Happy early Lunar New Year in Vietnamese!!!! For the upcoming new year, my mother and I ventured to Westminster (it is essentially Viet City in CA) to pre-celebrate the Vietnamese New Year! There are so many festivities planned for this week and weekend, including booths selling new year trinkets, traditional flowers, food, gifts and contests (ao dai and banh chung). There is just so much to do in this little city and all the Vietnamese congregate here every year! IT IS SO FUN!
Today was also full of delicious Vietnamese foods of all kinds! I even got to try this one noodle dish I have never tried before. Shame on me for not having it sooner as a Vietnamese.
Thanh Xuan noodle soup with shrimp, fish paste, BBQ pork, quail egg. This is a traditional vietnamese noodle soup from the south called hu tieu. There are two ways to eat this: one served with flat rice noodles and the other with this kind of noodles. I’ve only had the type with the flat rice noodles. Never this and it’s different! The broth was brewed from chicken and was lightly savory and comforting at the same time. Like the Asian version of chicken noodle soup. This small bowl was only $4. So cheap right? Check out Hu Tieu Thanh Xuan.
These are served with thin glass pho noodles! They’re chewy yet firm at the same time. This was my very first time trying these noodles and I loved it! I can’t believe I have been missing out on these amazing vietnamese noodles all these years!
Next let’s start eating some random appetizers! Just little bites here and there. The following picture displays two balut eggs and a green tea leaf wrapped Vietnamese ham at C&C Express.
That plate has salt, pepper and a cooling Vietnamese leaf to accompany. Let’s crack that egg open and see what’s inside!
Wow! I miss eating balut so much. When was the last time I ate this delicious little bad boy! You know the Vietnamese believe that eating this cools down your body internally. Helps prevent hot sicknesses! You can see the baby duck egg in that womb with the nutritional egg yolk on the side covered in amniotic fluid. Just scooop with your spoon, sip a bit in the salt and pepper and eat it with those leaves!!! YUMMAY!
This cup doesn’t look like much but it houses sweet, sweet and freshly squeezed sugar cane drink!
Time for some baby snails cooked in a coconut stew. This is how the Vietnamese way their snails! Just stick your tongue in the opening, suck real hard and the snail will shoot to the top of your tongue. And eat it!!!!!!!!!! BTW, the coconut stew is my favorite part.
I’m sorry.. is this picture too gross for you? Thought you of you would be curious..
Now if you want some REALLY good Vietnamese sticky rice cooked in all of its bestness, go to Minh Phung to grab the most beautifully decorated and wrapped and cooked banh chung and banh tet. We go here every year to wait in line and grab these bad boys. It’s around the same prices as everywhere else, but BETTER. The old folks love these.
And for dinner we just had some broken rice before heading back home! This is my mommy’s favorite: broken rice with steamed egg, shredded pork and grilled pork chop. This was from Com Tam Thuan Kieu.
I got almost the same dish but with fish paste wrapped in tofu skin in place of the pork! This place always feeds me two meals and it’s only $7!
Some chicken soup on the side to sip on!
One of my favorite and simple Vietnamese desserts that’s so easy to make at home: Vietnamese milk yogurt. Lightly sweet, creamy, smooth and light.
So if you haven’t already, I suggest you head on over to Westminster to pre-celebrate, but everything you need to buy in celebration of the New Year, and eat good food!
