eastman

A book about friendship

"This delightful book chronicles a day in the life of Ted and Fred-two dogs who are different in every way, but also the best of friends." Scholastic

6

Tuck Everlasting

Natalie Babbitt

A book with a female lead which is also perfect for boys

"History passes the Tuck family by... but though they live outside the rules of time, they never live beyond the rules of human compassion and feeling. Scholastica

7

Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good very bad day

Judith Viorst

A book for dealing with tough issues

 "a kid with an unruly crop of hair, who gets out of bed to face a day that seems to grow increasingly worse with each passing minute" Scholastic

8

Gus and grandpa at basketball

Claudia Mills

A book celebrating grandparents

A great intergenerational team.... They're lucky to have each other. Readers are lucky to have them." Scholastic

  
9

The giving tree

Shel Silverstein

A book about gratitude

 "Once there was a tree...and she loved a little boy." Scholastic

10

The view from Saturday

E.L. Konisburg

A book for building confidence to face academic and social challenges

"Four students... develop a special bond and attract the attention of their teacher, who chooses them to represent their sixth-grade class in the Academic Bowl competition." Scholastic

11

When is a planet... not a planet?

Elaine Scott

A book for learning about life in space and reading about fun space adventures

"Because of the history-making reassignment of Pluto from "planet" to "dwarf planet" on August 24, 2006, all books on the solar system are now out of date." Scholastic

12

Weather whys

Mike Artell

A nonfiction book that will help expand your child's knowledge of the weather

"Why can't we see through fog? Why do I see lightning before I hear thunder? Why do some places have hurricanes?" Scholastic

13

If I ran for president

Catherine Steir

A book to help a child explore the drama of campaigning, voting, and competition

"The entertaining yet informative text is a good conversation starter for discussions on the election process." Scholastic

Links: Thursday Thirteen * Favorite Things * Sally's Blues

Watermelon hearts

One day I brunched on watermelon. The yellow variety is not common in Thailand so when I found some in the supermarket, I checked out a huge slice. And while I was at it, I looked around for mention of the fruit from different media; sources, origins, background. Guess my favorite would be no. 1. What's yours? If you know anything else about them, it would be lovely to hear that. 

 

1. "When one has tasted watermelon, he knows what the angels eat."  ~ Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson

2. It had just struck nine from the cuckoo clock that hung over the mantel-piece in the dining room, when Victorine brought in the halved watermelon and set it in front of Mr Bessemer's plate. ~ Frank Norris, Blix

3. That night Flora wanted to eat watermelon. ~ Dorit Rabinyan, Persian Brides

4. What shall we do? All of us passionate girls who fear crushing the boys we love with out mouths like caverns of teeth, our mushrooming brains, and watermelon hearts? ~ Francesca Lia Block, Blood Roses

5. There were happy days with watermelon and sad days of whiskey. ~ Lewis Nordan

6. The head is a clumsy, ill-proportioned monstrosity. It is the understudy in a watermelon-rolling contest. ~Bauvard, The Prince of Plungers

7. Her skin is pale as watermelon sucked free of its juices. ~ Jaclyn Moriarty, The Ghosts of Ashbury High

8. The deeds were done and done again as my life is done in watermelon sugar. ~ Richard Brautigan, In Watermelon Sugar

9. For me, Felleni was like a watermelon. It is there. A watermelon can not die. ~ Roberto Benigni

10. Most of my memories of Texas are of mosquitoes. Watermelons. Crickets. And my brother teasing me. ~ Robin Wright

11. Watermelon. It's a good fruit. You eat, you drink, you wash your face. ~ Enrico Caruso

12. Ivan had contrived somehow in the dark of night to replace every watermelon in the watermelon patch with a gravestone, and every gravestone in the engraver's lot with a watermelon. ~ Kristin Cashore, Bitterblue

13. A party without watermelon is just a meeting. ~ Julia Child (ed.)

Links: Favorite Things * Thursday Thirteen * Mellow Yellows