Ann Mah's newsletter / January 2021
January 2021 newsletter
Bonne année!
Happy 2021, friends! It seems we are off to a galloping start, but hopefully things will proceed more calmly in the months ahead! I'm sending you my warmest wishes for good health and happiness – here's hoping the year ahead will be brighter for everyone.
Here in Vietnam we celebrated the last days of the old year with a trip to Phu Quoc, a tropical island in the Gulf of Thailand. (You can see some photos of the place we stayed here.) It was quite a surprise when I realized that it was our first and only vacation of 2020! We didn't do much besides swim, eat banh mi sandwiches, drink passion fruit juice, and read, but it was just the relaxing break we needed.
Here's what else I've been up to...
What I've been eating
–Yesterday was Epiphany, la fête des rois, and one of the things I love most this time of year is eating galette des rois, a cake made of puff pastry filled with almond paste. There's a fève buried inside and whoever finds it is proclaimed king or queen! You can learn more about the history of this flaky frangipane dessert, and make your own, with this blog post from La Cuisine Paris.
–I'm a terrible bread baker, but I recently made a batch of Parker House rolls and was thrilled with how easy they were, not to mention their soft, tender, pillowy texture. I combined these recipes from The Kitchn and Bon Appétit, except I couldn't follow the folding instructions, so I just weighed out equal balls of dough, brushed them with butter, and stuffed them into a baking pan. Next time I'll cut back on the salt.
–It's veganuary, which is, of course, the celebration of vegan food in January! This month my friend Cameron Stauch is sharing a daily recipe video from his cookbook, Vegetarian Viet Nam, on his new Youtube channel. The dishes are simple, healthful, and delicious. Last night we tried the pumpkin, sweet potato, and coconut soup and it was so hearty and soothing. Tonight we're having the vegan pomelo salad with pressed tofu and peanuts.
What I've been reading
–I was pinching myself last month as I read beside this gorgeous pool in Phu Quoc. Miss Benson's Beetle was a funny, unusual semi-mythical tale of female friendship set in New Caledonia. I also reread (Not Quite) Mastering the Art of French Living, which explores some of the deeper questions about life in France such as why French people live in fear of traffic roundabouts.
–Next up is a new comic novel by my friend Julia Claiborne Johnson, Better Luck Next Time, set on a Reno divorce ranch in 1938.
–Stuck at home, but still wanting to practice French? A new program, Share Ami, matches French students with pensioners so you can video chat to your way to fluency.
–Where are all the women Renaissance artists? A new nonprofit in Florence has launched an investigation. NPR has the story.
–Missing Paris? Have a listen to this episode of the 52 martinis podcast with two of my favorite Paris friends, 52 Martinis (Forest Collins) and Jane Bertch (owner of the cooking school, La Cuisine Paris).
–I'm late to the party, but we watched the new adaptation of Little Women and found it so moving and inspiring. I hadn't seen it because no film version has ever compared to the book for me – but this felt as fresh and satisfying as reading the story for the first time. I am now firmly convinced of Greta Gerwig's genius – and, fun fact!, she and I used to work at the same writers space in New York.
A bientôt
This month we have a little lull before the festivities of Tet begin! People decorate with bright flowers and kumquat trees and am considering getting a miniature one for our house. There's also a "decoration street" here in Hanoi, where I'm hoping to buy strings of red and gold ornaments to hang on our door. I'll be sharing lots of photos on Instagram, so please follow me there for the latest in Lunar New Year decor and everything else I'm up to :)
Thanks for reading and see you next month!
xxx Ann
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