Banh mi run
You know how school kids don’t get tired of peanut butter sandwich even if they eat it every day for lunch? Well, every time I catch the BART down to Fremont, it’s hard to pass up the chance to stop by Huong Lan Sandwich in Milpitas for a fresh crusty loaf, or many of those banh mi’s – a week’s supply for lunch.
When in California, be liberal. The store has diversity. Above is packages of bánh bèo (white) and most likely bánh bột lọc (leaf-wrapped). Many kinds of cookies, crackers, shrimp chips, and other snacks unknown to ubercmuc. Below is the real goodies: nice warm bánh bao (steamed pork bun), bánh cốm (the bright green flat thing), bánh giò (leaf-wrapped pyramid), and mini bánh chưng (the squares).
Here’s the square unwrapped and cut in four. The pork is fatty, which is not quite right, but nonetheless it’s well done. So the story goes as follows: in a competition among the princes in ancient Vietnam, the king asked all the princes to find an exceptionally good food. The youngest prince, having no money and little power, couldn’t afford fancy stuff like ginseng and who knows what in the woods, so with the advice of a god in his dream, he took sticky rice, meat, and mung bean to make a bánh, wrapped in lá dong (Phrynium placentarium), and boiled for hours. The bánh is a green square, symbolizing the square Earth, pork – the animal, and mung bean – the plants. So I suppose fatty or lean pork doesn’t really matter to the story. After all, we have some really chubby animal, not just skinny ones. Mung bean seems to be Vietnamese’s favorite legume, just like red bean is to the Japanese. Perhaps because it’s good as a paste (in both sweet and savory bánh), a powder (on xôi), whole beans (in sweet deserts like chè), and as an ice cream flavor.
Don’t let size tricks you. Half of this mini bánh chưng definitely made a filling breakfast, the whole thing would be too filling. And if you’re too full you wouldn’t be able to eat a nice crusty bánh mì for lunch… uhm hmm…
Look at all that pickled carrots and radish. It’s a balanced meal. I usually get bánh mì thịt nướng (grilled pork), but that is proven quality, so this time gà nướng (grilled chicken) is up for test. I should stress that no matter what the filling is, a banh mi can never go wrong. You can put just soy sauce and a banana in it, and it would still be yummy. Something about the crusty, flaky bread that makes everything better. Back to the chicken. Well, it’s not dark meat, and it’d take some serious brining to make white meat flavorful. So let’s put it gently, I’ll be loyal to grilled pork.
Hương Lan must be a chain, or it’s just a name sandwich-makers like. They’re everywhere in this area, but I believe every store has a different touch to it. Here they put peanuts and nước mắm in the grilled pork bánh mì. The more flavors the merrier. Address: 41 Serra Way #108, Milpitas.
Oh, the end of the story is, the youngest prince, proved to be the wisest, was chosen for the crown. 🙂
Simply wanna input on few general things, The website design and style is perfect, the subject matter is real excellent. “If a man does his best, what else is there” by George Smith Patton, Jr..
1I always was concerned in this subject and still am, regards for putting up.
2I’d have to examine with you here. Which is not one thing I usually do! I take pleasure in reading a post that may make folks think. Additionally, thanks for permitting me to comment!
3Does your blog have a contact page? I’m having problems locating it but, I’d like to send you an email. I’ve got some ideas for your blog you might be interested in hearing. Either way, great site and I look forward to seeing it grow over time.
4You should take part in a contest for among the best blogs on the web. I will advocate this website!
5Hello my family member! I wish to say that this post is awesome, great written and include approximately all significant infos. I would like to look more posts like this .
6Hello there! Do you know if they make any plugins to protect against hackers? I’m kinda paranoid about losing everything I’ve worked hard on. Any recommendations?
7It’s perfect time to make a few plans for the longer term and it’s time to be happy. I have read this put up and if I may I desire to counsel you some interesting issues or advice. Maybe you could write subsequent articles referring to this article. I wish to learn more issues about it!
8Someone necessarily assist to make severely articles I would state. That is the first time I frequented your website page and thus far? I amazed with the analysis you made to create this actual publish extraordinary. Great job!
9Very interesting details you have remarked, thankyou for posting.
10Great post however , I was wanting to know if you could write a litte more on this subject? I’d be very grateful if you could elaborate a little bit more. Thanks!
11I have been exploring for a little for any high-quality articles or blog posts on this kind of area . Exploring in Yahoo I at last stumbled upon this web site. Reading this info So i’m happy to convey that I’ve an incredibly good uncanny feeling I discovered exactly what I needed. I most certainly will make certain to do not forget this website and give it a look regularly.
12Hi there! This post couldn’t be written any better! Reading through this post reminds me of my previous room mate! He always kept talking about this. I will forward this article to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thank you for sharing!
13Some genuinely prize content on this internet site, saved to my bookmarks.
14My husband and i ended up being joyful when Emmanuel managed to round up his preliminary research using the precious recommendations he made from your own site. It’s not at all simplistic to just possibly be giving out secrets and techniques that the others might have been making money from. So we consider we have the blog owner to give thanks to for that. The specific explanations you have made, the simple web site menu, the relationships you will give support to engender – it’s got mostly superb, and it is aiding our son in addition to our family reason why this article is interesting, which is certainly extremely mandatory. Many thanks for the whole thing!
15Nice post. I study one thing tougher on different blogs everyday. It can always be stimulating to learn content material from different writers and practice slightly one thing from their store. I’d prefer to use some with the content material on my weblog whether or not you don’t mind. Natually I’ll offer you a link in your internet blog. Thanks for sharing.
16Your house is valueble for me. Thanks!…
17An impressive share, I just given this onto a colleague who was doing a little analysis on this. And he in fact bought me breakfast because I found it for him.. smile. So let me reword that: Thnx for the treat! But yeah Thnkx for spending the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about it and love reading more on this topic. If possible, as you become expertise, would you mind updating your blog with more details? It is highly helpful for me. Big thumb up for this blog post!
18I have been absent for a while, but now I remember why I used to love this website. Thanks, I’ll try and check back more often. How frequently you update your site?
19F*ckin’ remarkable things here. I’m very glad to peer your post. Thank you a lot and i am taking a look ahead to touch you. Will you please drop me a e-mail?
20Its like you read my mind! You seem to know so much about this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you could do with some pics to drive the message home a little bit, but instead of that, this is great blog. A fantastic read. I’ll certainly be back.
21Hi, Neat post. There’s an issue together with your site in internet explorer, could test this?K IE nonetheless is the market chief and a huge portion of other people will pass over your excellent writing due to this problem.
22Good info. Lucky me I reach on your website by accident, I bookmarked it.
23Hi, Neat post. There’s a problem with your web site in web explorer, may test this?K IE nonetheless is the market leader and a good part of people will miss your magnificent writing due to this problem.
24