Vietnamese Food and The End of Summer

Thursday night we had a feast of Vietnamese food. Our small town is home to a Vietnamese college and every year they host a celebration called "Marian Days." Marian Days is an American Roman Catholic celebration that draws approximately 60,000 people from all other the U.S. and Vietnam (quite a number for our small city of 14,000). During this weekend of celebration, they have several food tents and markets set up for the public to eat and shop in. While I have lived here my entire life, I have not been to Marian days for probably twenty years. My family decided to venture out this weekend and try the food. This is what we had:

Pho - It was very good! The soup was full of herbs: basil, cilantro and mint. There were also sprouts, scallions, jalapenos, rice noodles and beef. It was finished off with a squeeze of fresh lime juice over the top. The soup was very honest and full of flavor.

Spring Rolls - Every food tent had some form of spring roll. These were a simple roll of rice, shrimp, beef and lettuce. The dipping sauce was very different and unlike anything I had tasted before.

Rambutan - I tried this fruit for the first time in Costa Rica, ten years ago. I spotted the Rambutan at their market and immediately recognized them as the same fruit. To eat, you simply peel off the exterior to expose the fruit inside. I think they are similar to a white grape in taste/texture.

Boba Tea - For dessert, we tried Boba tea.  I didn't get a picture of the drink, but they look like a typical fruit smoothie with Boba beads in the bottom of the cup. The Boba is a tapioca like bead that has a very chewy texture. I wasn't fond of the texture of the Boba, but the smoothie tasted good!

All in all, it was a fun experience. We plan to make this a yearly tradition instead of once every 20 or so years. It's funny how we often don't take advantage of the events that go on in our own hometown. It's easy to say, "there's nothing to do here!" When really, if you get involved, there's plenty to do--it just depends if you really want to look for things to do. I have been guilty of this many times.

Summer comes to an end...

This is our last summer weekend--my husband will be back to school next week. Not sure if I'm ready for summer to end (it feels like it just started).  If you are starting back to school next week, enjoy your last weekend of freedom!

*In an effort to share more content (not just posts), I plan share tidbits of my life as I see fit (instead of a "Five on Friday" post like I was doing). My goal is to do at least one main post once a month on personal life in addition to my recipe posts.