Craving Vietnamese Food

Since we were in the Isaan region of Thailand last year, I've had Vietnamese food one time. I had the wonderful spring rolls from our neighbors to tide me over for a little bit, but I was "needing" some more. We had tried to eat at a restaurant here that some friends recommended, but it was closed on the one night we tried to go there. We don't get out much at night so if it's not open, they miss the opportunity to feed us for a while.

Rusty solved part of the problem with my Christmas present. He bought me an Asian cookbook that features food from the various countries as well as a brief description of their culinary history and customs. I have my eye on several wonderful recipes, but I knew the first ones would probably come from Viet Nam.
We decided the first step was to look the part. If we were wearing our Vietnamese rice hats maybe the spring rolls would taste more authentic? Or maybe I just tend to get a little silly by the end of the weekend.We've made Thai spring rolls several times in the recent years. I usually buy the frozen spring roll wrappers to have on hand, but this was my first time in using the rice paper wrappers. You have to soak them in water for a bit until they become pliable. Then you put some filling in and roll!
I'm always happy to let Pawn do the frying. It always makes me feel better knowing she has a better "feel" for how long they need to fry in order to cook the meat. We've tried cooking the pork before rolling the spring rolls, but we didn't think they tasted as good. But I don't want to eat raw pork either.

Spring roll review: I think we would all agree they were good for the first try, but we need more practice. The hats were obviously not the secret ingredient, but they didn't hurt either. Maybe the secret is inviting our neighbor over for a cooking lesson! :)