A Trip To Baltimore and a Vietnamese Feast

February 18, 2010

A Trip To Baltimore and a Vietnamese Feast

Last Sunday, February 14th, I traveled to Baltimore, Maryland with my good friend, Jane Heller and Jane's husband, Steve Gerard. We had a leisurely early morning train ride aboard the Amtrak Acela. The reason for the trip was to attend a very special Vietnamese luncheon, celebrating Tet, the Lunar New Year. This year is The Year of the Tiger, symbolizing strength. This holiday is regarded as the most important cultural holiday among Chinese, Vietnamese, and other Asian nations. Our hosts for this delicious lunch were Mr. and Mrs. Phung Doan, originally from Vietnam, now living and working in the United States. Their daughter, Trin, who also joined us, works at Bank of America with Jane in private banking. It was a pleasure meeting this family including sons, Thinh and Trung. I was very impressed with the traditional foods that Mrs. Doan artfully prepared, including goi cuon - shrimp spring rolls and banh chung - rice cakes wrapped in banana leaves and stuffed with mung beans and pork.

: Here is Steve Gerard on the Acela train from Penn Station, New York, to Baltimore.

: This is Jane Heller, Steve’s wife, also on the train. We met at 7:15 Sunday morning to travel together to Baltimore for a Vietnamese feast.

: The train car was all ours. It was Valentine’s day and the Chinese New Year’s Day and the day before President’s Day – so there were no commuters.

: Here I am on the Acela, ready for an adventure.

: The views from the train were gorgeous.

: The vistas across the rivers and bays were lovely.

: We passed through a lot of countryside – farms and cities.

: The Chesapeake Bay is vast.

: There was a lot of snow and ice on the water and on land – remnants of the blizzard of 2010, which actually was the worst snowfall in the area in eighty years.

: Rooftops were still laden with snow.

: Snowbanks were high everywhere.

: Jane and Steve leaving the train after a two hour and sixteen minute trip from NYC – a very pleasant and easy way to travel.

: Especially if you go this class with excellent and friendly service

: John was our porter – he was great!

: The Baltimore station is small but organized.

: The escalator was working!

: The waiting area is like out of a different time.

: The ceiling of the old terminal is lofty with gorgeous stained glass.

: The building was beautifully constructed early in the 1900’s.

: This is where we were.

: We were greeted with Vietnamese snacks and tea – here are candied ginger, lotus nuts, and mung bean cakes.

: Our hostess for the day was Trieu Doan – she made all the delicious dishes – I brought her eggs from my hens.

: Two sticky rice cakes – banh chung – wrapped in perfectly constructed squares of banana leaves. The filling is sticky rice, pork, mung beans, shallots, salt and pepper. The wrapped cakes are cooked for eight to ten hours.

: A New Year’s fruit basket

: Sitting with Jane, Trieu Doan, and Steve in the Doan home.

: With Mrs. Doan and her daughter, Trin Jermyn

: The New Year’s decorations were colorful and pretty – Mrs. Doan forced the quince blossoms.

: There were many family photos.

: The furniture was all made in Asia.

: In the kitchen there was so much food – many delicious dishes created by Mrs. Doan.

: This is a two part tea pot – two teas can be brewed at once.

: This is certainly a very pretty pot.

: When I go to Vietnam, I will get myself a pot like this one.

: These spring rolls – goi cuon – were very good and served with homemade peanut sauce. The wrappers were homemade – the filling traditional, halved shrimp, coriander, rice noodles, pork, and Thai basil.

: The salad was my favorite of all the dishes – goi is composed of very finely julienned vegetables – carrots, daikon, kohlrabi, shrimp, cilantro, fried shallots, chopped peanuts, lime, and fish sauce – nuoc mam

: The rolls were very tender – every bite was tasty and the peanut sauce was yummy.

: The fried rolls, called cha gio, were small and very, very delicious. The rice wrapper encloses a filling of pork, shrimp, vermicelli, and pungent tree ear mushrooms.

: Mrs. Doan’s rolls are very delectable and just the right size – and not greasy at all.

: The banh chung when cut looks like this. I really liked the flavors and we ate the cake with homemade pickled vegetables.

: The vegetables are carrots, radish, and kohlrabi.

: A closeup photo of the vegetable salad – goi

: This is carmelized catfish made in a clay pot and served over white jasmine rice.

: Steve Gerard’s favorite dish – com hen – sauteed clams, onion, ginger, pepper, rau ram, peanuts, and fried shallots

: There were rice and sesame puffs to eat with the clams.

: These are very much like Mexican tamales – rice flour paste and spicy pork filling.

: Mrs. Doan cooking rice noodles for pho – a traditional Vietnamese soup

: The rice flour balls, coated in sesame seeds, with a center of golden soy bean paste were very good.

: The raw bef was put atop the rice noodles – cooked chicken was then added with cilantro and hot chicken broth, which cooked the beef.

: The green leaves are a member of the morning glory family – they have a very good, strong fresh flavor. The broth is chicken, flavored with cilantro, star anise, green onions, and shallots.