Cooking/Baking will be resumed soon!

Hi guys, I am just back from a wonderful holiday with my family. My parents and sister came to visit me in Australia and we had wonderful time together. I really enjoyed this little break with all my beloved and things couldn’t have been better!

I am currently busy catching up with my work and getting out of the holiday mood. I am dying to get back to my beloved kitchen and start cooking really soon. Meanwhile, I have tons of blog entries from my favourite bloggers to read and be inspired!

Before all of you see my cooking again, I have decided to post something for those who are interested in Vietnamese cuisine – my personal review on a very good Vietnamese cookbook. I intended to post this before my holiday but was too busy to do it. But I believe this post is not too late for any food lovers out there!


I have received several emails asking for a reliable authentic source of Vietnamese food. I have come across a lot of so-called Vietnamese cookbooks, which do not even resemble anything I have eaten back home. Most of them are more like Chinese food. Sure, there are resemblances between Chinese and Vietnamese cuisine, given the close proximity and long history. But simply substituting soy sauce to fish sauce does not make a dish Vietnamese.

Vietnamese cuisine, for me, is much more than fish sauce, fresh herbs and pho. We have so much more to offer, which often get forgotten or confused in the west. Vietnamese food, especially home-style cooking, is simple yet very delicious and very healthy. Fresh vegetables are the key to any meal, and meat or seafood is eaten in moderation. The preparation is light in oil, fat, dairy, but still provides very good and tasty results.

I have blogged about several Vietnamese dishes. Of course, I have yet covered all the great things about Vietnamese cuisine. So, if you want to have a richer source of information about Vietnamese food, I would recommend you ‘Into the Vietnamese Kitchen’ by Andrea Nguyen. It is by far the most authentic Vietnamese cookbook in English. The book is a good reference to me. I admit I didn’t follow extract instruction there. Vietnamese food is something I cook naturally. But the approach to cooking method and ingredients in Andrea’s book is authentic with a light modern touch. This is important since not all Vietnamese ingredients are available elsewhere.

Andrea is also running a blog, so you can catch her there, too.

I do hope this post hopes all of you who are interested in Vietnamese cuisine!