My husband, Ella and I just got home from the local Asian supermarket and it was a wonderful trip! I just love it there. It reminds me of shopping in Hanoi, only it's much larger here. We found wonderful treats and goodies for our Tet party and lots of the ingredients I needed to make some Tet recipes. The next few posts are going to be the recipes I'm going to try on Sunday. I'll let you know how it all goes :) And I'll post pics of all the goodies we found at the supermarket~who knew that candied water chestnuts were a treat?!? But we got them, so we'll see!

Vietnamese Style Vegetarian Curry Soup from... more

SKETCHES OF TET CUSTOMS The way to greet the spring is very old, perhaps originated thousands of years ago in the soft drizzle in Northern Vietnam. Back then, the Vietnamese people began calling the first days of spring Tet (mispronounced from the word "tiet", meaning "season" or in an elaborated sense, "festival season"). However old they are, the customs of Tet still reflect special characteristics of the Vietnamese culture generation after generation. Tet is the time to reunite one's family, both the living and the dead members; Tet is also the time to renew and strengthen one's friendship bondage; and, finally, Tet is the time to revive past experiences in preparing oneself... more

Even if a full celebration isn’t possible for Tet, here are some things you can do at home to celebrate the holiday:

Cook traditional Vietnamese dishes Make dragon puppets Color pictures of the zodiac animal of the coming year (this year is the pig) Print out Tet themed coloring pages at Rainbowkids.com for the kids to color Create your own alter to remember family members who have... more

Tet is an extremely festive and important time of year in Viet Nam. Tet is short for Tet Nguyen Dan, which means the first morning of the first day of the new period. The holiday marks the beginning of a new year on the lunar calendar; as well as the beginning of spring, and it is cause for much celebration throughout the country. This year (the year of the pig), Tet falls on Sunday, February 18th.

Tet is a time for family, friends and hope for the future. To outsiders it would seem that the country virtually stops during Tet, but there... more

I'm so excited! We're going to be celebrating Tet at my house :) My husband and I were throwing around the idea of having people over for Tet and this morning I realized that it's in twelve days!!!

So I put together an evite with a 'Happy New Year' theme and sent it out. We decided to limit our guest list to family only because we just don't have the space for many people. It's going to be tight as it is. It makes the thought of having a larger home even more exciting~then we can have more people over for Tet next year.

I'm... more

I don't know about you, but I have developed a bit of an obsession with finding cute Vietnamese themed things for Ella. Here are some that are just adorable:

T-Shirts at Beoi.com - these are beyond adorable! I have to order one (or more) for Ella. My favorites are the 'de ghet' (troublemaker) and 'de thuong' (adorable) designs. Precious Moments Vietnamese Doll-little Thu Nhi couldn't be cuter in her non la! You can purchase her at ... more