Asian Food Week
No, seriously, it has been. Thursday night I went for Vietnamese with my friend T. before we went on our annual clothes-shopping spree for him. (He likes an impartial eye, and doesn’t want to bring his mom. I don’t blame him, he’s nearly 30.) He’d never had Vietnamese before, and was nursing a wicked head cold, so I figured soup would be just the thing. We hit Saigon in the Byward Market and got there just before the dinner rush, meaning we got a nice table and some peace and quiet, and quick service. They’ve done some redecorating since I was last there, and it looks cozier and, well, Asian, now, with wood stairs and beams and less industrial style lighting and mirrored walls. I like it.
We shared an order of spring rolls, because why not, and they’re quite good there – a touch greasy, but nice and crisp and very hot. Three good sized rolls were plenty for sharing. For our main, we both ended up ordering the Saigon-style sweet and sour soup, mine with shrimp, his with chicken. I call it the soup of pain because they forget to mention the “hot” part in the title, but it comes swimming with dots of hot sauce on top. Then they bring you MORE hot sauce. Just in case. Yeesh. But I suffer gladly because it’s just so goddamned good – a truly sweet-sour broth, clear and perfectly balanced, with three huge, crisp, sweet shrimp, chunks of pineapple and fresh tomato, slivers of crisp celery, and plenty of rice vermicelli. Utterly divine, and cleared both our heads quite nicely (I sniffled through my soup, and frantically reapplied lip balm until my lips finally went numb. Divine. Fortified us well through a trip to Old Navy and Sears, until we stopped for smoothies before heading home.
The following night, Chris offered to bring home sushi so I wouldn’t have to cook on a Friday night, which was awesome, except that I cooked anyway, because I wanted soup too. Nigella Lawson’s salmon in ginger-shiitake broth, to be specific. It’s utterly simple and clean and refreshing, with chunks of buttery salmon that you poach right in the broth (well, she says to steam them in a steamer above the broth, but really, I’m not that fussy. Immersion works great) along with bok choy and mushrooms and lemongrass and fish sauce. Great with sushi, by the way. Chris got California and shrimp tempura rolls; I got hamachi and maguro nigiri and a Cali roll. Later we went and got a movie and ate Terra root vegetable chips and I had a Pomegranate martini. It was a good night on the couch.
Then, tonight, you’d think I would be over the Asian food, but I spent all day cleaning the kitchen top to bottom and was utterly bloody sick of the place, so Chris suggested we hit Chinatown for cheap dinner. Since he missed out on the Vietnamese on Thursday, we went to Vietnam Palace and got spring rolls (yay, Asian junk food!) and some noodle dishes. I had vermicelli with grilled prawns on top, with the fresh raw veggies and herbs and the vinegary sauce that you mix in yourself. Chris had a rice noodle stir-fry with pork and shrimp and veggies. Both were awesome – mine was like a noodle salad, almost, while his had a chop suey vibe to it. A gin and tonic proved to be just the thing to drink with vermicelli and spring rolls. I’ve had my fix – this week, nothing but Italian food. Or something. We’ll see. I just baked my grandma a spinach and three-cheese lasagna that smells incredible.
Posted on April 9, 2006 at 9:22:15 PM by thisdessertlife (
We shared an order of spring rolls, because why not, and they’re quite good there – a touch greasy, but nice and crisp and very hot. Three good sized rolls were plenty for sharing. For our main, we both ended up ordering the Saigon-style sweet and sour soup, mine with shrimp, his with chicken. I call it the soup of pain because they forget to mention the “hot” part in the title, but it comes swimming with dots of hot sauce on top. Then they bring you MORE hot sauce. Just in case. Yeesh. But I suffer gladly because it’s just so goddamned good – a truly sweet-sour broth, clear and perfectly balanced, with three huge, crisp, sweet shrimp, chunks of pineapple and fresh tomato, slivers of crisp celery, and plenty of rice vermicelli. Utterly divine, and cleared both our heads quite nicely (I sniffled through my soup, and frantically reapplied lip balm until my lips finally went numb. Divine. Fortified us well through a trip to Old Navy and Sears, until we stopped for smoothies before heading home.
The following night, Chris offered to bring home sushi so I wouldn’t have to cook on a Friday night, which was awesome, except that I cooked anyway, because I wanted soup too. Nigella Lawson’s salmon in ginger-shiitake broth, to be specific. It’s utterly simple and clean and refreshing, with chunks of buttery salmon that you poach right in the broth (well, she says to steam them in a steamer above the broth, but really, I’m not that fussy. Immersion works great) along with bok choy and mushrooms and lemongrass and fish sauce. Great with sushi, by the way. Chris got California and shrimp tempura rolls; I got hamachi and maguro nigiri and a Cali roll. Later we went and got a movie and ate Terra root vegetable chips and I had a Pomegranate martini. It was a good night on the couch.
Then, tonight, you’d think I would be over the Asian food, but I spent all day cleaning the kitchen top to bottom and was utterly bloody sick of the place, so Chris suggested we hit Chinatown for cheap dinner. Since he missed out on the Vietnamese on Thursday, we went to Vietnam Palace and got spring rolls (yay, Asian junk food!) and some noodle dishes. I had vermicelli with grilled prawns on top, with the fresh raw veggies and herbs and the vinegary sauce that you mix in yourself. Chris had a rice noodle stir-fry with pork and shrimp and veggies. Both were awesome – mine was like a noodle salad, almost, while his had a chop suey vibe to it. A gin and tonic proved to be just the thing to drink with vermicelli and spring rolls. I’ve had my fix – this week, nothing but Italian food. Or something. We’ll see. I just baked my grandma a spinach and three-cheese lasagna that smells incredible.
Posted on April 9, 2006 at 9:22:15 PM by thisdessertlife (
