Why Têt is more than a lucky red envelope 🧧
Plus, a young jackfruit salad recipe
The closer my Uber driver inches towards the traffic median, the louder the reverb gets.
The source of the sound? A middle-aged Vietnamese man in a wife beater and shorts, warbling karaoke with a microphone in one hand; and a can of Tiger beer in the other. I glance at my husband, who’s hiding a smile as the car saunters by the wannabe American Idol star and I think to myself, “So this is what Têt is all about.”
It’s the only Lunar New Year I spent in Saigon, but I’ll always remember the buzz of activity before, during, and after. How business owners tidied storefronts days beforehand, because if you clean in the New Year, it’ll “sweep the possibility of fortunes away.” Going to a family event without the safety net of my parents to translate, and hearing stories about my paternal grandfather’s last days, who I never go the chance to meet. How another cousin took us to dinner at a German bar, featuring a performance of a guy rolling his impressive abs, surrounded by backup dancers in skimpy red-and-gold outfits. That everything really does shut down for a week, allowing for my husband and I to take a selfie behind Ben Thanh Market in the absence of bumper-to-bumper scooter traffic.
Yet even with those memories, I’m still searching for clues on how to recreate that magic for my biracial daughter. Because it’s more than receiving a money-stuffed red envelope; or munching on a banana leaf-wrapped sticky rice cake. It’s an energy, a reset, a built-in Pause button to reflect on what really matters and who you’re hoping to transform into for the next year. Building on the last newsletter, that comes down to doubling down on the habits that help me become a better writer, mother, wife, and yoga practitioner; as well as preserving my Vietnamese heritage.
So I’m ringing in the upcoming new year with a few things: Planning a craft activity for my daughter’s school, and making this fun twist on gỏi, or a Vietnamese salad featuring young jackfruit. It’s different and unexpected (like the drunk guy singing karaoke in the middle of the street) and you can access the ingredients from natural grocers like Whole Foods or Sprouts.
Young Jackfruit Salad with Carrot Ribbons and Pickled Red Onions
Serves 4-6 as a side dish
Try this unexpected twist on a salad for Têt, or any other special occasion during the year. Thanks to the popularity of young jackfruit as a vegan meat substitute, you can find it at most natural grocery stores like Whole Foods or Sprouts.
Inspired by Vegetarian Vietnam by Cameron Stauch and Vietnamese by Uyen Luu
For the Pickled Red Onions
½ of a red onion, sliced into half moons
3 TB. apple cider of rice wine vinegar
1 TB organic cane sugar
For the Soy Lime Vinaigrette
1/4 cup Braggs liquid aminos
1 lime, juiced (About 2 tablespoons)
1 TB apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. organic cane sugar or honey
1 tsp. toasted sesame oil
For the Salad
1 14 oz. can of young jackfruit, drained and rinsed with cold water
3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into thin ribbons using a vegetable peeler
6 oz. protein of choice (Choose from sautéed oyster mushrooms, strips of baked tofu, deveined and split shrimp, or boiled pork belly)
½ cup freshly chopped herbs, like Thai basil, cilantro, mint, and/or Vietnamese coriander
¼ cup prepared fried shallots (I like Lars or the Trader Joe's brand)
Black sesame crackers, for serving (Mine are Whole Foods 365 brand)
Instructions
Combine the red onion with the vinegar and sugar, using your hands to mix thoroughly. Pickle for at least 15 minutes.
While the onions are pickling, make the dressing. Whisk together the Braggs liquid aminos, lime juice, apple cider vinegar, sugar or honey, and sesame oil in a small bowl. Set aside.
Prepare the salad. In a large bowl, mix together the drained jackfruit, carrot ribbons, protein of choice, the pickled onions, and half of the chopped herbs. Drizzle in half of the dressing and mix. Taste, adding more dressing until the flavor is to your liking. You may not need it all.
When ready to serve, plate the salad and garnish with the remaining chopped herbs. Sprinkle the shallots on top, and garnish with the black sesame crackers.
Notes
If you allow fish in your diet, you can sub the soy lime vinaigrette for a fish sauce vinaigrette (1/2 cup filtered water, the juice of 1 lime, 1/4 c organic cane sugar, 1/4 cup of a good quality fish sauce, and 1 clove of minced garlic)
Can't find the prepared fried shallots? Don't worry—you can make your own, or substitute the same amount of unsweetened coconut flakes or nuts of choice. Just make sure to toast them for maximum flavor.
WRITE 👩🏻💻
Got my edits back two weeks early! And it turns out I had the solution all along to my plotting woes, but was just unwilling to “go there” for whatever reason. A reminder that the writing is not simply about *writing*, but architecting the emotional journey you want the reader to go on.
It only took me a few hours to get through basic revisions (Add extra punctuation, clarify an idea with a few extra sentences), meaning now it’s time to plot towards the next milestone: the 50% mark. This is a particularly painful process because for me, it involves cutting at least four really *well-written* chapters that don’t support the protagonist’s character development. I probably take “Kill your darlings” a little too far in the other direction, but as my editor always reminds me:
Feedback is just an opportunity to make something great even more polished and that’s where amazing writing comes from—the honing and carving, not the initial draft.
LIFE 🛟
It turns out children are just as resistant to change as adults, taking at least 75 days to master a new habit. In my daughter’s case, it’s waking up in time to eat breakfast, get dressed, and head to co-op preschool. Even though I intentionally switched locations so I’d be driving eight instead of fifteen minutes one-way, it’s a struggle to get her in the car seat without something distracting her—a new rock in our garden; the garbage truck rumbling through the cul-de-sac.
But now that school’s more or less routine, the next challenge is getting her used to swim lessons. First lesson involved a flat-out refusal to dangle her legs in, the second time she got into the water for about 60 seconds. I’d like to think her progress was due to the bubble tea incentive she received beforehand, but only time will tell 🤷🏻♀️
BALANCE 🧘🏻♀️
Despite enjoying my four-week book break, there’s still that nagging belief I have of always feeling like I should do something else. “I should clean out my garage.” “I should do more for my daughter’s school.” “I should submit to more literary journals and publications.” And then I always ask myself, “Who is this person and why haven’t I kicked them out of my house?” A gentle reminder we are our own worst critics and if said person was a so-called friend, we’d be showing them the door. (Family members, unfortunately, are a different story 😬)
That said: I’m still trying to find the sweet spot between maximizing every spare minute I’m not mom-ing to write and taking proactive steps to recharge my batteries: whether it’s going for a walk, booking myself a spa treatment, or having dinner with a friend minus kids. Similar to what I said in the Write section, I suspect I’ll find the answer when I’m not searching for it.
CURRENTLY READING 📚
The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hildebrand, aka the “queen of beach reads.” Usually I roll my eyes when I hear these claims. But given Hildebrand’s written 32 (Yup, you read that correctly) books since the early 2000s—all set in Nantucket—she’s more than earned it. All the characters (including a ghost that haunts the hotel!) were interesting and relatable, but my favorite moments of the book involve the hotel’s general manager Lizbeth Keaton and her budding romance with bad boy restaurant chef Mario Subiaco. To me, this is a perfect declaration of love:
When I look at you…I feel like I’m twelve years old again and everything is shiny and new and colorful and full of wonder. And that’s how I know that I love you.
CURRENTLY STREAMING ⏯
After a fellow writer gently nudged me to “Watch more TV”, I begrudgingly agreed and started the TV adaptation of Pachinko. I’m so appreciating the gorgeous cinematography; the focus on grandson Solomon who (in my opinion) had the weakest character arc in the book; and Koh Hansu, the fish broker who starts a clandestine affair with country girl Sunja (also Solomon’s grandmother.) Yakuza ties or not, who can say no to a man who looks this good in suspenders?
CURRENTLY COOKING 👩🏻🍳
We need to talk about this sweet potato turkey chili. I cooked a batch for a parent potluck at my daughter’s school and the pot was empty by the end of the night. My modifications include doubling the ground turkey, using kidney beans instead of cannellini, doubling the chopped onion and chili powder, adding ground coriander, and simmering for an hour. A self-professed sweet potato hating dad dubbed it “very good”; another mom asked for the recipe. Perfect for a cozy January meal.
Chúc mừng năm mới,
Sophia :)
P.S. Want more holiday recipes? Make sure to check out my rendition of Vietnamese lemongrass beef stew, or bò kho.
