I woke up Thursday morning feeling worried that people would be shy about taking a self-portrait with a sandwich. Unless you have a friend to hold up the phone while you push the button, it can be hard. Plus, we all want to look good in photos. My husband said, why not tweak the entries? Why not? I adjusted the contest to allow banh mi beauty shots and portraits that people had someone else take.
This the banh mi selfie is a fun thing and I’m the first one to come off as a goofball. My tweet that my lunch was looking bigger than my head drew a lot of attention. One entry had the person dressed up as a gnome.
There were also banh mi newbies – first timers like @sastier. And I discovered banh mi made in puff pastry from Orange County that @pmmayfield submitted.
Dear Catherine Oliver really wants one of the aprons my mom is making. The photo below is of the apron fabric -- a dark grey green and off-white. Both are soft denim. I have 1 linen one to give away too.
Catherine submitted a photo of herself with the temporary tattoo, homemade bread and banh mi. Before getting the book, the woman had never baked bread in her entire life! Now, her husband wants more banh mi from scratch, she told me on Facebook. Her grandkids love the Hanoi grilled chicken (the book cover).You can look at the contest entries by clicking on the "View Entries" tab at the Banh Mi Selfie Contest page.
Then there was this photo that came in from Melbourne, Australia. The original contest was only for U.S. and Canadian residents but the photo gave me pause. Who can refuse a 3-year-old who wears silver shoes and already loves banh mi?
So we’re opening up the contest to Australian residents too. Viet food is a big deal in Australia and my publisher, who’s handling the shipping, agreed to it. No you don't have to be Viet-Aussie or a cute kid like this to enter.
Hope you dive into the fun of the contest. I tried to talk my cabinet maker, Thomas Merida, into joining in the banh mi selfie contest. He finished our project on Friday afternoon and presented me with his final bill. I responded with a check and a bag of freshly baked banh mi rolls. (I was practicing for my Seattle class on Monday.)
Thom and his assistant Michele had purchased the banh mi book and he’d been working through the recipes. Is he on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram to enter? Yup, he’ll check out the contest via Facebook.
If you’re looking for an exceptional vegan banh mi, check out Randy Clemens’s post on the lemongrass sriracha tempeh banh mi. It’s delicious, a head turner for me since I’ve not been a fan of Stateside tempeh. Randy authored the Sriracha Cookbook and contributed the tempeh recipe to the handbook. He was so excited about the collaboration that he made his own recipe in the book and wrote about it on his blog! Love it.
I taped an interview with the Splendid Table radio show in August. It aired last weekend and is a good one. I love Lynne Rosetto Kasper's interview style. The interview transcript and segment audio are online for you to read or listen to here.
Just this weekend, I was interviewed and quoted about Yum! Brand's new Banh Shop fast food chain that opened in Dallas. Read the story at Huffington Post.
I’m off to Seattle and Vancouver next week for banh mi events. If you’re in those cities, hope to catch you there, or you can watch me on TV in Vancouver.
Seattle Events
9/15, 6:30-8:30pm: Master class @BookLarder
9/17, 4-6pm: Banh Mi Social @MonsoonSeattle
Vancouver Events
9/19, 12:40pm: Demo @CTVVancouver
9/19, 5-6pm: Chat and signing @bookstocooks
9/20, 8:20am: Demo @GlobalBC TV
P.S. Stay tuned for banh mi events in Los Angeles in early October.
