Revisiting my past and looking forward to the future through Vietnamese food

"Enjoy it while you are here. You're not coming back (Barcelona)."

Thang, the owner and chef at Mẹ, a trendy Vietnamese fusion restaurant, told me this as we three shared a delicious ginger juice tonic. There we were, three Vietnamese people, with different life and personal experiences, sharing a drink in Barcelona, all connected by our Vietnamese culture and heritage.

Hong-An was born in France and has lived all over the world. I have never met a Vietnamese person who has lived in as many countries as she has. Hong-An and I met through Couch Surfing after I posted something about trying Vietnamese food.



Thang was from Vietnam and left right before the fall of Saigon. He moved to the states and eventually decided to move a country where he knew nothing and no one.



Me, well, I was born in Little Saigon, Orange County, lived there my whole life in the delightful bubble that it was. I went to college and through my school was able to work abroad and study abroad.

Hong-An and I met at Mẹ (which means Mom in Vietnamese) and waited for another Couch Surfer who was supposed to come. While we waited, we talked about all the delightful Vietnamese dishes we love and miss. Thang overheard us speaking in Vietnamese and thus began our conversation. The restaurant was empty when I first got there since it was about 8:45PM. As some of you may or may not know, the Spanish don't eat dinner until 9 or 10 or sometimes even 11. I don't know how that works.

Anyway, after some time we got to our table and looked at the menu for our dishes. Being Vietnamese, and being from a Vietnamese town, I am one Picky Patty when it comes to judging Vietnamese dishes. We had a hard time choosing between which dishes to get but with some help from Thang, we decided on something traditional, the Bun Bo Hue, one of my favorite Vietnamese dishes, and something innovative, the Banh Beo with fish and fish sauce foam (I was sold on the fish sauce foam).

The Bun Bo Hue, which is a beef broth soup seasoned with lemongrass and chili served with vermicelli was 12.50 euros. Now, if I told my grandma about that price she would say, "I could cook a whole pot of Bun Bo Hue for the whole family with that money," which is true. The beef was good and the noodles were cooked nicely but it really all came down the broth and frankly, I was not impressed. It did not hit the spot. I was hoping for that blast of nostalgia to come surging in as the soup wetted my palette but like all Bun Bo Hue that is not my grandma's I was mildy disappointed. I had to ask for extra fish sauce to give it more flavor.



Our main dish was Banh Beo, which is usually a small rice cake, but Thang made it into one big one with three slices of fish (not sure the name). On top there was fish sauce foam made by reducing fish sauce and scooping out the foam on top. Of course it's a lot more complicated than that but that's the gist of it. I was really impressed by this dish and almost allowed myself to feel okay about paying 23 euros for it. The price you pay for fine cuisine I guess. The fish sauce foam was amazing. It had all the essential elements of fish sauce without the risk of terrible breath afterwards. With the fish, it was quite nice.



Now that I'm done describing the food, I want to take some time to say a few things about this dinner that really helped me revisit my past and look forward to my future, hence the title of this blog. Hong-An and I shared our experiences of being Vietnamese outside Viet Nam and how it has affected the people we are today. We were both able to relate on being from conservative and traditional families lacking in openness and affection. We talked about how it has affected us as individuals and how it has given us strength as well. We talked about a period in our lives where we rebelled against being Vietnamese and all things Vietnamese and how as we get older try to find that culture again. What was incredible was that though we lived in different countries and had completely different experiences growing up, we shared a lot of the same experiences just through being Vietnamese. I haven't met too many Vietnamese people outside the United States so it was really nice for me to get a different perspective.

Meeting with Hong-An made me really excited for my future in discovering more about myself. Being able to talk about my culture and share my experiences with others in some way helps me understand myself a bit more. I felt that being able to understand this and embrace being a Vietnamese-American-World Citizen at a restaurant that mixes Vietnamese cuisine with others was extremely appropriate for this little fuse that lit up in my heart.

Though I may not be able to visit this restaurant too often due to the hefty price tag, I definitely am glad I decided to try it out and meet Hong-An and Thang. Great people with great stories and greater ambitions.

Eat well,
Vina

La Flor de Gracia

Almost forgot!

Today I was going to go to Montjuic, a hill/park located in Barcelona but just as I was about to go, I received a call from Manel, my flatmate Toni's friend about going out for lunch with them. Looking for an excuse to skip out on Montjuic, I gladly accepted. We walked a couple of blocks down and ended up at this super super cute restaurant called La Flor de Gracia which means The Flower of Gracia. Gracia is the Bohemian district in Barcelona. It was super chulo (cute). When it came to choosing the dishes, the waiter recommended the most typical Spanish dishes to me. I mean hey, I'm in Barcelona right, I gotta get my Spanish eatin' on. We did the menu for 8.75. Good deal eh?

Excuse the quality of the pictures, I only brought my point and shoot:



This dish was ham over potatoes and topped off with some kinda red pepper. I want to say its paprika but it had more of a tangy flavor. I should have asked. The dish was lots of fun and I enjoyed the ham. Nothing beats Spanish ham. The spice, whatever it was, tied the potatoes and the ham really nicely together.

I really enjoyed the bread as well. I'm a big bread person so if the bread sucks, the restaurant sucks. For my bebida, I chose Red Wine of course while Manel and Toni chose water (wussies). The wine I got was over-chilled and it was tempranillo. I HATE temps. The wine sucked and tasted like juice but I guess I couldn't expect too much for the price.

My name dish was Butifarra with white beans.



I am completely obsessed with butifarra. This one was really good. It was really juicy and crisp when you bit into it. The beans were a nice palette calmer and helped control the seasoned taste of the sausage.

For dessert I had to deliberate between the cheese cake and tiramisu. After getting his confirmation that the cheese cake was made in-house and not store-bought, I decided to go with the cheese cake. Bad decision.



The cheese cake lacked the essential tang of the cream cheese. It was also really dry for a cheese cake. I kind of wish they had bought it from a store instead :/ .

All in all, it was a cute restaurant that I would like to return to for the ambience but not so much the food. Probably won't return then.

Here's their contact information if you're interested:
La Flor de Gracia
Trav. de Gracia, 281
08025 BCN
932136994

It's a good place to take someone on a lunch date if you don't want to spend a lot of money.

Keepin' it real,
Vina

A Craving for Straight-Up Meat

For some reason, I can't bring myself to cook red meat. I've been cooking chicken and vegetables but steer free from the carnes when I go grocery shopping. I don't know why because I am about as carnivorous as it gets. Anyway, this craving for meat made me think of a dish I had in Montreal in December prepared by my boyfriend's mom, Johanne. Johanne is amazing when it comes to preparing delicious dishes! I was also reminded of this dish because my flatmate Toni was telling me about Musaka, an arabic dish that incorporates puff pasty, meat, veggies, and cheese.



Anyway, Johanne prepared this meal to give me a good idea of an old-style traditional Quebecois dinner. I was told that since the people of Quebec used to work in harsh winter conditions, they would have to consume a lot of starch and protein to have enough energy to work. Here we have carrots, potatoes & gravy, a meat-minced pie, and some incredible meatballs smothered in gravy. Francois and I were stuffed after this and probably were not very productive throughout the day.

Montreal is such a great place to eat. I ate and drank so well while I was there. I discovered all different types of cheeses and meats and wines. My favorite, all time favorite, was truffle oil. Oil of the Gods.

So, that's all for today!

Vina

Four people around a table eating food and talking politics.

Since I stayed indoors all day yesterday, I wanted to do something that involved human interaction. What I really love about living in a flat with so many different types of people and nationalities is you get to try foods from all different cultures and see it prepared in ways you didn't expect. Who puts jam on their cheese? But hey, I do now because it's awesome!

Anyway, last night, I invited my friend Jia (Canada) to come over and join me and my flatmates for dinner. We all prepared our own little dish and brought it all together. Here's mine:



I call it Peanut-Sauce Udon Noodles with Chicken and Veggies. Whenever I cook, it's usually whatever I have lying around in the fridge. I learned how to make peanut sauce from my French Canadian boyfriend. All it is is peanut butter and soy sauce. Who knew such a combination could be so delicious!

Instructions:
1) Marinate chicken with whatever you have. I used lemon, oregano, and black pepper. Set for about an hour or two. I usually like leaving it overnight.
2) Wash/cut veggies.
3) Start cooking your diced-chicken over medium heat. You can choose to dice your chicken or not.
4) Begin boiling the udon noodles. Udon noodles don't take too long to soften up so don't leave it in too long.
5) When the chicken looks halfway done, put your veggies in. It's important not to cook the veggies too much because they lose their nutrients that way.
6) Pour your peanut-sauce mix into the chicken&veggies combo.
7) Drain your udon noodles and put it in the pan with the chicken&veggies.
8) Stir it around letting the peanut-sauce stick to the udon noodles, veggies, and chicken.
9) Enjoy!

If you got some Red Rooster Sriracha Sauce, even better!



Here's Anna's dish. Anna is from Germany but refuses to make German food so she made a spicy Red Thai Curry.



When we first tasted it, even for me, it was really spicy. It helped clear my sinuses! So Anna put in more coconut milk and let it simmer again. Over rice, it was delightful, still spicy, but delightful!

She put coconut milk, red curry sauce, peppers, and eggplants. The eggplants absorbed the flavors the best I think.

Over dinner we talked about political systems in Spain. Joel, who is from Spain, helped us learn about the struggle of Catalonia and the changes they are undergoing. It was really interesting having four different cultures at one table sharing food and talking about politics. We talked about our own governments and what we believed was ideal. In the end we all agreed that there is no solution and no way to achieve an ideal government but that does not mean we should stop trying.

Chocolate-Glazed Oreo and Cream Cheese Balls

My friend Kelvin is really impressive in the kitchen. The first time I watched him cook was in a small kitchen with about 20 starving 20something-year-olds making crepes. I think Kelvin was the most successful.



Anyway, for a friend's birthday party, Kelvin made this awesome desserts that is sure to add more junk in your trunk but is so delicious that you probably wouldn't care. Thinking about it makes me crave it. It's quite simple to make to he said. It's just mashing up Oreos with cream cheese, rolling it into a ball, melting the chocolate, and finally glazing the ball. Refrigerate and wait (although you might have to play the patience game). It's very rich and sweet so be sure to have a glass of milk with you!


Need I say more?

My inspiration for starting this blog.

I’ve been really active on the CouchSurfing site lately just so I can find more fun and cultural things to do in Barcelona aside from all the drinking/partying. I came across an International Cooking group which I posted on and got a lot of responses about Vietnamese food.

Another response was from this guy whose food blog I had just discovered the day before. I remember thinking about starting a food blog after reading his. I knew that I wasn't going to post too much of my cooking so my whole idea was posting food that I ate and made.

Anyway, he mentioned he was going to a Vietnamese restaurant so I posted to see if he wanted company (I am craving for Vietnamese food). So, he replies back by saying he had forgotten he was cooking for a friend who was going to take photos of his food but he said I was welcome to come over too. So, being the person that I am, I said “Sure! Why not?”

I met him at his house and watched him prepare the lunch. Here are some pictures of the process + product:



Here Kike is showing us the ingredients for a sauce for the chicken. I believe it was red bell peppers, red chili ball peppers, cilantro, maybe salt and pepper?



Kike then blends all the ingredients together. I found out I had the same device at home so I tried making the sauce as well using different ingredients that I had. I will post those later.



Here is the final product! Watching Kike in the kitchen is really fun because he's quite active and energetic. He's also really big into presentation so as you can see here the dish itself has plantains with avocado and carrots on top of the chicken as a garnish. He does a really good job of accessorizing his dishes.

Anyway the lunch was delicious and with the sauce tasted very fresh. I really liked the plantains and plan to fry up my own one day.

It was really crazy to get to know Kike because I had read his blog thinking, "Man, this guy is cool! I can't wait to start my own food blog," and there I was in his home eating a dish he prepared. Very nice and talented guy.



For dessert we had a cake that Kike prepared from a kit that he received from Taste of America for winning a Best Burger competition. You guys should all check out his blog! http://kikayisinthekitchen.blogspot.com/

After dinner Kike and I headed to the Art Hostal for a Pesto Making event that we had both planned to go before knowing one another was going to go. The guy making the pesto was from Italy and a travel cook, International DJ, and other things. The event was really cool because there were so many types of people there who just looked artistic. I know that sounds silly but twas true.



As he started to grind the pesto, the room filled with rich aromas of basil and garlic. It's a really demanding process--you have to put in the basil, then cheese, then pine nuts, then oil, and grind and continue doing so little by little. Anywho, here's the finished product:



It was delicious! I then took off to go to the Singaporean kids' house for more food! My oh my, what a lucky day I had. Here are some of the dishes they prepared:



Here we have salted fish, pasta, and my all-time favorite straight-up steak.

The whole day was a culinary adventure! Barcelona is totally the city for hedonism so eat on!


Eat well,

Vina

My first post!

Hello everyone! It is currently 6:17PM in Spain. I am listening to music from rainymood.com because I am in a rainy mood. I have caught a cold from probably sharing drinks and food with friends and not sleeping so here I am finally starting this blog! This is what I had this morning/afternoon to get me started:



I was playing with a bunch of vegetables and vegetable broth and somehow made something that is very similar to a Vietnamese soup my grandma used to make. It's the Vietnamese in me! I never really like to make soups but this was delicious, healthy, and easy to make.

Ingredients: bean sprouts, red bell peppers, lettuce, tomatoes, pineapple, vegetable broth, and freshly grounded black peppers.



How I miss eating this for breakfast!! People in Spain are always amazed when I say I like eating eggs for breakfast because I guess it's not too common here. People also find it odd that I put soy sauce on my eggs but they don't know what they're missing out on. This is simple. It's pretty much just a fried eggs over rice that I overcooked, soy sauce, and cucumbers cut up like how my grandma cuts them :D.



I was going to go to a cafe to write but with my headache and all, I figured I would sleep after I finished starting my blog. So, I decided to prepare a little snack plate for myself to get the juices flowing.




The snack plate includes: Camembert, apples, jam, and two slices of toast.

With that, here I am now! I also have a personal blog that I write on so I was working on that before I got started on this one. That one is a personal one where I write more for myself than anyone else. I'm not that great of a writer, which you will eventually see. I write as if I am talking to you and I guess I'm pretty candid and honest about everything. I also tend to diverge and jump around a lot of topics so try to keep up.

Also, if I do cook, I won't post measurements because I never measure anything. I am self-convinced that I know the right proportions. Most of the things I cook are impromptu, fusion, and random anyways. On my next post, I'll tell you a little more about why I decided to start this blog.

Hope you're eating well,
Vina