midweek gems #15

Vietnamese pig ear cookie recipe | holiday bean giving | village of pho

Hello everyone,

I’m feeling spent this evening from working pretty much nonstop with chef Pim on our Cooking Thai book project. Phew, I think we have all the recipes we need. From this point on, I’ll be doing some more recipe development and testing before we send them out to be cross-tested by a team of volunteers. I always make sure recipes are well tested before a book goes to print.

Despite feeling ragged tired, we went for a very long (and invigorating) walk this afternoon at Pleasure Point in Santa Cruz. We walk here often and the dreamy view always uplifts. If you’re feeling a bit holiday tired, this video may offer a moment of calm. What do you do to manage the holiday stresses?

💎 Menopause resources

Can I tell you how y’all are so awesome? These insights recently arrived:

• Jessica suggested checking in with Gillian Goddard, an endocrinologist. One of my sisters and a dear friend recently had to seek help from endocrinologists. Before that, I wasn’t sure what they did but now have much greater appreciation for that field of medicine. Dr. Goddard offers much through her articles (fibroids! safety of putting estrogen cream on your face!) at the Parent Data website.

• Drew pointed to the National Menopause Foundation website which includes a lengthy menopause checklist in English and Spanish. You can download the list and prep for talking to a doctor, for instance. (Or, to allay your concerns!)

💎 Listen: Holiday your way

When it comes to Christmas, there’s no one way to celebrate.

Nicki Sizemore

gathered a group of us to chat about our rituals and recipes for her podcast, which aired this week. I dish things up with Nicki,

Sarah Copeland

,

Ellie Krieger

,

Lukas Volger

and

Hetty Lui McKinnon

in this episode. . .

Holiday Special with Hetty McKinnon, Ellie Krieger, Andrea Nguyen, Sarah Copeland and Lukas Volger

💎 Make: 🐷 Vietnamese Pig Ear Cookies

I know what you’re thinking, something along the lines of: “Andrea, let’s splurge at the holidays. Can you put the plant-forward thing on hold?” Alright! How about a Vietnamese ditty that I oddly, have never made myself because I figured they were a street vendor’s specialty — pig ear cookies, called bánh lỗ tai heo in Vietnamese.

Pig Ear Cookies from Ben Mims’ Crumbs.

Are you giggling or repulsed? Giggle with delight because they’re vegetarian, crunchy, a little nutty with coconut, and charming looking. Ben Mims shared his solid recipe from his new cookbook, Crumbs.

Along the way, I asked, why did he chose the pig ear cookies to include in the book? And, what do cookies tell us about cultures and humanity? Ben’s responses and pig ear cookie recipe are the website. Get the recipe and cookie insights.

💎 Watch: Original pho village

Ellen shared this find in the chat thread. In 2015, I visited Van Cu village in northern Vietnam as part of my field research for The Pho Cookbook. It’s a handsome spot and we had quite a trek out there that day. Things have evolved somewhat, as you can see in this video. Weigh in in the PTFS chat!

The sticky rice recipes have been super popular, especially the chestnut and shiitake sticky rice dressing. If you’ve shied from cooking sticky rice, the upcoming Sunday Special will offer a primer on the tricky sticky grains. Join us behind the paywall, if you like.