Despite the pouring rain, our little family hit Pho 95, our only current favorite spot for hot Vietnamese noodle soup, as part of our Saturday morning ritual. What makes Pho 95 stands out is the wonderful fragrance of pho as soon as you open the door. Pho 95 is generous with meat and its noodle is just right (not too soft or overcooked), but the best part is that even after you finished your pho, the broth is still hot.

What makes pho unique is the customization. You can order pho according to your preference, but for an adventurous enjoyment, check out the following tips.

First you have to order a large size because that is the Vietnamese style. Only a buck more to upgrade to a large bowl. We love more for less. You can order the special with everything in it, but I prefer tendon, meatball with raw beef on the side. Add a side dish of fresh onion soaked in vinegar and a bowl of fat with scallion root.

When the soup comes out, add chilly sauce to the onion bowl depending how much you can tolerate the spiciness. Add chilly, hoisin sauce with pieces of basil into your raw dish. Squeeze lime into the raw beef as well to let it cook. With the bowl of fat, dump the whole thing into your pho if you don’t care about cholesterol. If you do, just two or three tablespoon is sufficient. Taste the broth and you can tell the tremendous different.

With your hot pho, put in bean sprouts and basil, but do not stir. The trick to keep the pho hot is not to disturb the noodle. Just take what you can eat at a time. Work gently into the noodle to prevent it from expanding. With raw beef, hot and sour rings of onion and fat-soaked scallion, that’s how you enjoy your pho.

Even with the pouring rain outside, people where standing in line to get into Pho 95. People must like to eat pho when it rains as if the wetness and the cold temperature make pho even more delicious. Another great part about Pho 95 is that it located right next to Banh Mi DC, my favorite spot for iced coffee. I happened to pick up a banh tieu (hollow bread) that was fresh off the stove. I let Dao tried a small piece and he wanted the whole thing. In the car, two little kids (Dao and Donny) were fighting over banh tieu. It was just awesome.

So he’s back. The clown that brought to you the hilarious cai luong-rap “Lay Tien Cho Gai.” With his new release Ghe Khung, Phong Le has yet to step out of his comical role as a Viet MC (his collaboration with Bao Liem on “Giang Ho” is the proof), but he has definitely stepped up his game in term of flow and beat choices.

The title track is one of his story-telling sillinesses that allows him to break into the Vietnamese audience. Like most rappers, Phong Le’s subject matters wrap around girl, sex and fame. In “Den Voi Anh” (featuring Huy Vu on Auto-Tune), Phong rhymes in a horny-little-boy voice: “Ba ma anh khong co o nha thi minh tha ho ma huong / Neu em khong muon thi minh nam coi phim chuong / Roi sao do anh se lam cho em suong.”

The smartest moment in the album is actually when he’s not rapping. How ironic? “Ho Phu Sinh Ho Tu” is a skit between Phong and his dad. While the old man tried to teach his son not to smoke, he lighted up a cigarette. His reason for smoking was the depression from the war. Phong responded, “The war had ended 30 years ago.”

The hardest track on the album is “Tro Lai.” The dual language works rather well with Chosen holding down the English part. In his raspy voice, Chosen raps, “I am on a higher level while you sing your falsetto.” It almost sounds like a diss to his own partner on the same track, but that’s just me. Then again, I find Ghe Khung to be quite entertaining for a spin or two.

As previously mentioned, our 2011 Toyota Sienna stalled when I stopped at the ATM to get cash last Thursday. The van stalled again several times when I was stuck in traffic. I drove the van straight to the dealer where we bought it. The dealer couldn’t figure out the problem so it contacted Toyota. Toyota suggested to replace the fuel pump. Today the technician called and notified that the fuel pump was replaced, but the problem remains unsolved. So now the dealer has to work with Toyota again to see how to get it fix. Any Sienna owner ran into this problem?

I was up to one in the morning checking out 320 and Up and HTML5 Reset WordPress Theme. Building from tiny screen first then moving up seems like a smart approach. Andy Clarke incorporated a bunch of neat functions like respond.js and imgsizer.js in addition to HTML5 Boilerplate.

Version 2 of HTML5 Reset also comes with a Blank WordPress Theme, “a style-free theme designed to help get your custom WordPress project off the ground.” The theme contains a very minimal set of files so it would be great for a small, simple site. I am not sure how it will scale up for more complex projects.

I was thinking of combining 320 and Up and Blank WordPress Theme, but there are things that seem to overlapping. So I probably will combine 320 with Toolbox. I just started a new project so it’ll be a perfect opportunity to put these two to work. Will see how it’ll turn out.

Last Thursday we took our boy to ER when his temperature skyrocketed to 105.6F. After about half an hour waiting (pretty short for an ER patient), a strong, African-American nurse took us in. The first she did was giving him acetaminophen and ibuprofen.

As we tried to get him to cooperate, she knew that we were new parents. She showed Dana how to hold him down by placing one of his arm under hers so she can squeeze the medication into his mouth. Dao knows how to make himself throw up when he doesn’t want to take something, so the trick was to point the syringe to one side of his mouth near his cheek.

After the nurse gave him the medication, she told us that she has two boys and it is perfectly ok to force him to take the medication. Babies are stronger than we think so using a bit of strength is ok. She stressed the important of giving him medication in order to prevent him from getting seizure.

At times I felt horrible for holding him down, locking his feet with my leg and stick a toothbrush into his mouth to brush his teeth, something he really hates. Even though he likes to do it himself, he doesn’t know how to do it correctly yet, but he wouldn’t let us help him. So every time I brushed his teeth, it looked as if we were wrestling. He would scream his lung out, but when I finished and let him go, he would get up and complimented himself, “Dao gioi” (Dao’s good). I don’t know about that, but it’s kind of hilarious.

So now I don’t feel so bad anymore after what the nurse has told me. As long as I am doing good things for him, a little force is perfectly fine. The funny thing was yesterday he figured out how to get his arm around Dana’s arm and tried to yank the syringe away as I pumped medication into his mouth.

One of the good things about Dao is that he thinks before he speaks. I have to learn that from him as well. For instance when he hit his head against the door, he paused a little, said “dau dau” (head hurts), and then let out a big scream. So when he pointed at something, he would pause for a second to find the word before he would say it. So what I have been doing is that if I could sense that he was about to say something in English, I would cut him off first in Vietnamese. So let say that he was pointing to the keys and before he could say the word, I would cut in and say “chia khoa.” So he would begins with “k…” for keys, but quickly switch to “chia khoa.”

I do that with the words that he already knew in English. The drawback is that he might think it’s ok to cut someone off simply because daddy does it. I remember my grandma used to tell me, “khong co duoc an com hot,” which means “do not scoop the top layer of the rice” or cutting somebody off. Hopefully, I could straighten up his manner later on. I have to say, I really enjoy hearing him speaks Vietnamese. For instance, when he farted, he would say “Dao dich” with the “ch” pronounced at the end.

The heat is rising; therefore, it is time to switch to iced coffee. Although, I am not an expert on coffee, I like to rank on the ones I have access to on a regular basis. So here is my list:

1. Banh Mi D.C. Iced Coffee is number one on my list because I love the French-style brew. While there are tons of them around Eden Center, Banh Mi D.C.’s stands out for me for its strong, dark roast. I have to have a cup when I am on the road. It does a great job of keeping me up. If I have it my way, a bit less condense milk would be perfect.
2. Iced Seattle’s Best Coffee from BK is my second choice. I prefer the plain one for less sweet. I can drink this at one in the morning and still be able to go to sleep because the coffee is light.
3. Saxbys Iced Coffee would be my third for its dark and strong taste. I like its hazelnut-flavored brew. It has a nice, lasting after taste.
4. Starbucks Iced Coffee isn’t so high on my list simply because I drink it almost every day. The flavor has become plain and ordinary. I just need it to get my caffeine fix.
5. Dunkin’ Donuts Iced Coffee used to be my favorite, but it is feeling light for me as well. Still a nice summer drink once in a while
6. McDonald’s Iced Coffee would be my last resort if nothing’s around. It tastes more like cream and sugar with coffee flavor than the other way around.

At 23 months, Dao is very picky about his taste. He would try something in small amount first before he decided to like or dislike. The other day, I let him taste Naked juice through a straw. He took a sip, nodded his head lightly and said, “Nice.” Dana and I were very surprised. How did he come up with that? Naked juice tastes “nice?” He finished a 10-oz bottle after that and Naked juice has become one of his favorite drinks. His compliment now stuck with me. Every time I look at a bottle of Naked juice, “nice” is the first word that comes to mind. If Naked juice were to run this commercial, I am sure it would stuck in viewers’ mind as well.

The past couple of days had been quite a drama. It all started on Wednesday around 3:30pm when I received a call from Dao’s daycare telling me to pick him up. His temperature went up to 103F. I immediately took the Metro over to Dana’s workplace to get the car. Unfortunately a sick person boarded the train at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and passed out. The train had to return to Crystal City to unload all the passengers. Half an hour later, we were allowed to board again after the Metro staff took the sick person off the train. I kept trying call Dana, but she didn’t pick up the phone because somebody left her home at home. We came and picked him up around 5 and he was playing around and seemed fine.

On Thursday, I felt a little down so I stayed home with Dao. Around 10, Dao wanted to go to “table train.” So I took him out. I stopped by the ATM to get some cash. While waiting in line, our brand new Toyota Sienna (with 7,000) stalled. That was strange. On the busy traffic highway the mini-van stalled again several times. Instead of driving to the mall for “table train,” I made a detour to the dealership. The car is still being diagnosed because the computer couldn’t detect any problem. The dealer is working with Toyota on it and we can’t get it back until Monday or Tuesday.

I called Dana up to pick us up. After dropped her back to work, we headed home. It was around lunch time and Dao said “lunch.” So I warmed up the porridge Dana made for him. I tried to feed him and he said “Eat your lunch.” I suspect this is something he has learned in school. I gave him milk and put him to bed. His temperature was around 99-100F the whole day until he was napping, which shot up to 103. I called the pediatrician and the nurse suggested to call again if he reached 105F and didn’t act normal. After he woke up, I took him to a bookstore closed to Dana’s work so we could pick her up afterward. Dao refused to play his table train. I bought a raisin oatmeal cookie. I ate all the oatmeal and he ate some of the raisins.

We went over to my sister-in-law’s house for dinner and Dao didn’t act himself. He was not active or interactive. After we went home, he vomited and the temperature went up to 105.F. We immediately took him to ER, which is about two blocks from our house. The doctor gave him Acetaminophen and Ibuprofen to calm down his temperature. He also subscribed Amoxicillin for his ear infection.

Friday I stayed with him a whole day. We hang around the house watching Curious George, playing basketball and bowling. He napped quite a long time in the afternoon. I held him inside my arms and listened to Le Cat Trong Ly while the rain was pouring outside. After he woke up, we went to pick up Dana from work. He told her, “Xe moi bi hu. Phai di xua.” (New car broke down. We need to get it fixed.)

Saturday morning, his temperature was still high around 101F so we paid his pediatrician a visit. She examined him and said that his ears are getting better, but if his temperature won’t come down on Monday we have to bring him back in. We went to a friend’s kid birthday party for about two hours. He ate some food and played at the toy kitchen by himself until he pointed to the door and said “di ra.” We went home and went to bed around 9.

I woke up at 4 when Dao suddenly cried. I couldn’t go back to sleep feelig hungry. So went downstairs and to have s croissant and fried eggs. Now too full to go to sleep so I just write up this long post. Even though it was a very miserable week, the time we spent together were invaluable. I loved every moment of it. It hurts me more seeing him sick and forcing him to take his medication, but it is part of being a parent.

Le Cat Trong Ly and Esperanza Spalding share some similar characteristics: they are young and talented; they play a string instrument; they write and sing their original songs; they have their own musical style; best of all, they both rock out a pretty awesome perm. While Ms. Spalding leads her own path to breakout jazz and soul, Ms. Le carves out her own niche away from the mediocre Vietnamese pop scene.

Ms. Le’s self-titled debut begins with “Giac Mong Lon” that immediately sets her apart from the over-saturated pop singers in and out of Viet Nam. The lyrics are simple but thoughtful. The music is kept to the minimal with just an acoustic guitar from Cao Hong Ha and elegant keyboard from Vu Dang Quoc Viet. The interaction between these two young instrumentalists is quite alluring. Love the way Vu Dang comps behind Ms. Le’s sweet, luscious vocals.

“Mua Yeu” is a straightforward but playful piece written when she was 19, at the age she claims that she didn’t know anything about composing music, but loved Mozart and Pham Duy. “Huong Lac” (based on Tram Huong’s poem) is another tune composed in the same time that showcases Ms. Le’s love for northern folk melodies and her guitar-picking skills.

Composed at 22, “Chuyen Xe” shows the maturity in her writing. Right after the closing bars, “Biết em thôi những giấc mơ ngày xưa, ngày nay, ngày mai, ngày sau / Có khi là em chết hơn trăm lần,” Ms. Le glides into her intoxicating blues chords and picks away some soulful guitar lines on the upper register. This girl got some serious chops and let’s hope that she continues to move forward rather than getting sucked into the whirlwind of mainstream pop like Thuy Tien.