My Birthday and 2024 Tet Table

+ Tet subscription Deal + video with Mom's cool moves +

Hello friends,

It’s official! We’re in the Year of the Wood Dragon. I hope you did a little something to celebrate the new Lunar New Year, which is celebrated by Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese people.

As a special way to launch the Year of the Dragon, I’m offering you a chance to subscribe monthly or annually at a 20% discount. Forever. That’s less than a cup of coffee or a banh mi each month!

• You’ll have access to all the recipes with no paywall between us.

• You’ll enjoy all the future perks (virtual meet ups, discounts, and more).

• You’ll support Pass the Fish Sauce in innumerable ways.

• I will be extremely thankful!

If you’ve been waiting for a Dragon of a deal, here it is. Between now until February 19 (President’s Day), lock in the savings. Thanks for considering!

---

We had a triple whammy because my birthday was Friday, we celebrated my Dad’s second đám giỗ (death anniversary), and Tết. Mom offered to take me out for a birthday meal but I’d rather cook us nice food. Everyone was relieved to healthily eat what we wanted and be relaxed about it.

After a lunch of Hanoi-style bún chả pork and rice noodles (I used my easy recipe in Vietnamese Food Any Day), we visited my dad’s grave, and then went to Daiso (my mom smartly gets a cart to steady herself as she strolls the aisles). Then I made dinner.

On the menu — Viet shrimp and oyster mushroom in tamarind sauce, Thai short rib massaman curry (my friend, chef and restaurateur Pim Techamuanvivit shared her incredible recipe with me), and Ever-Green Vietnamese’s mocha cake turned into a torte with chocolate ganache on the outside and a thin layer of coffee buttercream in between. (Bake the cake in a 9 x 13 pan for about 20 minutes, cool, then cut it into 3 rectangular pieces.) Yes, a cleaver is pretty awesome for cutting the cake!

I just noted that Amazon is currently running a deal on EGV — buy 2 and get one at 50% off. If you have the book, please write a positive review at Amazon. Each one really helps! Thanks for considering.

Our 2024 Tet Menu

Weeks before Lunar New Year, my mom said, “While I am able, I will still make the traditional foods.” Last weekend, she made sixteen (16) bánh chưng sticky rice cakes. My niece, Emily, was staying with her helped retrieve a humongous stock pot from a high shelf in the garage! The cakes boil for 6 hours. Mom also made traditional headcheese and a fried sausage — items that would be prepared from a whole hog that would be harvested for the Lunar New Year.

She asked me to figure out the rest of our Tet meal but all I did was pickle shallots (remember the recipe earlier this week?), make peanut and sesame candy from EGV, buy a roast duck, and stir-fry veggies. Everything else my mom did. She’s 89.

I made this video of our meal to mostly show you how Mom efficiently cuts the bánh chưng sticky rice cake. It’s old school. You’re not gonna see those moves many other places! Oh, and with a jerk of the skillet, she flips the fried sticky rice cake. I didn’t capture that in a video so hopefully, next year!

When I was a kid, Tet was about getting lucky red envelopes of money. As an adult in midlife, the holiday is about family and starting anew. It’s a personal holiday but I wanted to share a bit of what our family did this year because honestly, it’s not lavish. It’s about home cooking and gathering at the table.

If you want a recipes and other related ideas, check this dispatch and this dispatch (<= the ribs in caramel sauce!). Vietnamese people celebrate Tet for weeks so you have from now till the end of the month to party down with family and friends.

Good Reads

I don’t just open the New York Times app for Wordle, Spelling Bee, and Connections! Here are gift links to recent articles that I’ve found interesting or inspiring:

• Restaurant menu trends (content, appearance, and organization)

• Who created Butter Chicken in India? (it’s a mini food war)

• 7 Keys to Longevity (doable healthy habits)

• Edith Ceccarelli, 116 Year Old Woman (her longevity secrets are charming)

• Japan’s Oldest Talk Show Host (her hairdo is quite something)

If you’re a Super Bowl fan, I hope your team prevails.

Regardless, my very best to you and your family in the New Year!

Andrea