kimmie nguyen:

with my own garden shears

Preparing flowers in the dirt, in my fancy dress no less. Now that's dedication. Look ma, I'm a real florist. You can't tell by the picture but I really was super stressed. =) And no, the flowers were not from Walgreens.

Warm & Chill: Out the Door

via www.dailycandy.com

I have a slight aversion to expensive Vietnamese food. It just doesn't cost that much to make really great Vietnamese dishes. The ingredients are simple, fresh and rarely difficult to find. While I love the decor at Le Colonial or Slanted Door, I just can't swallow throwing down that much money even for the ambiance. But if I had to choose, the Slanted Door wins hands down. Out the Door is the sister, cafe style version of Slanted Door and a great affordable option for lunch or dinner. Tomorrow the Bush Street location is opening for breakfast. Yay, for a new brunch option with the girlfriends. Some favorite lunch items:

• Salt & Pepper five spice fried chicken wings with jalepeno, garlic and green onion
• Vietnamese crepe with shrimp, pork, bean sprouts, tumeric and fish sauce
• Green papaya salad with tofu, pickled carrots, rau ram and roasted peanuts
• Saigon roast pork sandwich with fresh cilantro, pickled carrots and cucumber
• Carmelized prawns with yellow onion, garlic and roasted chili paste

Address: 2232 Bush St @ Fillmore St San Francisco, CA 94115; Phone: 415.923.9575

In my next life, I'd like to be a tree

Visited the parents this past weekend and lasted just under 17hrs before I bolted back home and downed two bottles of wine. A few more trips like this and I'll be ready for Christmas, where I'll be forced to watch Vietnamese music videos and listen to lectures about how I'm living a sinful life. Not sure which part put me over the top this time but it was likely a combination of being forced to sleep on flannel sheets in South Bay heat and then being woken up by mother chanting around the living room shrines.

So there we were, driving to the local bakery on Saturday morning with temperatures quickly moving into the 80s:

me: Um, mom.. Can we turn on the A/C? It's so hot back here.

[Silence]

[Back windows slowly move down]

mom: You must learn simple way. Simple like Buddha. Why you want so much thing? The Buddha not like this. He say, more you ask, more suffer in next life.

me: But I don't understand how that counts when...

mom: Ehem, I no feeneesh. You no respect for thing I teach to you. Mommy tell you..in hell, your tongue be cut. This is the way of Buddha. He say this life the third circle. Last time we can be good and in next life, three circle of life began again. If you do good now, you will not be wild animal in next life. You will be closer to Buddha.

me: Mooooommmmm, this seriously cannot count as an extravagant request if you turn on the A/C in the car?? I'm not asking you to INSTALL A/C, it's already available. In your car no less!

mom: You like argue wit me. Dat why you no husband.

me: What??

mom's boyfriend: Let child be. Maybe she want to be wild animal, next life.

[Silence]

[Mom glares at boyfriend. Boyfriend smiles sheepishly. I wipe sweat off my face]