Wow, you guys are great. Even when I have a totally boring post you reward me with comments.
I didn't go to picnic day. I couldn't face going back to Davis! But speaking of Davis, I just wrote a letter to Ken Widmann at the News and Review telling him I really like his weekly column about Davis. That guy is a good writer. Even when he writes a Seinfeld-esque nothing column (like about there not be any pay phones) it's still worth a read. And without forced snark!
My new culinary craze (well, one of them, one will be revealed in my June column) is making Vietnamese spring rolls. Am I correct in calling them Goi Cuon? Is Cuon the rice wrap part? I'm trying to pick up more Vietnamese culinary terms to decode things easier. Not the fried kind, the salad-y fresh kind. You've probably all made them before, but I never had until recently and it's so fun and delicious. I put in lots of fresh mint and cilantro, and rather than making a peanut sauce, I made up some Nuoc Cham. I made a batch and used it twice over a couple of days, and it just got hotter over time. Here's a recipe. I've been using my mortar and pestle a bit more often recently, and that's fun, too.
Lost is back on thursday! I might try a class at Zuda Yoga on wednesday! Sic Alps show on saturday! Mike R. Mike's birthday appoacheth!
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5 comments:
You are correct. Cuon refers to the rice paper and Goi refers to a roll. Interesting tidbit: one of those full body pillows is known as a Goi Om, or "Roll you hug."
I don't know where anonymous got their info, but I have it on pretty good authority that Cuon means 'roll' and Goi means Salad. In fact you can verify this by looking at most Vietnamese menus, 'cause their salads are called Goi, as in goi ga for chicken salad, etc. Rice paper is banh trang, cuon is just 'roll' no matter what you use to roll, though typically it is banh trang you'd be rolling with.
And, yes, I agree Nuoc Cham is way better than peanut sauce.
JD
Oh, and I forgot to mention, the Goi in Goi Om is a different word than that used for the food. They have different marks. Goi means pillow if it has a certain mark on it, and salad if it has a different mark. So Goi Om does not mean 'roll you hug' it just means, literally translated: pillow hug, or more anglicized a hug pillow.
JD
Widmann's column is the only reason I started picking up the SN&R in the last couple months.
-Oddy
I make a lazy man's version of your sauce substituting Sriracha sauce, garlic powder and squeezing the limes with my bare hands (like crushing the life out of an empty beer can). Oh, and about five times the sugar. It's fun to get crazy and reverse engineer what you get at Asian restaurants. After about 30 trials, my concoction of fish sauce, catsup, sugar, lime and assorted herbs and spices makes a remarkably passable Pad Thai sauce.
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