"Flying with Ly Air this Morning Ladies?"

" Ladies, welcome to Ly Air this morning, I am your Mommy/ Pilot/Flight attendant for today. I hope you are enjoying your homemade sourdough bread and Capri Sun Juice pack I quickly handed out while strapping you into your seats. It is currently 37 degrees, a bright and sunny, crisp morning, we will be flying from: Our Lovely Home to Daycare in just a few moment while we warm the cockpit. It is a quarter to ten o'clock and traffic should be relatively light, we will be arriving in approximately twenty minutes."

Yes, I'm wearing Hubster's Bomber Jacket again because I'm so cold here! After finishing the above speech to my 2 and 3 year olds (Youngest and Oldest), Youngest says,"What are you doing Mommy?!" and I say that I'm so happy to be on vacation finally, that I'm going CRAZY! But then I know they love it when I act like this, so I just keep acting silly.

We get to one of the eight lights we might drive through on our route and I come over the speaker as flight attendant. "Trash anyone, trash- trash..oops thank you very much,(it's one finished juice pack) Please make sure to eat your bread so we are finished when we get to our final destination!)"

I start talking about Christmas again and what we will be doing for the next week, that tonight we will go see Santa. "What are you going to tell him you would like for Christmas again?"

Oldest says, "A Pink Pony, a baby-baby Dinosaur, and Pink Dancing shoes like my white party shoes."

And Youngest shouts, "I want a Big, Big Dinosaur that says Roarrrr!"

Now, we will see if they have the courage to tell Santa all this....and if they will sit with him to have their picture taken.

I pull into Daycare, "Thank you all for traveling with Ly Air this morning. It is still 37 degrees, but you be sure to have a blast-in-a-half at school while I go send out Christmas Cards and put our second wreath on the garage that Hubster has been too busy to put up. Love you, and see you this afternoon when we will go see Santa!!! Yeahhhhh!"

Delicious Vietnam #8, Bánh Da Lợn, or Layered Tapioca Cake (this translates to Pig Skin Cake!)

One must say that I am thankful to take part in Delicious Vietnam monthly. It always encourages me in my cooking and teaches me new skills. And as always, my children and husband really enjoy whatever I experiment on. This month I feared I was not going to make it though. My work schedule is eleven days straight so that I can get off to enjoy a long holiday. Not to mention all the other little and big things that need to be attended to: house decorations, Christmas (Snail-Mail) Cards, getting the girls to visit Santa, shopping, and just getting the house ready for my long awaited VACATION! All I really want is to stay calm…..

So I remind myself, “Julia, this is your time to have fun!!!” I do a quick search on the internet and run in to,“Pig Skin Cake” or Bánh Da Lợn or Layered Tapioca Cake.

Although I haven’t eaten any in a few years it again reminds me of my love, Hubster. He graduated college before I did and moved to Dallas to start a job in his career. I couldn’t move in with him until I finished school, and then do to employment opportunities once I graduated, I moved to Maine instead of in with him. This was a trying time in our relationship, long distant phone calls at all hours of the day, what day will come conversations, and then care packages in the mail, “YES!!” In these care packages he would send things like Roman Noodles of different kinds, rice cakes, and Tapioca Layered Mung Bean Cakes. I’d share these goodies with my housemates and as I always do, try to unravel the mystery of how this Tapioca Mung Bean cake- so Non-Western was made.

While I was planning for this month’s event I ran across this blog, Playing with My Food http://pwmf.blogspot.com/2005/10/bnh-da-ln-steamed-tapioca-layered-cake.html. I was really impressed. It looked pretty easy with the correct ingredients and correct equipment, all of which I had or knew where to buy easily. I followed this recipe down to the smallest gram.

Last night I stirred and steamed it up. It was ready to slice in the morning and to share with coworkers at work. They all seemed to really enjoy it. It is just so different to anything Western. And the girls, my two and three year old, well they both ate large pieces at the breakfast table as I was headed out to work this morning. They “ewwed and ahhhed” over it! It must have been the layers and the bright colors.

I also have to say that although this is very common to see at the register as you check out of Asian Markets and doesn’t cost much to buy, it’s good to know that it is relatively easy to make and a lot of fun!

Many thanks to the very talented creators of Delicious Vietnam, bloggers of: A Food Lover's Journey and Ravenous Couple.

If you would like to participate in this monthly event see: http://www.anhsfoodblog.com/2010/04/delicious-vietnam-new-blogging-event.html for details.

Lastly, I would like to say congratulation to Deb at http://www.bearheadsoup.blogspot.com . Please enjoy going to her site and reading all the entries for this month sometime after the second Sunday in December.

Where Have I been?

Where have I been?
I really can’t tell you.
I guess I’ve just been caught up in life!
Thanksgiving was great.
I’ve been keeping up with Delicious Vietnam.
The kids have been getting there bedtime stories.
There have been no trips to the library.
It has been so cold and with the time change it is just so dark when I get off work- we just go home and curl up every night.
I’ve stopped running and cycling for a month now, but really can’t find the time to get it back in my life.
In this way I’m looking forward to getting the holidays over-yet I’m just so excited for them too!
So, I guess I’m just taking a winter break. I do plan to get my Delicious Vietnam entry in this month though!
I’ve been making yogurt and need to do a posting on this….
I also started a sourdough starter the week before Thanksgiving.
I’ve been having fun experimenting with it. ( Another posting opportunity.)
If only I could get my Christmas Cards in the mail this week.