This Month’s Film: Indochine
Cuisine: Vietnamese

Tomorrow afternoon, my son Will and I are going to watch the Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the Triple Crown horseraces, even though there will be no Triple Crown winner this year, since Giacomo’s chances were nixxed by Afleet Alex in the Preakness. But Will and I plan to go the distance and watch it anyway. After that, I’m going to go shopping and make my Vietnamese appetizers, Crab Summer Rolls with Nuoc Cham dipping sauce, Beef skewers with Lime, and Vietnamese salt pickles.

My shopping list is quite short, with only a few fresh vegetables, herbs and seafood on it, so I’m going to shop in the afternoon just before preparing them. The recipes call for rice paper wrappers and bamboo skewers, lots of fresh lime juice, nuoc mam, garlic, ginger, chili peppers, carrots, cucumbers, leafy lettuce, mint, daikon radish, fresh lump crabmeat, and some kind of tender beef. And since it’s the weekend and summer vacation too, Will is going to be here to share them with me. Too bad Rene has to work.

A Call for Chopsticks Click here for details.