Morning light, warmth, and fresh herbs

In spite of the frigid days in the last week, the morning light has reminded me of tropical places. A pink glow has illuminated hazy clouds, contrasting with crystal-clear air. It's been lovely.

The clarity of the air was a definite contrast from the haziness and humidity of Southern Vietnam, but the shock of returning to an usually deep cold spell in the Southeastern US (and a cold workplace, thanks to insufficient insulation and underpowered heat) has made my normally semi-cold-tolerant genes wishing for warmth and sunshine.

A dinner of fresh romaine lettuce wraps with roasted chicken, an aromatic brown rice, stir-fried vegetables, with a nice dipping sauce made with fish sauce, lime juice, cilantro, sugar, peanuts, and chilies reminded us of some of the delicious dinners we'd had in Southeast Asia.

It was almost like warmth (and sunshine) on a plate.

Vietnamese food

Morning Glory Cooking School class in Hoi An

I did miss eating homemade whole-grain bread, real cheese, potatoes, and brown rice, but with the delicious diversity of fish, fruit, and green vegetables in Vietnam, I can hardly complain about food while traveling there.

It's totally delicious.

My gardening companion is a rice and noodle lover, so he's happy with breakfast pho, noodle dishes, and even the barely passable white rice normally served up.

The diversity of greens used in Vietnamese cooking was underscored by a trip we made to a market garden outside Hoi An, but was really made apparent by a cooking class at the Morning Glory Cooking School there.

A diversity of ingredients

My fresh spring roll

Our instructor Ms. Lu, a delightful young woman, described characteristics of different herbs that are used in fresh spring rolls, added to banh xeo (a delicious rice pancake), chopped up for chicken marinade, etc.

Hmm, it sent me to look for seeds to order ASAP after returning home. (Tom, I'm willing to share!)

Lemon basil, amaranth, Thai basil, Vietnamese mint, culantro, etc. were on the list, and I've bookmarked sources of fresh galangal and tumeric to grow in the warm season here in the SE US.

Making rice paper wrappers is much more of a specialty item; they're normally purchased dry, then rehydrated, but seeing them made (on a Mekong Delta bike ride) encourages me to think about trying that (uh, if I had any free time!)

And, I do wish we had sources of green papaya or green mango, not to mention fresh ripe ones, in our small Southern college town. But, that would hardly be focused on local food, hmm. There are reasons that global trade developed...

Papaya salad and grilled chicken (with an amazing marinade mixture)

Vietnamese greens

As a gardener (and as a cook), it would be hard not to like the Vietnamese interest in vegetables and greens. Vegetables at every meal, great, and the variety of fresh herbal greens, extraordinary.

I spent some time today ordering seeds to grow some of them (this link is an excellent overview of their diversity). Most, outside of cilantro and Thai basil, aren't greens that we grow frequently in the U.S., although they're available in Southern California in farmers' markets grown by folks of Vietnamese heritage. Thanks to one of my favorite podcasts for the information!

In markets in Vietnam, we saw both diversity of greens and fruits, tropical and imported. (Imported apples and grapes are a special treat).

A traditional (and organic) vegetable village near Hoi An was one of the most attractive vegetable production areas that I've ever seen - neat mounded rows of vegetables grown in fabulous soil with freshwater 'seaweed' for fertilizer.