What do Vietnamese-Americans eat for Christmas? I don't know as I only have my personal experience to share. As I mentioned in the past, we gave up on turkeys at Thanksgiving and hams for Easter. Christmas is a tossup and we've had roasted chickens, goose, beef and venison tenderloin over the years.
This past week's was somewhat of a doozy. My mom's menu (above) was basically a list of family favorites. There were originally 20 people expected and she made sure to load up the menu with Nguyen all-time hits. From the top of her hand-written list to the bottom:
Fried cha gio rice paper rolls, a surf-and-turf rice soup (chao boi), wontons in broth, roast riblets (xuon nuong), goose from my brother , sticky rice dressing with roasted chestnuts (nhan go nhoi), stuffed periwinkle (oc nhoi), sticky rice with hominy and mung bean (xoi bap), plain sticky rice with sweet Chinese sausage (xoi trang, lap xuong), head cheese (gio thu), cinnamon sausage and beef silky sausage (cha que, cha bo), shrimp toasts (banh mi tom quet), banana cake (banh chuoi), banh “fruit cake.”
My mom began the preparations weeks ago, my dad revealed with a light sigh. He is her kitchen assistant when none of us kids are around (most of the time). I think she'd put him through the wringer. When I saw the menu, I didn't know how we'd serve it all, let alone eat it up.
My parents, 79 and 83, had rearranged the furniture to fit a second dining table in. “This may be the last year mom and I can do this," my father said. “It is hard to be old.”
“I am still strong,” my mom valiantly exclaimed, never mind the plantar fasciitis that has slowed her down a bit. Both of them can still bend and squat -- it's years of practice that started in Vietnam.
When we were young, my mom was a stickler for formality and adhered to her gameplan no mattered what surprises life threw her. This year she demonstrated a great amount of resilience. For example, when my brother arrived with the wild game, my mom decided not to serve it. The crossed-out goose and turkey (above) were potentially problematic, given all the other things going on the kitchen. (My brother also brought Indian and Taiwanese whiskers which we go had no problem drinking; the wild game was a horse of a different color.)
She’d already made the stuffing and pivoted, asking me how to bake it in a casserole (she referred back to a baked dressing post I’d done on VWK) and serve it along with the other two sticky rice dishes on the menu. We’re a carb-loving family. Then, realizing that there was indeed too much food on the menu, on Christmas Eve morning, my mom decided to pull back on the shrimp toasts. That’s why her final menu looks the way it does.
The biggest bomb that dropped was my oldest sister and her family deciding not to come. At the last minute. They let us know just a few hours before dinner was going to be served. My brother-in-law was sick. We called to make sure he was okay; he sounded awful.
That was a major drag because this is the only time of the year when we all meet up. My mom turned to my father and said, "Well, we'll reset the table for fourteen instead of twenty." She was very disappointed to say the least but what the heck could she do?
I silently counted my blessings because then we'd have less food to put out. My parents went to church while I prepped and put the final touches on the meal. I decided to serve half of the food that my mom had made and tell her that she could always freeze the stuff and treat it like her personal food bank – drawing from it perhaps at Tet, which is just around the corner. There is a silver lining to overproducing food.
When they returned, it was to a party. My three siblings and I, along with their kids were already drinking and snacking. Mr. Cruz, an longtime friend of my father's dropped off a casserole full of warm tamales; he'd skipped the last two years and boy, were we happy he resumed the tradition. A tamale to us is like another kind of dumpling.
Dinner started at six o'clock and finished around ten thirty. My mom hand washed the dishes while my sisters and I dried them. Then my parents sat back for a few photos to commemorate the occasion.
There have been many Christmas pasts where we had midnight mass, complicated meals, and Yule logs and the like. We've dropped those traditions and instead embraced just being together. It was really nice.
Linette Sternlicht says
Wow!!! Your mom and dad are amazing! No surprise there 🙂
Thank you for sharing.
Andrea Nguyen says
They really are, Linette! I'm sure they'll smile when they read your comment. 🙂
Tami says
What a gorgeous feast. Your parents are so awesome!
Rachel Laudan says
all your posts are lovely, Andrea, and this one particularly so.
Kimberlea says
Your mom's handwriting looks so much like my mom's, it's scary. Merry belated Christmas!
Andrea Nguyen says
Thanks, Tami!
Andrea Nguyen says
Rachel, coming from you, I'm extremely flattered. Happy New Year!
Andrea Nguyen says
Glad you took notice. There's a certain style to Vietnamese penmanship and it's totally generational. My father has gorgeous handwriting.
Tinh says
Is your mom on the upper left? I can't believe she's 79!
Tom H says
Andrea with all the VWK articles I've read, owning all your cookbooks ( with so many, many recipes to yet do ) plus FB & Twitter accounts the reads I most enjoy are the ones involving your parents!!! If there's a regret at all it would be not meeting your parents. Think it would a Hoot just sitting and chatting with them.
Thanks for always sharing and good luck with your upcoming book. I do look forward to owning & making some of the creations.
Wish you and your entire family a wonderful 2014!
EH Woods says
I'm coming to your Christmas dinner next year! Kidding aside, what we always did was integrate the American tradition with ours when we were growing up and this means having bihun (noodles of some sort), our egg rolls version (lumpia/cha Gio), some hearty soup using chicken bones ,leftover from the chicken used for the noodles and Russian salad (nothing is wasted!)....
And something grilled, be it fish,or pork .... All is indicative of the melding of cultures within our own family which standing on its own represents the United Nations.....lol...
Thank you for sharing your own story, and even more thankful for the pictures of your family and the food....
Happy Holidays, Andrea!
Abbe@This is How I Cook says
i want to come! What a great dinner and a lovely family experience. Traditions are the most wonderful thing-they always give me something to look forward to!
Toan says
What a good time you must have, Andrea. You mom and dad look so great, I can't believe they are in their 70s and 80s. Oh my, I hope I can look half that good when I am at their age. The food looked so good! And I love the variety of vegetables. Maybe I'll invite myself over next year, just kidding 🙂
Andrea Nguyen says
Yes, that is my mom! Asian women age well. I am banking on that...
Andrea Nguyen says
Tom, teehee, you made my day! I am sure, my folks will be tickled too. Happy New Year.
Andrea Nguyen says
Why not?! Right? An integrated Christmas is a more delicious one. Invent your own traditions.
Andrea Nguyen says
Honored, Abbe. It's not perfect but it works out.
Andrea Nguyen says
Yeah, I know what you mean about aging. My mom rarely goes out in the sun not covered. It's good that she lives in a moderate climate. She claims she doesn't sweat but I doubt that....
Bennett D says
My family also gave up traditional American holiday menus several years ago. My parents came to the DC area from the Philippines in 1965. Growing up, we assimilated to American traditions because there just wasn't a large Asian community here before the late 70s and 80s. We have always loved Vietnamese food, and we started incorporating recipes from your cookbooks and blogs into our Christmas menus and family get-togethers. Your recipes are now part of our family's new traditions… and we are HUGE fans of yours. Thanks for so much deliciousness. Happy New Year!
Sophie says
It is a learned skill to remain gracious after putting in so much planning and prep work for a meal and have last-minute curve balls thrown like that! Your poor mother. She handled it beautifully and it sounds like a wonderful feast! Your parents look amazing and I'm so glad we got to read along and experience another kind of Christmas dinner. Happy new year!
jan says
wow!!!
bubblegum casting says
haha crazy!
shannonjene says
Just found your wonderful site and enjoyed your holiday story. My family is just back from a two week trip to Vietnam and our daughter, who is 15 and adopted from Vietnam, is so excited to learn how to cook some Vietnamese dishes!
Thanks!