Cinnamon fried pork (Thịt lợn rán quế)

Maryland Crabcake (Chả cua Maryland)

Prawn pasta in tomato sauce (Pasta tôm sốt cà chua)

Minced pork braised in egg and tomato (Trứng gói thịt lợn sốt cà chua)

Prawn wrapped in bacon (tôm bọc thịt nguội)

Minced pork porridge (Cháo thịt băm)

BBQ-styled fried chicken (Gà xào vị BBQ)

Taste description: The exotic taste is worth the complication of the recipe. Sweetness, sourness, spiciness, sour spiciness, white wine taste, hot pepper fragrance, fried onion fragrance, fried garlic fragrance, fried chicken fragrance are all combined in this dish. Learn this dish and make your friends lovingly surprised in BBQ events.

Ingredients:
- 200g sliced chicken
- salt (a very small pinch), sugar and pepper to taste
- 1tsp soy sauce
- 2 dashes of Tabasco sauce
- 4 dashes of Worcester sauce
- 1/3 tsp vinegar
- 1tsp white wine
- 2-3 garlic cloves
- 2 onion cloves
- 1tsp vegetable oil
- 1/3tsp mustard powder (back-up option being mustard paste)
- 4 dashes of chili powder















Procedures:

- Mix all the ingredients, leave for 30 minutes and stir fry (or leave for 2 hours and BBQ).

Chicken thighs fried in honey (Đùi gà rán mật ong)

Taste description: So simple is this dish that I believe not in the need for detailed elaboration. It is sweet. It is soft. Fragrant. And tasty. And appealing for sweet teeth. Please refer to rosemary chicken recipe below for ingredient mixing. Leave the salted and honeyed chicken for 20 minutes. Simply fry it in a bit of vegetable oil over low heat and serve!

Rosemary chicken butter-fried in practice (Gà chiên bơ vị hương thảo)

Taste description: Herbal rosemary fragrance mixes well with chicken taste. Warm with honey and well tasted with salt and pepper. Though butter does not play much a role in this dish, it gives the chicken the desired touch of Western food. A good new dish to try, the recipe could be perfected with boneless chicken rather than just drumsticks.

Ingredients:
- 2 chicken drumsticks, roughly sliced
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 3-4 drops of vinegar
- 1tsp honey
- 10g butter
- 4 tbsps white wine
- 5-6 dashes of rosemary powder

Procedure:
- Mix chicken drumsticks with salt, pepper, vinegar and honey, leave for at least 20 minutes
- Fry the drumsticks in butter over medium fire until the skin turns golden
- Pour in the rosemary and white wine and cook over low heat for around 10 minutes until chicken meat becomes soft
- Serve and eat with rice or bread.

Pan-fried fish (Cá chiên bơ kiểu Pháp)

Taste description: The taste is heavenly! Crispy thin outer coat, gentle buttery feel of danish cookies followed by the blissful softness and classy fragrance of tangy fish in milk. What more can you ask for of this dish but some finer salt to match with the powdery flour coating your fish. No bits and pieces are to be wasted. This is the dish of dreams and heavens.

Ingredients:
- 200g thin white-fish fillets
- 400ml cold fresh milk
- 50g butter
- 100g all-purpose flour
- 1 small pinch of fine salt
- 1 or 2 dashes of white pepper

Procedure:
- Soak the thin fillets of fish in cold fresh milk for 30 mins.
- Heat the pan on small fire, add butter and let it melt.
- Dry the fish fillets and pat the fillets on the flour mixture (including all-purpose flour, white pepper and salt). Make sure the flour coating is thin and fine.
- Cook the fish fillet in melted butter on small fire. Turn after two minutes. Wait for another two minutes and serve the fillets on plate. Pour the fried butter sauce on top.


Enjoy your fish!

Bánh bao (Vietnamese Meat Bun)

(unedited)

Vỏ bánh
- 500 g bột mỳ hoa hồng
- 200 ml sữa tươi (hoặc nước cốt dừa sẽ rất thơm)
- 2 thìa cà phê men nở bánh mì (can use slightly more?)
- 2 thìa cà phê baking powder
- 4 súp mỡ nước
- đường bột 150 g
- 1 thìa cà phê đường cát
- 1.5tbsp corn starch / tapioca flour?

Nhân bánh:

- Thịt xá xíu: 100g (Thái hột lựu)
- Thịt nạc vai đầu thăn: 3,5 lạng (xay nhỏ hơn thịt băm)
- cải thảo: 3 lá (thái chỉ 3mm, chụng qua nước sôi, vớt ra bóp sạch nước)
- nấm hương: 20 cái (ngâm nước sôi, rửa sạch từng cái, thái nhỏ sắt hột lựu)
- hạt tiêu: 1 thìa cà phê (
- Trứng cút: 22 quả (luộc, bóc vỏ) (em không cho trứng vì để qua đêm ăn bị đầy bụng)
- hành khô: 5 củ (bóc vỏ đập dập bằm nát)
- Lạp sườn (em không cho vì sợ bẩn he he he)
- Miến: 30g (ngâm nở, cắt khúc nhỏ) (em cũng không cho)
- Bột năng: 1, 5 muống xúp đầy
- 1/2 muống súp mật ong
Cách làm:

- lấy 2 muỗng súp nước ấm độ 60 độ hoà với 1 thì cà phê đường quậy tan, rồi cho bột nở bánh mỳ quậy tan. Đậy kín để nới ấm chừng 20 đến 30p cho bột nở đến miệng bát cơm là được (nó nổi phồng lên trông như gạch cua ý bác ạ )

- Rây 500g bột mỳ vào thau khoét 1 lỗ giữa cho bột nở đã ủ, 1 muỗng súp đầu ăn + 200ml sữa tươi + 1 thìa nước cốt chanh + 1 dúm muối nhỏ + 150 g đường bột+ 2 thìa cà phê baking powder vào. Nhồi thật kỹ khoảng 15p.

- Khi nhào bột thật nhuyễn thì cho 1 cái khăn ẩm phủ lên và cho vào lò nướng ủ ở nhiệt độ 70 khoảng 3 tiếng (hoặc để ở chỗ ấm, lò nướng nhà em toàn để ủ cả sữa chua và bột làm bánh vì nó chia độ nhỏ đến 20 độ cơ ).

- Trong thời gian chờ bột nở to ra thì ta đi chuẩn bị nhân:
- Thịt nạc xay nhuyễn hơn băm một chút là được + thịt xá xíu thái hạt lựu + lá cải thảo đã bóp khô + nấm hương thái hạt lựu + 1 thìa hạt tiêu + gia vị + nước mắm + 1/2 muỗng dầu hào + 1/2 muống xúp dầu mè + 1,5 muống xúp đầy bột năng + hành khô băm nhuyễn (miến, trứng, lạp sườn em không ăn nên không cho bác thích thì cho độ 2 lát lạp sườn, 1 quả trứng cút, vài sợi miến và như vậy bác phải bớt lượng thịt nạc vai đi chút chút nhá, không có nhiều nhân quá khó nặn bánh).
- Sau đó trộn đều cho vào bát đậy kín để vào tủ lạnh lượn đi chơi.


- Khi bột đã nở tốt sau 3 tiếng (ít nhất là nở gấp đôi chỗ bột cũ), bác lôi bột ra chia thành 22 cục bột nhỏ (độ 37 - 40 g/cục) - cho lên cân đĩa bác nhá

- Nhân thì bác cũng vo thành 22 viên tròn đều nhau (cái này ang áng thôi chả cần cân kẹo làm gì cho tốn thời gian.
- Bác lấy ít bột mỳ sống lăn vào thớt à bôi vào cái cán bột
- Lấy 1 cục bột độ 40g, lăn vào bột mỳ sống, sau đó Bác cán bột thành hình mặt nguyệt rồi đặt nhân vào giữa, lấy ít nước lã bôi vòng tròn quanh viền bột sau đó túm thành độ 5 góc ấn chặt vào nhau sau đó gập nốt phần hở vào giữa là thành bông qua 5 múi ( he cái này làm nhiều sẽ quen tay, vì bột rất mềm và dẻo nên bác sẽ rất dễ bắt hình vì bác vốn khéo tay mà)
- Lấy giấy nến chia làm 22 phần và cho lên xửng hấp.
- Về xửng hấp nhớ cho độ 200 ml dấm vào nước lã và đun xôi lên, bánh sẽ nở và trắng như da Dương Quý Phi, sau đô 15' bánh sẽ nở to và trắng nhất thì bác lấy ra ngay, lúc nào ăn tiếp thì hấp lại bánh sẽ rất trắng và ngon.

Chúc bác thành công rực rỡ.

Để cho bột nở cũng tuỳ thời tiết. Muốn bánh tốt, bột nở ủ phải thật nổi, gần đầy tô mới nên làm.

Thêm một vấn đề nữa là sau khi nặn bánh xong xuôi các bác lại cho vào lò ủ tiếp 1 tiếng nữa, bánh nở hết cỡ luôn rồi mới đem ra hấp ngon tuyệt, bánh nở to đùng đoàng.

Muốn bánh nở maximum, men bột nở hoà vào nước ấm, để một lúc rồi nhào bột, để bột khoảng 3 h.
Nhưng khâu này mới quan trọng đối với độ nở của bánh, đó là sau khi đã gói nhân, hoàn chỉnh cái bánh, để bánh "nghỉ" độ 30' bên ngoài, rồi mới hấp, lúc này bánh mới nở hết cỡ.

Muốn bột trắng, thay một phần nước bằng sữa tươi. Mình hay cho một lưng cốc sữa tươi cho 400 gr bột mì, phần còn lại là nước ngâm men bột nở kia.

Vỏ bánh xù xì như da cóc thì chị nghỉ có thể là 1 trong 3 lý do sau:
1. Lúc nhồi bột trước khi ủ em nhồi không mạnh, bột không được mịn
2. Lúc cán bột áo dính vào vỏ bánh nhiều quá, dính không đều nên gây ra sù xì
3. Cán bột không đều, mịn. Em phải cán mạnh tay, lấy cái mặt mịn mới cán phía trên lật úp xuống, cho nó ra ngoài nên khi nặn bánh cái vỏ bánh bên ngoài sẽ rất mịn, trơn láng, không bị sần sùi. Chị đã từng bị như thế rồi và chị tìm hiểu thì biết tại sao bánh mình lại bị thế.

khi bạn làm bánh bao nếu muốn bắt con thì phải bắt 7 múi nhìn bánh mới đẹp - dùng hai đầu ngón tay vừa gấp hai mí bánh lại với nhau vừa lần bánh gấp múi kế tiếp xoay vòng cho hết vòng tròn là vừa đủ 7 múi, xong túm chặt lại xoay nhẹ một tí cho mấy múi xoắn lại thì mấy múi nhìn cong cong mới đẹp và bánh khi hấp mới không cười hở miệng :D: :D:

The skin will be thinner on the edges before you fold the meat in.

50ml vinegar to be added for 1l steaming water.

Nếu dùng xửng hấp thì đun nước thật sôi mới cho dấm và đặt xửng bánh lên để hấp. Phủ lên nồi một cái khăn xô (để nước không nhỏ xuống bánh) rồi mới đậy nắp. Trong quá trình hấp không mở vung.

How to fold the buns: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d32RLREo3nI&feature=player_embedded


Ingredients:

Flour mix: (let the flour mix rest 1 hour before cooking)
- 200 - 250ml fresh milk (warmed)
- 400g wheat flour
- 1.5tbsp corn starch / tapioca flour
- 4tbsp vegetable oil
- 2tsp instant yeast
- 100g sugar

Fillings:
- 250g minced pork (not too lean)
- Dried mushrooms
- Dried fungus
- Dried vermicelli
- Onions
- Salt, sugar, pepper and fish sauce
- Quail eggs (optional)

Put the buns on the tray in boiling water, steam for 13 minutes then take out immediately. Leave a space in between the buns to allow for flour raising.

Thịt rang sả

Sả bào thành sợi nhỏ

Súp ngô cua

Canh chua ngao / hến

with green onion and laska leaves chopped and flavored on top

Sốt cà chua chấm rau sống

Canh nấm cà chua

Canh rau muống nấu ngao

Nộm rau muống thịt bò

Ngao xào cay

How to train your younger sister

(to be continued)

Get to know

Feel the love - Presents, loss, fairy tales

Be a good girl

Set the culture

Be a friend

The Road - Cormac McCarthy

""The Road" is a profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, "each the other's world entire", were sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, "The Road" is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation."


"The boy was frozen with fear. He pulled him to him. It's alright, he said. We have to run. Don't look back. Come on...
... The boy fell and he pulled him up. It's alright, he said. Come on."


"I always believe you."
"I don't think so."
"Yes, I do. I have to."


I think this is a masterpiece.

An introduction to social work

I dare not call myself yet a social worker. However, in this little essay, I would like to tell you about the experience of social work to me.

I find the work of a social worker meaningful. The satisfaction comes immediate from the happy smiles and the sincere looks of the people around you. While otherwise you may still be searching for the meaning of life, here you know for sure meaning is in making the lives of many others meaningful. Without doubt, you know your work is being appreciated. Every day counts as everyday, people need you.

If you love challenges, social work is the right job for you. I worked in poverty reduction. There is forever an abundance of poverty requiring help. There are thousands of people who suffer from Agent Orange in Vietnam. There are millions who have their houses torn down year after year from typhoons. The number never stops rising of those who suffer from unfair natural disasters. Pulling down the little fates are poor health care, poor nutrition and poor opportunities. As impossible as it is for the poverty problems to stop arising, the challenges for a social worker are infinite. As you delve further into the field, you feel the constant urge to learn more, to find a better way out for all these little poor souls.

Interaction is a rarely mentioned but an essential element of social work. I love the work because in here I can find the genuine happiness as I interact with people. Through projects, you learn about a variety of people. At one moment, you might be talking to a manager on sponsorship for a poor mountainous school. Right on the next moment, you would be talking to a village little boy on how the day had been for him in school. These little experiences add wide ranges of colors to my days and here I find lies the beauty of life.

Everyone chooses a career for a reason. I am lucky to have found myself reasons for the continual love of social work. Had it not been for the encounter with the job in earlier years, these experiences might have never appealed to me, thus now giving me the empowerment to continue the route I wish to follow.

Beef Steak (Thịt bò bít tết)

(to be updated)

Vietnamese Chicken Salad Recipe 2 (Gà xé phay kiểu Huế)

Ingredients and Procedure similar to Vietnamese Chicken Salad Recipe 1, except for the replacement of mint leaves and coriander leaves with laska leaves (rau răm).

Vietnamese Chicken Salad Recipe 1 (Gà xé phay)

Taste description: Admittedly I am no fan of salad, yet this simple chicken salad is a real must-try. Here is one dish that can keep you craving till the last piece of chicken on plate. As you probably can see, there are two versions to this Vietnamese Chicken Salad, of which personally, I prefer this first recipe. However, I promise both recipes are worth your try and your family members will definitely love it.















Ingredients: (serves 2)
- 3 boneless chicken drumsticks, boiled until cooked and torn into pieces
- 1/2 a big yellow onion, sliced into long thin pieces
- 3 small garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 bunch of mint leaves, cut into small pieces
- 1 very small bunch of coriander leaves, cut into small pieces
- 7 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 small lemon
- 1tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 4 chilies, cut and seeds removed
- Pepper

Procedure:
- Soak the onion and garlic in 5 tbsp vinegar for 20 mins, then remove all the vinegar in the mixture.
- Throw in the torn chicken, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar, 2 tbsp vinegar and extract of 1 small lemon.
- Keep the mixture for 15 minutes then put in the cut mint leaves, coriander leaves and chilies.
- Mix well and eat.

Japanese Chicken with Egg (Gà chưng trứng kiểu Nhật)

Taste description: This seemingly unappealing dish turned out to be fantastic. Suitable for single individuals who love to eat home-cooked food, this dish will not fail you with the tenderness of chicken and egg, the sweetness of soy sauce and the fragrance of green onion topped on the hot white rice.















Ingredients (serves 1)
- 1 boneless chicken drumstick, sliced into pieces
- 2 eggs, blended
- 4 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 pinch of sugar
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 pinch green onion, thinly sliced
- Pepper

Procedure:
- Mix sliced chicken with 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 pinch of sugar, pepper and the white parts of green onion (thinly sliced), keep for 10 - 15 mins.
- Boil chicken stock, pour in 2 tbsp soy sauce, on large fire, pour in the chicken, then reduce the fire slightly.
- When the chicken is cooked (after 2 - 3 minutes), throw in the sliced green onion, then quicky pour in the egg.
- Once the egg is boiled, turn of the fire and pour on the hot rice or bowl as desired.
- Eat while it is hot.

Thai Mango Sticky Rice (Xôi xoài Thái Lan)

Taste description: This is not the healthiest dish for your option, but this is one of the best choices should you be craving for mango and sticky rice. Topped with flavoury fried sesame and tangy coconut cream sauce, if properly mixed, this food will perfect any meal and definitely leave you satisfied.















Ingredients:
- 100g sticky rice, soaked in water for 4 hours
- 1 sweet mango
- 50ml coconut cream
- 1.5 - 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 small pinch of salt
- 1 pinch of white sesame

Procedure:
- Steam the sticky rice for 20 minutes. Put in water almost the level of the rice base so that the rice can be soft rather than dry.
- Cut the mango into square dices of 1 - 1.5cm length
- Fry the sesame on small fire without oil, until the sesames turns lightly golden
- Boil 80 - 100ml water, add sugar and salt to taste, wait till the sugar and salt are blended into the water, reduce the fire, pour in the coconut cream and mix well. Do not let the coconut cream boil. Take the cream out of the fire once the coconut cream and water is well mixed.
- Put the cooked rice on a plate, lay the mango dices on top, pour the coconut cream sauce, sprinkle the sesame and eat.

Vietnamese Steamed Rice Cake with Pork & Shrimp (Bánh đúc mặn)

Taste description: The steamed flour was smooth. The combination of meat and mushroom gave us the home feeling of "banh cuon". Topped with sweet and sour spicy fish sauce, the dish was just deliciously Vietnamese.





























Ingredients:

For flour:
- 200g mixed rice and tapioca flour (170g rice flour + 30g tapioca flour)
- 1 pinch of salt
- 400ml water (the amount of water in the original recipe turned out to be excessive thus I reduced it here according to the amount I adjusted)
- 10ml vegetable oil

For meat fillings: (to be fried together before steaming)
- 200g minced pork
- 200g prawn, pealed and minced
- Pinches of dried mushroom and fungi, soaked in water, cut and chopped
- Half a big yellow onion, cut and chopped
- 3 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 pinch of pepper

Procedures:

- Mix the flour ingredients, leave for 20mins so that the flour can be well soaked
- Prepare cups to steam the rice cakes, sweep on thin layers of vegetable oil
- Boil the water and put the cups with 1 layer of flour in, cover the flour cups, steam for about 3 - 5mins
- Pour on another layer of flour and steam for another 3 - 5 mins
- Top with the fried ingredients, steam until the flour is cooked
- Eat with sweet and sour light fish sauce

Here is how happy we were with the food:

Vietnamese Recipe Webpages

1. http://www.recipehound.com/Recipes/vietnamese.html

2. http://www.panix.com/clay/cookbook/bin/table_of_contents.cgi?vietnamese

3. http://www.vietnamese-recipes.com/

4. http://www.cuisine.com.au/recipe-finder/vietnamese-recipes

Vietnamese Fried Chicken (Gà băm viên rán)

Taste description: Bread crumbs were essential for the desired crispiness of the meatballs. The dish was special with its exotic herbal fragrance from mint leaves, coriander and lemon grass. The addition of chili and pepper gives the food just the right Asian flavor. One side note to take though is to mince the lemon grass well before ingredient mixing to ensure the well-balanced texture of your meat balls. A highly recommended dish this is if you want to add something new beside the rice bowls on your family dinner.















Ingredients:
- 300g minced chicken
- 40g bread crumbs
- 1 lemon grass, cup and chopped
- 1 pinch of coriander, chopped
- 1 pinch of mint leaves, chopped
- 1 small bunch of vermicelli, cut in 1 - 1.5cm pieces
- 4 - 5 onion cloves, cut and chopped
- 4 tsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp vegetable oil (to mix with the meat)
- Vegetable oil (to fry)

This is how the preparation looks like:















































Fry the meatballs and eat!

(Recipe source: Quick Food - R641. 5555FAN, National Library, Singapore)