[OT] I couldn't take it anymore...

....so I went to a Vietnamese restaurant after work and got a bean
drink!! It was just as yummy as I remember it. It was made of coconut
milk, red beans, and these translucent green squiggly things that
might have been some kind of noodle, or was what some folks on the
web have called "jelly" or "jello". (Not to be confused with Jell-o,
this stuff holds its shape inside a liquid.)

I just couldn't keep talking about those drinks and not have one!

Joyce

wrote

...so I went to a Vietnamese restaurant after work and got a bean
drink!! It was just as yummy as I remember it. It was made of coconut
milk, red beans, and these translucent green squiggly things that
might have been some kind of noodle, or was what some folks on the
web have called "jelly" or "jello". (Not to be confused with Jell-o,
this stuff holds its shape inside a liquid.)

I just couldn't keep talking about those drinks and not have one!

Oh how I wish there was a Vietnamese restaurant near me! I'd love some phô
right about now.

Been keeping cool with my favorite Oriental drink, mugicha. Yum!

Pat wrote:
wrote

...so I went to a Vietnamese restaurant after work and got a bean
drink!! It was just as yummy as I remember it. It was made of coconut
milk, red beans, and these translucent green squiggly things that
might have been some kind of noodle, or was what some folks on the
web have called "jelly" or "jello". (Not to be confused with Jell-o,
this stuff holds its shape inside a liquid.)

I just couldn't keep talking about those drinks and not have one!

Oh how I wish there was a Vietnamese restaurant near me! I'd love
some phô right about now.

Been keeping cool with my favorite Oriental drink, mugicha. Yum!\

Make your own:

8 onces bean thread noodles
10 cups canned beef broth
2 medium onions, thickly sliced
4 half-inch-thick slices fresh ginger (about 1 1/4 ounces)
2 tablespoons fish sauce (nam pla)
3 large garlic cloves, halved
2 star anise
1-1/2 teaspoons whole cloves
1 pound flank steak, trimmed, thinly sliced crosswise

3 green onions, thinly sliced
Lemon wedges

Bring large pot of water to a boil. Remove from heat. Add noodles to pot;
let stand until tender and pliable, about 15 minutes. Drain.Cut noodles into
2-inch lengths. Transfer to a large bowl.

Combine beef broth, sliced onions, sliced ginger, fish sauce, garlic, star
anise and whole cloves into a heavy, large, dutch oven and bring mixture to
a boil.

Reduce heat; simmer thirty minutes. Strain broth into a large bowl; discard
solids. Return beef broth to dutch oven and bring to boil. Remove beef broth
from heat. Mix steak slices into broth (the hot broth will cook steak
slices).

Place noodles, thinly sliced beef, green onions and lemon wedges in the
center of the table. Spoon noodles, steak slices and broth into large soup
bowls, then top with generous amounts of green onions and splash with lemon
juice.

Jill

Pat wrote:
wrote

...so I went to a Vietnamese restaurant after work and got a bean
drink!! It was just as yummy as I remember it. It was made of coconut
milk, red beans, and these translucent green squiggly things that
might have been some kind of noodle, or was what some folks on the
web have called "jelly" or "jello". (Not to be confused with Jell-o,
this stuff holds its shape inside a liquid.)

I just couldn't keep talking about those drinks and not have one!

Oh how I wish there was a Vietnamese restaurant near me! I'd love some phô
right about now.

Been keeping cool with my favorite Oriental drink, mugicha. Yum!

Sounds like Vietnamese food is very popular. No wonder so many
Vietnamese restaurants
opened around the local Chinatown. Of course there are many Vietnamese
in town too.

Winnie

On 2006-07-22, penned:
...so I went to a Vietnamese restaurant after work and got a bean
drink!! It was just as yummy as I remember it. It was made of
coconut milk, red beans, and these translucent green squiggly things
that might have been some kind of noodle, or was what some folks on
the web have called "jelly" or "jello". (Not to be confused with
Jell-o, this stuff holds its shape inside a liquid.)

I just couldn't keep talking about those drinks and not have one!

I don't think I've ever seen these. Maybe I'll have to go trolling
through some local Vietnamese restaurants to find some to try.

--
monique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully

pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca

On 2006-07-22, Pat penned:

Oh how I wish there was a Vietnamese restaurant near me! I'd love
some phô right about now.

Been keeping cool with my favorite Oriental drink, mugicha. Yum!

What's that? Do you make it yourself?

--
monique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully

pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca

On 2006-07-22, Pat penned:

Oh how I wish there was a Vietnamese restaurant near me! I'd love
some phô right about now.

Probably due to the previous thread, I actually ordered some phô the
restaurant down the street last night. It was an iffy thing ... I
came home, exhausted from what's been a crazy busy week, fantasizing
about the soup ... then I fell asleep and didn't wake up till 8:30,
when of course the place closes at 9. I couldn't remember the name,
so I couldn't call ahead. Anyway, it all worked out okay, I dragged
myself out of bed and ordered both the soup and those see-through
Vietnamese spring rolls with shrimp in them, the ones that come with
peanut sauce.

I often wonder how many of my favorite "ethnic" foods aren't actually
ethnic at all, just made up for local tastes.

--
monique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully

pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca

Monique Y. Mudama wrote:
On 2006-07-22, Pat penned:

Oh how I wish there was a Vietnamese restaurant near me! I'd love
some phô right about now.

Probably due to the previous thread, I actually ordered some phô the
restaurant down the street last night. It was an iffy thing ... I
came home, exhausted from what's been a crazy busy week, fantasizing
about the soup ... then I fell asleep and didn't wake up till 8:30,
when of course the place closes at 9. I couldn't remember the name,
so I couldn't call ahead. Anyway, it all worked out okay, I dragged
myself out of bed and ordered both the soup and those see-through
Vietnamese spring rolls with shrimp in them, the ones that come with
peanut sauce.

I often wonder how many of my favorite "ethnic" foods aren't actually
ethnic at all, just made up for local tastes.

Unless you've lived overseas (i.e. SE Asia) you can't really judge. Most
Asian food is made up for local tastes. In fact, there is no such thing as
Chow Mein or Beef with Broccoli.... broccoli as we know it doesn't grow in
SE Asia or China, but Kale does.

The only really good sign of a "good" Asian restaurant is that they eat
their own cooking Somehow I find that difficult to believe in Colorado.
Same here on the outskirts of Memphis.

Jill

"Monique Y. Mudama" wrote

On 2006-07-22, Pat penned:

Oh how I wish there was a Vietnamese restaurant near me! I'd love
some phô right about now.

Been keeping cool with my favorite Oriental drink, mugicha. Yum!

What's that? Do you make it yourself?

Phô is a soup. I could make it myself, I suppose. Never tried. Mugicha is
chilled tea make from roasted unhusked barley. I could make that too if I
found a source of unhusked barley. But it is so cheap to buy ready-made, why
bother?

"jmcquown" wrote

Monique Y. Mudama wrote:

I often wonder how many of my favorite "ethnic" foods aren't actually
ethnic at all, just made up for local tastes.


Unless you've lived overseas (i.e. SE Asia) you can't really judge. Most
Asian food is made up for local tastes. In fact, there is no such thing
as
Chow Mein or Beef with Broccoli.... broccoli as we know it doesn't grow in
SE Asia or China, but Kale does.

The only really good sign of a "good" Asian restaurant is that they eat
their own cooking Somehow I find that difficult to believe in
Colorado.
Same here on the outskirts of Memphis.


I don't think even that is a reliable sign, because whenever I've seen any
Asian restaurant people eating in their own place, it's always something
that's not on their menu. Hehe. Something I would have ordered if it *was*
on the menu. So I guess it depends on what kind of food you think is "good".

The best Asian food I've ever had, was at these little Korean cafeterias
that are all over the place in Hawai'i. Not only is it incredibly good, it's
incredibly cheap!