Midweek Check-in
Herb Tote Update + October Events + Impressing my mom + Shoulder Season Recipes
Hello everyone,
Gadzooks! By noon last Sunday, the Viet herb totes were sold out. I didn’t expect brisk sales and was clueless about it all until Kathy on Instagram alerted me. I feel very bad that there weren’t enough to go around.
Will I restock? Yes. Today, I reordered and with expected delivery at the end of October. Stay tune as details unfold.
What about pre-ordering? I’m a one-person operation and pre-ordering on Shopify (where the store is) is complicated. For now, I’m passing on it in order to focus on things like shipping(!) to ensure that you receive the totes! Plus I have assignment deadlines. Thanks for your patience and enthusiasm!
The kitchen island serves as my fulfillment center.
October Events
Regardless of where you’re located, there are opportunities for us to meet this month. Coming up:
Virtual, Wed., 10/11, 5-6pm, EGV Book Talk (Zoom link coming on Sunday!)
Philly’s Cookbooks and Convos is hosting me for two special dinners with Viet women chefs. Each ticket includes a copy of Ever-Green Vietnamese.
Philadelphia, Mon., 10/16, Mexican x Viet x American Dinner at Taco Revolution with chef Carolyn Nguyen. The menu reflects how we fluidly eat and cook today. Join us for remarkable food and deep discussion!
Philadelphia, Tues., 10/17, Traditional Vietnamese Dinner at Gabriella’s with Chef Thanh Nguyen. Come for an outstanding flexitarian menu at one of Philly’s best restaurants.
Oxford, MS, 10/20-21, Where is the South? at Southern Foodways Alliance (SFA) I’m not part of the program but am attending for provocative conversations and for learning new things. This year’s chef lineup includes East Side Banh Mi from Nashville, TN. The South impacts America deeply and widely. Check out SFA.
Santa Cruz, Sun. 10/29, Bookshop SC Geek out with me and
as we chat about his exciting new book, Veg-Table, plus plant-based cooking and recipe writing. (Yes, I will be signing my books at the event too.)Shoulder Season Cooking
Hands down, the transition from late summer into autumn is the best time to cook and eat. I describe it as the shoulder season — the between season when ripe tomatoes, chiles, herbs, and perky lettuces join forces with wonderful sweet potatoes, winter squash ,and ruffly first-crop kale.
Right now in my garden, the Viet herbs have gone bonkers. I brought lots to my mom last week to enjoy as lettuce-wrap meals that we prepared. A major Nguyen win happened when Mom complimented me on my crispy sweet potato and shrimp fritters (bánh tôm, a Hanoi classic).
The recipe came from Ever-Green Vietnamese. Mom’s technique is good but after observing me cook and taking her first bite, she said, “These are crunchy and better.” 🥳 🎊😄 She was more than ready to bring the fritters to the table!
EGV tip: When you make the sweet potato fritter recipe on page 93 of the book, check the recipe margin for weight measurements for the batter’s main dry ingredients. Use them for consistency! The fritters are doable with supermarket ingredients; go with Bob’s Red Mill white or brown rice flour (the brown naturally yields a slightly crispier texture).
I love seeing EGV recipes in the wild — in your hands, tweaked in your kitchens! For example, Kate and Dori have put EGV’s kohlrabi salad with soy sauce-seared tofu on repeat in their households; Dori adds roasted peanuts and Kate likes to double up on the tofu for extra protein. Alison crushed it on the no-waste shaking salmon recipe by making the skin crunchies too!
Emily dove into the herbaceous roast chicken, broccoli and nuoc cham vinaigrette and added a touch of buttery sparkle by way of Eric Kim.
Michelle got soupy with the book’s vegan hu tieu rice noodle soup. Sophie baked up the citrus spice marble cake, which blends cinnamon, ginger, star anise, and pepper for a perfect autumn bake.
As you peruse and cook through Ever-Green Vietnamese, please leave a positive review at Amazon. Your input matters now more than ever! Thank you.
More shoulder season recipes
I’m also making and thinking about:
Vietnamese corn Milk (at the website + in EGV, p. 277 ) — don’t forget this recipe! You can make extra and freeze it as popsicles. I made regular corn, pandan and corn popsicles.
Beginner’s Tart Tatin — Tart cooking apples would be stupendous for this tart but I’ve made it with gala. My recipe, video and technique, learned from a French pastry chef, guides you to confidently do the final flip to unmold.
Asian Pear, Beet, Fennel Salad — It’s pear season and beets are coming in while fennel is likely to slide out of season soon. This impressive salad dressed in tangy fish sauce is an on-point seasonal salad.
The shoulder season’s weather is outstanding. Get out there to enjoy it before we have to put on socks, sweaters, and jackets!
I am in Oxford, Mississippi. I can give you some suggestions for foods to try out while you are visiting and places to see if you have any free time. We met several years ago at a NowServing LA lecture you gave.
Made the shaking salmon for my husband and me. Loved it and so made it the next evening for our son and his family. Gotta have the skin crispies.
Side note:,I’ll be at SFA and will for your there. Love SFA