Banh Khoai

I had banh khoai, a variation on banh xe, the Vietnamese crepe, for breakfast this morning. Think of banh khoai as the Vietnamese taco. According to Wikipedia, this meal is described as "made out of rice flour with tumeric, shrimps with shelves on, slivers of fatty pork , sliced onions, and sometimes button mushrooms, fried in one or two teaspoons of oil, usually coconut oil, which is the most popular oil used in Viet Nam. It is eaten with lettuce and various local herbs and dipped in Nước chấm or sweet fermented peanut butter sauce. Rice papers are sometimes used as wrappers to contain banh xeo and the accompanying vegetables." My mom says that banh khoai is a staple of Hue and that I had to try it. I've never had this dish before, and now I'm hooked.

I'm back in Saigon now. I swear, 10 days is not enough for Vietnam. We pretty much lost one full day traveling back and forth between Hue and Saigon. My mom and I have already made plans to return next year, but we would definitely stay more than 10 days. While at the airport earlier, my mom had a paranoid attack. She and I were looking at old photos of her back in the day, and she reminisced about the time an American C.I.A. agent in Vietnam courted her before she met my father. My mom cheerfully told me the story of how this American had a little dog whom my mom fell in love with. All of a sudden, in mid story, my mom abruptly stopped talking. She looked into my eyes and whispered, "I can't talk anymore. I'm afraid they may take me away." I assured her that everything was fine, but she still clamored up. It wasn't until after we boarded the plane that she calmed down. She then explained to me that she still fears talking about subjects like this in public, because 35 years ago, she could have been arrested. I assured her that things are different now, but she still chose to drop the subject. I obliged.