travels

A Different King of “Báng Tráng” – or Rice Paper Wrapper

May 12, 2012

Rice paper. Most of the English speaking world use that term to describe the edible wafer-thin papery sheets made of rice flour, water, and sometimes tapioca starch, and dried on cross-hatched straw to give it a distinctive weavy pattern. They are used to make Vietnamese summer rolls or deep fried for spring rolls. But all [...]

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Scrumptious Snails in Saigon @ Õc Ðào Restaurant

May 4, 2012

This week marks the one-year blog anniversary for Ginger and Scotch and I thought I’d celebrate by writing a post about… …Snails! One of the great things about having friends and family living in a place you’ve never visited is the insight they provide on the best places to eat – more often than not, [...]

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My Saigon – From Past to Present

April 22, 2012

The house used to smell like leather tanning all the time. It was an awful smell. But the cow skin was so fresh that the meat was often still attached – we would use it to supplement our meager food rations. Since arriving in Saigon, the stories about my childhood and those of our family [...]

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Dubai to Ho Chi Minh City

April 7, 2012

Last week, with the arrival of my grandmother in Ho Chi Minh city (HCMC), just a few hours after my own arrival from Dubai, there were four generations of my family together: Wee Scotch, myself, my mom, and my grandmother. My mom and I were born in HCMC and although she’s been back a few [...]

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Operation Pho Noodle Soup in Sunny Dunny

September 10, 2011

While I was in Scotland visiting Scotch’s parents, my father-in-law (FIL) wanted to learn more about Chinese and Vietnamese cooking. Being avid readers of my blog (they are so sweet and supportive!), he mentioned that he was very keen on learning how to make Pho – the Vietnamese rice noodle soup – that he had [...]

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Re-uniting with Scotch in Scotland

September 9, 2011

Summers in Dubai can be difficult for many Dubai dads as their wives and kids abandon them for cooler climates where the children can play and run around outdoors without worry of heat exhaustion and where the moms aren’t drenched in sweat within minutes of stepping out of air-conditioned homes. Wee Scotch and I have [...]

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Ginger and Scotch Clams with Asian Basil

September 3, 2011

The sun is shining brightly through blue skies today and there are a few clouds but no storm nor hurricane sighting. Hoping Wee Scotch and I will finally make it onto our flight to Scotland tonight. I had a nice surprise yesterday. While Skyping with Scotch, he revealed that he had bought a last-minute ticket from [...]

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Mom’s Garden and Vietnamese Kitchen

September 1, 2011

My annual summer visit to my parents in NY and to escape the scorching Dubai heat is coming to an end. It was supposed to have ended last Saturday but Hurricane Irene extended it for another week. So Wee Scotch and I had one more week of spending quality time with my parents. One more [...]

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