Smoked Salt & Pepper

Goi du du kho bo , or Vietnamese green papaya and beef jerky salad sounds weird.  I know.  But I promise that there is nothing better on a hot summer day.  It literally involves no cooking and is cold and refreshing, while being pretty fulfilling.  Reid and his sister approved.  It's really good. The ingredients are the only difficult thing about this.  I was in the LA area a few weeks ago for hubby's father's pHd graduation ceremony and we were staying in Anaheim about 15 minutes away from Bolsa Ave.  Bolsa Avenue, aka Little Saigon, in Orange County is a great community for Vietnamese immigrants and second generations.  It's probably the only place in the States that's better than Houston's Chinatown in what you can find.  Most likely due to the fact that LA has the #1 population of Vietnamese immigrants and Houston has the #2 biggest population.  Anyway, I took husband's family to breakfast/lunch on our last day there to Quan Hy res...

There have been over 24 days in a row where the temperature has exceeded 100*F here.  I'm like 6 months pregnant? Don't ask me questions, I'm hot and my brain doesn't work.  Anyway, one respite from the heat is soda chanh , or Vietnamese style limeade.  Because, as I was reading in Real Simple magazine whilst waiting the hour for my gestational diabetes test at the doctor's office, nothing is better on a hot day than lemonade  limeade. Soda chanh is probably the drink I'll order out at a Vietnamese restaurant unless I'm enjoying some Vietnamese coffee ( Cafe Sua Da ) or it's winter and they have fresh warm soy milk.  May need to do a post on cafe sue da  later, but since I'm preggos, and it's 105 freaking degrees outside, it's soda chanh  time, baby.  Some restaurants don't make it right.  There should be a visible layer of sugar at the bottom.  You use the spoon to mix it all up, and sip it through a straw.  Ahhhhh! Hubs has a ...

After many requests from my sister and cousin, I finally documented my mom's vegetarian bun bo chay !  Get ready, this recipe is kind of intense and usually takes 2 days to make.  My mom makes a giant pot of it and the whole family eats it in the span of a day or two.  She freezes the broth for later use (if there is any left over!).  The flavor does enhance each time the broth is reheated, so it's usually better the second day and each subsequent time.  It's so good, I often prefer it to regular bun bo (Spicy Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup). Bun bo Hue  is a specialty of the central region of Vietnam, where my dad's side is from.  You won't find it as commonly as pho  or bun  (vermicelli bowls) in most Vietnamese restaurants.  This is a soup that is a labor of love and family and spicy-tolerance.  My ong noi  (paternal grandfather) used to make the best bun bo hue !  Now my Aunt Angelique/ Co Be  makes a cleaner, tast...