Vietnamese Spring Rolls

It's been incredibly muggy in Philly lately, and I really can't get myself to eat much in the heat. However, in times like these, there is always one meal that I know I can always fall back on - Vietnamese spring rolls! Whoever thought of the concept of rice paper rolls is seriously a genius. These things are so convenient; they last forever dried in your cupboard, and the moment you want to eat them, you just dip them in water and turn them into a clear, versatile Asian tortilla. Props to you, ancient smart Vietnamese entrepreneur!

So back to my epic supermarket adventures. This past Sunday, I got my friend to drive me once again to the local H-mart Korean grocery store. It was a monstrosity of a place (as are most Korean supermarkets), and I almost couldn't control myself as I wandered in awe around the aisles. I don't think I've seen anything so grand in the way of supermarkets since I left the H-mart in San Diego more than a year ago. As you may have guessed, I had a lot of fun in there.

I've made Viet spring rolls for this blog before, but that was a while ago, and I think my photography has improved a bit since then. It's interesting to compare old blog posts with new ones and see the differences that have accumulated over time.

Vietnamese Cold Noodles (Bún)

Today was a pretty food-heavy day. My friend Priscilla came over to cook with me and ended up staying for dinner as well. I'll post up some future posts about the stuff we made...but dinner consisted of Vietnamese bún, or cold rice vermicelli tossed with an assortment of veggies and herbs and meat (in this case, Mom's lemongrass pork chops), all drizzled with nuoc cham dipping sauce. It's definitely tasty - but not exactly filling. I think I started getting hunger pains a couple hours after finishing.