Green Chopsticks

[yuiyoshida]

We went out to South El Monte the other day and stopped in for lunch at Pho Minh, a Vietnamese noodle joint recommended by local foodies for its wonderful Pho - the classic Vietnamese beef noodle soup.

I noticed among the usual table fixtures - the rack of soup spoons and little dishes, the tray of bottled sauces and condiments - that there were two kinds of chopsticks offered. There were the familiar paper packets holding disposable wooden chopsticks. And there were pairs of bright green plastic reusable chopsticks

We ordered. I had my usual - I like Pho Tai, soup with rare beef. Before the soup we had an order of cha gio, or fried egg rolls. Vietnamese egg rolls are eaten by wrapping them in a leaf of lettuce with a slice of cucumber and pickled carrot or daikon, and dunking them into a sweet/sour watery dipping sauce.


When the soup came, it was accompanied by a platter piled high with fresh herbs, bean sprouts, quartered limes and sliced jalapenos. To eat Pho, diners typically garnish the soup to their taste with all these things, and use chopsticks to slurp up the noodles and push morsels into the spoon along with the broth.

I first learned how to use chopsticks when I was about eight years old. My dad had a favorite restaurant in Chicago's Chinatown, and he would bring us all there for dinner, the six of us seated around a large round table with a lazy-susan turntable in the middle. The chopsticks laid at each place were long and squared at the ends, made of yellow bamboo.

continues
http://doves2day.blogspot.com/2009/11/green-chopsticks.html

[democratisphere]

1. Food looks and sounds great!

Like the green chopsticks; one of my favorite tools for eating food!

[akraven]

2. I adore Pho. We are so lucky way up here to have

immigrants from all over (especially during/after Viet Nam). I learned to use chopsticks at about 14 on an adventure - don't ask - and we nutso kids found a great restaurant in between Fairbanks and North Pole (yes, it's real). They're still here 50 years later. Totally great folks and taught us school-skipping kids to use chopsticks, which made the experience that much better.

Great post yuiyoshida! Thanks for the memory!! (Oh, and I used the veggies and the lime....)

[yuiyoshida]

3. This got me started...

[akraven]

4. That is PRECIOUS!!!!

I got my daughter started at about 4 - it was a great time, lots of giggles! She still loves pho, and has taught my granddaughters, if I'd known about these, they'd have gotten them for gifts!

[fierywoman]

5. I learned to use chopsticks from the Taiwanese 2nd violinist in my

graduate string quartet, Ginette Chang. I think of her often when I use chopsticks.