Tony Du’s Blog

So here at Microsoft, i get to know some Vietnameses. Well they are all much older than me, most are married and settled but they definitely didn’t loose their sense of humor. The thing I like about this group is that they give good advices when it comes to food. We also have potluck twice a month or once every 2 weeks. Anyway, this time, we need some vegetarian dish since we already have other entrees. Anyway, after a couple days with no volunteer (well of course i’ll bring $5 instead of food), one guy tries to steer away from the idea of a vegetarian dish, he said:

Vegetarians can’t eat Pho. If you can’t eat Pho, you’re not Vietnamese. By the transitive law of Pho, vegetarians can’t be Vietnamese. Now that is settled, who is bringing pork with coconut?

Well, that was certainly interesting and i was curious to know if there’s such a thing as “Vegetarian Pho” so i promptly search online for “Vegatarian Pho”. To my surprise, there’s is Vegatarian Pho. Can’t help it, i reply in my email:

I like the idea of pork with coconut but I have to say that there’s flaw in your logic

Certainly, Vegetarians can’t eat “regular” pho, but they can eat “vegetarian” pho. Now, hell if I know what it is but it exist and look pretty darn good here:
http://kin-jay.blogspot.com/2006/08/vegetarian-pho-bo-is-vietnamese-noodle.html

So, now come back to your logic, vegetarians CAN be Vietnamese (not that I’m vegetarian)

I certainly start a good discussion here. A couple people reply:

How the hell are you suppose to make the broth with no meat-particles in it? Isn’t the entire broth based around cooking some bones for a while? Also, that vegetarian recipe completely skips over making the broth, so I’m not sure what is being done to give the broth a similar “body” that a traditional broth would have.
…
Blow my mind and explain how you make vegetarian (fake) pho?

a guy emails to everyone and said

Well, to make Vegetarian Pho…..you start with Vegetarian Cow

I was sooo excited to see my girlfriend. As soon as i got a car, I drove to Boston to see her. It was late in the evening. The drive from Connecticut to Boston was so long despite the fact that i drove the same way so many times before. Anyway, it was almost 9pm and i was very hungry, well Chrissy was too. As i slowed down to pay the toll, i decided to call my Chrissy and tell her to get ready so we can go to diner right away. So we was on the phone for about 2 minutes then it was my turn the pay the toll (1$ for the cambridge exit). I realized that i was almost there and she still wasn’t ready yet so i told her to get ready, i said loudly in the headphone:

“Get Changes, i’m almost there!”

At the same time, i was giving the $1 toll to the guy at the toll booth. He (didn’t realize that i was on the phone) freaked out, he seem-ed a bit scared:

“But you only gave me $1, there’s no changes….“

I (tried hard not to laugh) kindly show my headphone to him and drive away. Chrissy and I had a good laugh after I told her about it.