gia đình (family)

My uncle who's been in town just gave me a cd containing so many incredible images of my Dad's family from the 30s to the 70s in Vietnam. Here are some of my favorites which are literally blowing my mind right now. What can I say? My family is awesome.



Family gathering, Hoa Binh, 1938
(We were like the Corleone family of Vietnam.)



My grandparents with siblings, Hanoi, circa 1940
(How editorial is this?)



My aunt + grandmother, Hanoi, circa 1950
(How precious were they?)



Song Hong dike, 1953
(How cool is that car?)



My dad and his sister, Saigon, 1956
(My dad looks like he's wearing Acne head to toe... As I grow older, I'm looking more like him in so many ways!)

Thanks

While waiting to be seated at one of our favorite restaurants in Little Saigon for brunch today, I was wondering how old my folks were when they fled Vietnam. Mom said, "31" and dad said, "39." Then my sis said, "makes me feel like I haven't done shit in my life." I agreed, "Yeah me too. We're assholes." It's amazing to think that my parents left their prominent life in Vietnam so that my sister and I could have a "prominent" life here in America.

39 years together...

Today


Refugees


Honeymoon


Wedding


First Date

I went to San Francisco and kissed a girl!

The sis told me to come visit her. So I did. Got a last minute flight and spent 36 hours in SF this past weekend. It was good to get away from that perfect town called LA; away from that perfect sun and perfect life. I wanted to feel that chilly fog roll in...

Did my usual thing that I generally do when I visit SF: see old friends, shop at the Painted Bird, eat yummy food, relax... oh and btw, I've been a Pescatarian for 8 days now! A first in my life. Since LA is so easy, I have to challenge myself in creative ways so this is a month-long self-imposed diet for me. Been eating way too much meat anyways. But I still love pork, let's not forget about that.


The view from my sister's in Twin Peaks. Never gets old...


We met up with Lily Saturday morning at the Ferry Blding. I can see why it's considered the best farmer's market in the nation. Everything looked ridiculous. But I think Borough Market in London is slightly more comprehensive.


Will met Jim & I at Dolores Park (my old hood!) with his brand new customized "sexy" bike. I don't know if it's sexy but it's a good color, nice lines. Been thinking of getting the old cruiser I found in front of my old house last year fixed and riding it around the lake and the local Asian market this fall. Isn't there a bike movement in this country?


Cuties Jason & Jim


Flew back and made it just in time for the opening of Viet Noodle Bar's expansion. Bun was there which was a treat for me. She's pretty inspirational. And well there's Viet... there is not enough words to describe how amazing he is... Just go to his restaurant please.

Wedding of the Year

My cousin got married this past weekend. We're the same age, his wife is a decade younger. This has been a long time coming. Finally, the "rare" male in our family was going to get married and (hopefully) continue the "Do" name and legacy.

Vietnamese weddings are major in my culture. I'm just gonna skip to the photo's and if you want, you can read all about it on Wikipedia. This is my interpretation of events as it has always been before, things that really have happened to me though I've always disclosed to my friends that my blog is an exaggeration of my life (sometimes it just flows better you know?) I try to make it more exciting than it is so I may believe that my life is truly how I imagine it to be. As Mr. Sedaris succinctly said in today's Sunday Times, "Memoir is the last place you’d expect to find the truth." If anything, this blog is fun to do? Has my self-importance gone to extreme delusions of grandeur? Why must I blog?


Friday traffic sucks (as always) so I barely made it to my fitting in Little Saigon for my two áo dàis I got made especially for the wedding. Then I was told that we would be going to Hong An bò 7 món for dinner with the rest of our 40 or so close family members in town for the wedding. Great. Another 7 courses of beef. That would be my 6th time this year! That's once a month, 42 courses of beef! And we're definitely not taking in account the infinite number of other red meat meals I've already devoured this year. I mean 7 courses of beef is for truly special occasions, reserved for like maybe once or twice a year, not 6 in less than the first half of the year! I feel insanely bloated. Wii Fit is not gonna be happy with me tonight. Thank God I'm going on this vegan lunch meal plan I have starting this Monday where veginout.com is going to deliver "yummy" meals weekly. See, my life is not all about preaching the deliciousness of carnivores. Gluten and seitan can be tasty too you know... I really hope I don't have to eat my words about this...


My cousin and his bride, a total sweetheart.


My sis and Co Lien carrying the roses in the procession.


The bride and her mom, who traveled all the way from Vietnam to take part in the ceremony. She was a must!





Besides the procession, part of the ancestor ceremony includes all the familial introductions, jewelry exchanges by both moms and many many envelopes...




Doesn't my cousin, the groom, look like the Vietnamese Peter Sellers?


Of course there was a pig! And of course, I requested the best part, the cheeks! It was beyond tasty. Yum yum piggy's bum...


Not only was I roped into seating the arrived guests to their tables, I was also the "filler" for those who arrived solo... It's very very bad luck to have 3 in a photo so I was the lucky fourth in these photo ops. A lot of them were older, usually my kind of thing but I've given that up now... Only my generation from now on...

My Uncle Bob toasting the bride and groom. Lots of speeches that night. All of them good too, especially the groom's! Who knew he could be so profound. Yes! Family is "BIG."


The night was filled with amazing singers with amazing dresses belting it all out all night long! Carole Kim was a highlight for me though the guitarist's tone was a bit too screechingly loud for my taste but otherwise, top rate entertainment!

***
And if you hadn't already guessed, I purposefully had my dresses made in the colors yellow and purple. Yes, Laker colors. I'm a fan, always have been even through Kobe's questionable years... I'm wearing my Kobe Sunday jersey best today. I just gotta believe!

I am fit.

I just spent the last two hours playing wii fit which arrived on my doorstep when I got home from my yoga class tonight (8 days too late btw). My wii fit age is 31! That's three years younger than my actual age!!! Woo hoo! Yes! Initial first day results: I am a Yoga Master already, the hula hoop almost made me sweat, running was a bore and I'm quite bad at the tightrope walk. Must focus harder... apparently, wii fit is geared towards the non-gamer female. That would be me.

Read about the genius behind my new favorite hobby here.


I first tried it a few weeks ago at my cousins in London. The 3-yr old was already a pro. Time for me to catch up.

Mom's Year

This year is going to be the Year of the Rat. I visited the folks this past weekend in Little Saigon to check out the Tết festivities. The market was already congested with local and visiting Vietnamese families (a lot of my relatives are coming into town starting this weekend and there'll be a new addition to the family(!), I'll explain in another post). There was an air of excitement, it was absolutely festive. Tết is a time of excess. I love this time of year. It gets super busy the week before Tết. People are stacking up on food, fruit, candy, flowers, trinkets and firecrackers in anticipation for the holiday.

I remember as a child, I didn't have to go to school on Tết. It was my parents' idea. So cool. And I couldn't wait to get those red envelopes. No school and you are rewarded with money? WTF? That's like the ultimate as a kid. Total dream. These days, it's the other way around now that I'm an "adult." Now I have to save up months in advance to give to the little kiddies. They expect a lot these days.

Vietnamese take great care to start the New Year out just right which means wearing new clothes, having heaps of food at home, getting rid of old debts, ill feelings, etc... My mom said I can't even clean as that's bad luck; I'll be sweeping out any good luck. This will be very hard for me to do since I love to clean. It's a compulsion of mine. Luckily, I just cleaned my place so it'll be good until after Tet. Goodness.

The flower market gets bigger with each year. There's even going to be parade on Bolsa Avenue this New Year! Little Saigon is all you need during this time of the year. It's even better than being in Vietnam. I was gorging on everything; the food, incense, the flowers, the treats, the colors, the culture, the tradition. I love it so.




Yum yum rambutan. Yum yum muffin top.


Yum yum banh beo. The best may be found at Quan Hy.


Updated, these one dimensional paper clothes have gotten more stylish and modern; cool frames, mobile phones, flashy trainers... People burn these paper clothes as an offering to the dead so they too can celebrate with new duds for the New Year.


My family is going to attend this big cultural event NYE and my mom suggested I wear an áo dài. I'm down with that but really can't fit in any of my old ones so I was thinking of getting a new dress. Somehow I really can't really see myself wearing any one of these on the mannequins. I might have to try to lose weight so I can squeeze into an old one from like a decade ago. These are a bit hideous no? Could I rock it?



Went in for a spontaneous haircut. Told the lady to just chop it all off. Who cares. It'll grow back. Out with the old, in with the new.

Tunes I've been digging this past month.
1. Destroyer's Trouble in Dreams (OMFG, it's awesome. MY FAVORITE)
2. The Magnetic Fields' Distortion (I love Steven Merritt, so much beauty can be found through the noise.)
3. The Explorers Club's Freedom Wind (This is as pure pop as it gets and I love me some good pop music.)
4. Vampire Weekend, s/t (they're ready for grad school now.)

Numbing shots

I got some cosmetic dental work done today. My second cousin who acts as my dentist recommended I get this done cuz' a happy smile is a happy face (and life) right? Though not a fan of needles, I asked her to make sure the shots were in long enough so that I wouldn't feel any pain whatsoever during the procedure. She would even numb my tongue she offered. Yes please, numb me...

The anaesthesia was supposed to wear off in a couple of hours. So I thought it was safe enough to go have a quick bite with my parents since I was already in Little Saigon. We went to get some Northern Vietnamese food but I quickly realized that I couldn't eat what I had been wanting all day. What I wanted was too solid and still being a dribbling idiot, there was no way I could safely swallow something like that. Seriously, I could scarcely talk (I can barely move my mouth right now as I'm composing this post many hours later; that's why my blog is my only friend tonight).

During dinner, my mom kept asking if I had gotten a root canal and to my irritation, I snapped saying that "we're not in Vietnam anymore, you get shots for little things here, it's no big deal. And do you really thing I would get a root canal after you spent so much money on braces, etc. when I was a child? Geez, I wouldn't dare waste such a thing." After dinner, she asked again if I had gotten a root canal. I give up...

So I ended getting chicken pho with the works... Not knowing if I was chewing properly or not, I mostly stuck to the broth and the youtiao. I love dipping it in the broth and then eating it half soggy. One of the best feelings...

The works for me would include small hen eggs (more like premature yolk, and unfertilized), beef balls, bull pudendum (please, no lame dick jokes here), liver and gizzards, and oh yeah,. chicken skin. It all sounds delicious right? It is...

And on a random note, I just read this interesting article in the NY Times. Click here to read it. The last word has a nice tone to it...

The Year of the Golden Pig

This is a special year. It's just not the year of the pig but it's THE Year of the Golden Pig according to the Chinese Zodiac. Depending on who you talk to, this only happens every 600 or 60 years (why isn't this definitive?) Babies born this year will experience a prosperous and wealthy life, a golden life. Korea and China are anticipating an increase in birth rate this year. Lucky for my cousin and my two girlfriends who are expecting this Spring!

On the first day of Tet (Lunar New Year), we met the family at the Vietnam Quan Am Temple, the spiritual center of Little Saigon.

Husband honoring my ancestors.

Good Luck, Good Health, Good Prosperity
The "li xi" blessing from the head monk of the temple.

This probably looks rather flippant as the oranges were a blessed gift from the monk but we were just innocently posing for the camera!

The Fortune Sticks game found at most Buddhist temples. Husband was watching the girl next to him so that he could see what to do next. You have numbered sticks in the container, you shake it as you concentrate on a prayer. Then one stick will hopefully jump out onto the ground. You read your number and then go pick up your fortune with the corresponding number. Unfortunately, for Husband, his number was unlucky 13 and his fortune was quite unfortunate!

Not believing that he did it right the first time, Husband went back for a second try. At first, his sticks flew all over the place but he did managed to get them back in. The result? He got number 13 again! Not satisfied with the outcome, once again, he went back for a third try and ended up with number 32 which was as unlucky as 13! What to do? Was this a sign? He said he shouldn't have gone behind Christianity and played with voodoo!

After Temple, we headed to the Tet Festival.
Dried squid is a common Vietnamese carnival snack. I pretty much like everything Vietnamese and am totally open to trying anything and everything but shit, this squid was too intense for my palette. It stank.

A giant Checkers game

A traditional Vietnamese wedding took place at the festival! Such exhibitionists! But it was entertaining to see...

Was glad to see Vietnamese emo/goth/punk kids keeping it real and not totally succumbing to the Forever 21 & Hollister look that was prevalent at the festival.

Yes... I am a winner, every single time...

The two best things in the world... Caramel apple & Viet beauties.

This is the best cake in the world. It's not really a cake in the traditional sense but I don't know what else to call it. This is it, there's nothing else like it anywhere; three different layers of jello topped with a creamy layer of flan. Not too sweet but there's caramel sauce if you need it like me. I LOVE flan and jello and I can't believe someone ingeniously thought of combining these two together... and do they go together oh... so... perfectly... This is a relatively new creation and you can only get it at one special place in Little Saigon...

After dinner at my Uncle's, the "kids" did the customary "Tet" thing and played "bau cua ca cop," a gambling game using three dice. It's similar to the English Crown and Anchor dice game. We all really got into it. I'm not into gambling but once I started, I almost couldn't stop... but i did...

Chuc Mung Nam Moi!