Chuc Mung Nam Moi!!! Happy Lunar New Year! Vietnamese New Year is also known as Tết. It is the year of the Tiger.

Tết is the most important and popular holiday and festival in Vietnam. It is based on the Lunar calendar and takes place from the first day of the first month of the Lunar calendar (usually land between late January or early February) until the third day. This year Tết is happening on Valentine's Day...

Many Vietnamese prepare for Tết by cooking special holiday foods and cleaning the house. There are a lot of customs practiced during Tết, like visiting a person's house on the first day of the new year (xông nhà), ancestral worshipping, wishing New Year's greetings, giving lucky money in a red envelope to children, and opening a shop.

You can read more about the Tết at the following link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tet.  

As for me, Tết is a great time to eat all my favorite goodies such as banh trung, water melon, xoi (sweet flavored rice), etc... YUMMM!!!  I like to crack open the red-colored water melon seeds and eat the insides. Yes, sirree bob, there is an art to opening a water melon seed with your teeth without chipping your teeth first. I mastered cracking the seed and opening the skin using only one hand. I can go on and on...

Tết is one of my favorite Vietnamese holidays of the year. In honor of Tết, I am having my cookbook, A Vietnamese Kitchen, (retail at $24.95) available to everyone at $14.95 (40% discount). Please click on http://haroda.com/store/index.html to place your order. Hurry, limited time only -- Make it a special gift to someone you love for Valentines and/or the New Year!

Many best wishes for a prosperous NEW YEAR - Year of the Tiger!!! =)

Pho Queen
Have fun eating healthy.

Thanks to Kris Woodson and the Orange County Public Library, a summer roll demonstration at Orange County Public Library on December 5, 2009 was a success: http://www.ocls.info/Programs/Articles/Newsletter/09December/VietnameseSummerRolls.asp
Thank you all who participated...

I had a wonderful time sharing my passion for Vietnamese food and culture with everyone.
I introduced Pho Queen's Magic Monkey Sauce for summer rolls during our demonstration. It was well received.
 
Check it out --> Magic Monkey Sauce

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Do you ever look up into the sky on a clear full moonlit night and wonder "how can I celebrate and share such a beautiful night with everyone I love?"

Have no fear, Pho Queen is here! There is a Vietnamese holiday that you can participate and share with your love ones under the full moon. Try it, you might like it…

Every mid autumn, near the autumn equinox and under a full moon, Vietnamese people celebrate Tet Trung Thu with their children. It is a fun Vietnamese Holiday that kids enjoy. Tet Trung Thu is also known as The Moon Festival or Mid Autumn Festival. The date changes every year. The festival occurs on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. The time frame for the western calendar is usually between mid September to early October. For this year, Tet Trung Thu landed on October 3, 2009. This festival is often celebrated in Vietnamese community church or Vietnamese buddhist temples. 

Tet Trung Thu is especially geared toward children. Traditionally, the Vietnamese farmers celebrate the end of the long and hard harvest season. They often work from dawn to dusk during harvest season. The children rarely have quality time with their parents. Tet Trung Thu initiates family quality time. This is when the parents, grandparents, cousins, etc come together and celebrate the union of their family under the silvery full moon.

I remember when I was a little itty bitty girl in Vietnam. A few weeks before Tet Trung Thu, my parents and I built and decorated an animal shape lantern together. By dusk of Tet Trung Thu, a single line of neighborhood children paraded past my house. I joined them with my animal lantern in hand. We marched proudly through our neighborhood and sang our favorite Tet Trung Thu song. What a fun time to remember!

I was a bad momma this year and forgot to celebrate Tet Trung Thu with my children. However, we got a chance to enjoy the moon cakes over several days. My children did not like the taste of moon cake as much as I did. Goody, all for me...

The moon cake is a pastry that is very sweet and decadent. I think it is delicious. Moon cakes come in many flavors such as lotus seed, mung beans, and etc... The center of the cake is usually stuffed with one or two salty egg yolk(s). The salty egg yolk is my favorite. I enjoy savoring the lotus seed flavored moon cake while sipping hot tea.

I found a neat website that shared activities and many more fun trivia about Tet Trung Thu, http://www.adoptvietnam.org/vietnamese/celebrations-autumn.htm.

Please feel free to send feedback on your experience with Tet Trung Thu and/or any special holiday that you treasure with your family.

Have fun eating Healthy,

Pho Queen

Other than the passion in YUMMY Vietnamese food, Pho Queen seeks out energetic adventures and fun in the great outdoor...  

The Ultimate challenge mud run http://www.usmcmudrun.org/ with Team Mud Biscuit.

We did a mud run and survived (9/19/09) Saturday in S.C. at a Marine base - Toby, Len, Chris & Pho Queen - Team Mud Biscuit.

We ran through 4 miles of 30 obstacles such as climbing over 10 foot wall, swinging ropes, climbing up hills after hills, jumping large concrete pipes, swimming in trench of muddy water, and much more…

Team Mud Biscuit rocked! We came in 299 out 1727 teams overall and 77th out of 715 teams with mixed gender. Our time was 57:38 on an average pace of 13:44/mile.  Not too bad for the first timer on the course. 

Does that sound fun or what? Yes, we paid to get dirty!!! It is all to a good cause – the Marine foundation…

For more photos check out facebook link -- click here.