New Year’s Eve Eve 2013

New Year’s Eve Eve 2013

In Vietnam, the New Year doesn’t come until sometime in late January or February .  It’s called Tết, the Lunar New Year, and the celebration goes on for many days.  This coming February 10,2013 (Western calendar) will usher in the Year of the Snake (Year 4710, 4711, or 4650, depending on which epoch of the “Chinese” calendar you have hanging on your wall.)

But, tonight it’s December 31, 2012 (Western calendar) and I’m getting a bit ahead of myself.

As a westerner living in Vietnam, I get to celebrate both the Western New Year and the Vietnamese Tết Lunar New Year.  That means at least two great New Year’s feasts!  A tad greedy, I suppose, but I prefer to view it as my cross-cultural obligation.

So, tonight is New Year’s Eve (Western) here in Saigon.  There does seems to be a form of schizophrenia evident here tonight.  All over town, there are Happy New Years 2013 banners, posters, concerts in the parks, etc.  At the very same time, there are the brightly illuminated yellow hoa mai and pink hoa đào flowers – and the Chúc Mừng Năm Mới banners – all, classic symbols of Tết, the not-until-February Vietnamese Lunar New Year, lining the center city boulevards and covering store fronts.

So, it’s not clear at all which New Year that I (we) actually are celebrating at any given time.  But, none of that seems very important, as it’s soon time to eat one of the  New Year’s Eve feasts. I’ll report back on that feast later.

Last evening, December 30, 2012, however, was New Year’s Eve Eve. A tad early to celebrate you might think. But, it was a weekend night, and my good friend, Thang, thought a far better evening to host a New Years Eve feast, than this evening would be, a Monday workday New Year’s Eve (all of this Western of course.)

Hai and I arrived at Thang’s house in late afternoon, greeted by his wife, Quynh,  their 2 children, an assortment of local relatives and friends, and a blazing inferno barbecue grill.

Let the feast begin!

The feast began – and later ended – in classic western style.  We opened a bottle of fine 2008 South African wine that Hai and I had toted across the continents last year after our visit to some of Capetown’s beautiful vineyards.  And we ended the evening feast with a yummy whipped cream chocolate Black Forest cake from Tous Les Jours bakery in Saigon’s District 1.  That was our tribute to the Western New Year’s Eve Eve.  The rest of the feast was purely Vietnamese.

Barbecued shrimp, beef, chicken wings, and snails.  Hai immediately hijacked the barbecue grill on Thang’s patio, trying to manage the meats and seafoods on the blazing inferno.

Everything was delicious – well, with one exception.  Seems someone else was responsible for scorching the snails into tiny charcoal cinders (at least according to Hai 🙂 ).

Then, there was the bánh hỏi dipped in fish sauce.

Bánh hỏi is all about texture – a delicate lace-like woven web of  rice vermicelli – so good! 

And spicy grilled octopus – rất cay (very spicy hot!) Cucumbers to cool things down. Sầu riêng (durian) to intimidate Joe.  And Jack Daniels, watermelon and tea to gently wind down the evening. All delicious (except the Durian, of course).

A wonderful evening feast with good friends to celebrate one of our New Year’s here in Saigon.  Cám ơn nhiều, em Thang and Quynh (thank you so much guys!)

 HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE !!