An illustration of R. Kelly’s artistic process.

Most of the time what makes us decides which restaurant to select is based on the number of customers, but the good thing about Vietnamese restaurants around Las Vegas is that you could eat at any of them and not being disappointed—(maybe not Pho Hoa since someone is still pissed that they charged two fifty for a bowl of scallion heads and fatty broth, which is free in other Pho places).

When we first spotted Pho Huong Sai Gon, we were a bit skeptical because the joint was vacant most of the time. We went in anyway to check it out. If worse comes to worse, we just bail out with a three-ninety-nine bowl of Pho. We actually were craving for some kind of hotpot and Huong’s menu includes Lau Do Bien, Lau Thap Cam, Lau Thai Lan, and Lau De.

When we ordered Lau Thap Cam the waitress asked the chef if they had enough vegetables to serve that portion. The answer was no and the waitress quickly recommended us their signature Lau De. After a few seconds of hesitation, we gave it a go. It turned out to be the best Lau De I ever had in the States. The broth was savory and the goat had no odor.

As we were enjoying ourselves, the chef came out and asked us how it was. He didn’t need to hear our answer. As he looked into the pot, almost everything was gone except for a few tiny particles (red Chinese Apples) floating on the broth. He smiled, walked back to the kitchen and refilled us with additional contents even though we told him we were filled.

The bill came out to be twenty-five bucks, and I was astounded. When was the last time I had something that good and that cheap? As we wrapped up our dinner, I couldn’t help but complimented on the food, and the waitress invited us back for their Pho Satay.

Pho Satay is something new to me since I only had Hu Tieu Satay, and no place else could make that dish better than my hometown My Tho. Before heading back to the airport, we dropped back to Pho Huong to secure our tummy. I ordered a bowl of Pho Satay and it was blazing hot. The taste is very interesting since tomato and cucumber were included, but it doesn’t have that I-can-eat-pho-all-day-everyday hook to it.

The problem is that Pho Huong is being crushed by the other two giants (Pho So 1 and Pho Little Saigon) down the block. The thing is that these two places are just the typical Pho places that serve well for most people. I am hoping that Pho Huong will be able to stay alive once folks get past the common Pho and go for more adventurous stuff Pho Huong has to offer.

For a surprise vacation in which I was told just to get on the plane and go, Las Vegas was the perfect getaway. Between the strip, Vietnamese cuisines, gigantic Daiquiris, KUNV jazz station, books, and a fantastic confidant, what more could a man ask for? I didn’t even have to do a thing (I love surprises) since someone else already done a great job of all the planning. In addition, you can’t beat a vacation in which all your meals are paid for courtesy of Pai Gow. Although I am now physically back in NY a couple hours ago, I still am in my LV state of mind.

Updates will resume sometimes late next week. Peace!

In The AfterEllen.com Hot 100 List, the author stated that “Clearly, what straight men and lesbians find sexy in a woman is a little bit different.”

The main different is that Queen Latifah made it to number 55 on the list. Is it because of her incredible role as a lesbian in Set It Off?

On a Radio VNCR’s interview, Y Phuong speaks highly of Ngoc Lan as her idol. (Tip for VNCR, kill the background music when she sings.)

Tim Brown’s “Blogging with Ma.gnolia“:

Bookmarking things in Ma.gnolia is nearly effortless and is a huge efficiency for me because it helps me remember, sort and share things both inside and outside of the Ma.gnolia website. Treating bookmarking like blogging works for my style of information sharing.

Jeffrey Zeldman’s “E-mail is not a platform for design“:

Unlike the web, which also started as an exchange medium for text messages but which benefited from the inclusion of images and other media, e-mail works best when used for its original purpose, as the most basic of content exchange systems.

Billie Holiday’s “Me, Myself and I” swings behind the beat.

Caren Bohan’s “Bush to press Vietnam on arrests of dissidents“:

After a Vietnam court on May 11 sentenced two activist lawyers to up five years in jail, the White House criticized an increasing number of arrests of dissidents and said they were out of character with Vietnam’s recent modernization.

Pupsam presents photos of people kissing themselves.