Feed

Phở on Lò Đúc at 6am, before the street wakes up. My grandfather ate at this stall, my father ate at this stall, and the woman running it still will not tell anyone what is in the broth.

#HàNội#phở

Phước Lộc Thọ at 7am on a Sunday: the aunties have already claimed every table in the food court and the bánh cuốn line is out the door. This is the most alive Little Saigon ever feels.

#LittleSaigon#Westminster

Phở Hà Nội on Story Rd, five stars. The broth is clear the way northern phở should be and there is no hoisin bottle on the table, which is the correct number of hoisin bottles. Get the tái nạm with extra hành trần.

#phở#SanJose

To everyone abroad asking why their cà phê sữa đá never tastes right: it is the robusta, not the technique. Buy Vietnamese beans. Use a phin. Wait the four minutes. That is the whole secret and I am tired of pretending otherwise.

#càphê#SàiGòn

Twenty years after Katrina, Mary Queen of Vietnam still rings its bell at 6am and the boats still go out. Village de l’Est isn’t going anywhere.

#NOLA#VillageDeLEst

Saturday heritage class: kinship pronouns. One kid asked why he can’t just say “you” to his grandma. Forty minutes later we were drawing a family tree with cô, chú, dì, cậu and bác on the whiteboard and nobody wanted to leave.

#TiếngViệt#heritage

Selling: barely used Cuckoo 10-cup rice cooker. $60, Bellaire pickup. Yes, it still sings.

#marketplace#Houston

Shot 200 frames on Bolsa today. The old hand-painted signage is disappearing one strip mall at a time. Documenting it before it’s gone, one storefront per day.

#LittleSaigon#photography

Tết flower market on Nguyễn Huệ opens next week. If you are flying in, come the first night, before the crowds and while the mai are still perfect.

#Tết#SàiGòn

Bilingual parents: at what age did your kids start mixing languages? Mine just said “con muốn more” and I don’t know whether to be proud or worried.

#parenting#bilingual

The story of how my dad opened a phở shop with $300 and a borrowed pot is up in the Culture board. Bring tissues, and then go eat somewhere family-owned.

#family#LittleSaigon

Anyone here moved back after growing up abroad? My cousin from Melbourne is doing it in March and wants to know what actually catches people out. Not the visa stuff, the daily life stuff.

#moveback#HàNội

Baton Rouge friends: which parish is doing the biggest Tết this year? Trying to plan a road trip and I need to know where the lion dance is.

#BatonRouge#Tết

Hong Kong City Mall parking lot at Tết. If you know, you know. If you don’t, arrive before 9 or accept your fate.

#Houston#Tết