Went back to the commoner’s place for a bowl of Bun Rieu. Unfortunately, their version of Bun Rieu is not as banging as mom’s. The broth is not quite there yet. A bit more Mam Ruoc is required to bring out the savory flavor. The huge disappointment is the missing of pigs’ feet, which is the essential ingredient for this dish. When it comes to pigs’ feet, however, I am really picky about it. Thoughts always run through my mind my I eat pigs’ feet. Did they clean the feet thoroughly? Did they scrape the hair of the skin? Hey, what can I say? I am the son of a clean freak.

Ever since I was a kid, mom has always made me wash my hand with soap, rinse my bowl, chopsticks, spoons and cup with hot water before I eat. She would scream if she catches me eating street foods, and there were tons of street foods in front of my house. I used to watch other kids eat chuoi nuong (grilled banana cake) chuoi chien (fried banana cake) with saliva dripping down my mouth. One time she caught me munching on my favorite Banh Trang Keo Bach Nha, which is a caramel candy with coconut sandwiched in between the rice papers, she bit my head off right at the woman’s candy stall. After that incident, that woman never sold me anything again. I went back to Viet Nam couple years ago, I had street food everyday to make up for what I had missed when I was a kid. Unfortunately, I could not find one stall that would sell my favorite caramel candy. Was that lady the only one who made it? I still can recall that crunchy and honey flavor that I only had a chance to taste once.

Just trying to keep the site looks fresh. Can you guess who are the beautiful ladies?

Yes, Nguyen Co Don is his name. Can’t get any cornier than that, right? I forced myself to give his album, Co Don Giua Nhan Gian, a spin, and it was not a pleasurable experience at all. His style is concocting of Duy Manh’s and Luu Chi Vy’s mixture. While his voice is a reminiscent of Duy Manh, his delivery is as girlish as Luu Chi Vy’s. The outcome is pathetically oppressive. The title track, which comes from his own pen, is straight Chinese-melody jacked, from the beat to the traditional instruments (plaintive strings). It’s a shame that we’re still ripping Chinese’s tunes. I don’t even have the courage to delve into the rest of album, which filled with awful rap and digital-enhanced vocals; therefore, I stop here.

iLoveNgocLan.com gets a new skin once again. She is as lovely as always.

Ngo Thanh Van is no musician. Her previous attempts — The Gioi Tro Choi and Bi An Van Trang — have failed miserably, yet she has not stopped trying. Although My Way, her latest effort, shows some improvements, the album is still far from being successful. Her voice is still weak; her range is limited; and her phrasing lacks the emotion. However, she is a screen capturer, which makes up for her vocals. She might not be a good singer, but she is a great entertainer. She has the appearance, the grooves and the styles. These qualities shine through on her videos such as “Cho Nguoi Tinh Xa,” and “Hat Mot Minh” (not included on this album).

Ngo Thanh Van should focus more on MTV concepts and cease making albums. I would love to see her rendition of Trinh Cong Son’s “Quynh Huong” on video. Her voice is not elasticizing, but the production is tantalizing, and I am sure she can make it works on screen. On the other hand, I wish she had never done a remaking of “One More Try.” Never like the song to begin with, and the remix featuring Okio makes it worse. Ngo Thanh Van is way off tune, and she sounds like a bad karaoke amateur when switches up her vocals on the chorus. Okio’s flow is not only horrendous, but he also steals Diddy’s line, “Words can’t express what you mean to me.” Out of all the great lyricists (Rakim, Nas, Big and Pac), he uses Diddy who is not even a real MC. For god’s sake, spit your own rhymes, son. And one quick reminder: you’re featuring on Ngo Thanh Van’s My Way, not Mariah Carey’s Emancipation of Mimi.

I can’t stand the dude’s lovelorn reading on “Em Nho Anh” and can’t get with Tien Dat’s awful rapping on “Mua” either. “Lang Nghe Con Tim,” “My Way,” and “Dem Xot Xa” are equally weak. On the duet “Dung Lam Ta Canh Xa,” Tuan Hung’s overpowering vocals steal the show. The only track she can handle is “Trai Tim Tuong Da,” which has a hot beat for her to ride on.

Ngo Thanh Van is not listenable, but she is viewable. She looks sexy and elegance without appearing skanky, noticeably her style (white suits, hat, sunglasses, red dress, and her moves) on “Hat Mot Minh” video. I have to give her props for that. As far as singing, she never had style for it. She sounds fine as long as she sticks to the notes, but when she tries to do her own things, like “One More Try,” the result is unbearable.

Ted Gioia’s History of Jazz is clear, concise, and comprehensive. From the prehistory of jazz to the swing era to the rise of big band to the pathbreaking of bebop style, Gioia’s analytic force captures images of jazz figures on the pages. Jelly Roll Morton places his pistol on the piano; Louis Armstrong drops the music sheet during a recording session; Charlie Parker drinks his life away; Miles Davis makes history with the recording of Kind of Blue. This book is a required reading for my jazz history class, and I can see why my instructor, Brian Mann, selected it, and it is highly recommended for those who are interested in learning the remarkable stories behind an American original music.

James Weldon Johnson’s Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man is an intriguing story of a talented ragtime pianist and an outsider (an ex-colored who does not belong to either black or white) looking into the world of both races, and not sure which one to be identified with. After witnessing a tragical incident, he decided to live his life as a white man because of the “shame at being identified with a people that could with impunity be treated worse than animals.” Even though this book is also a required text for my jazz course, it has nothing to do with jazz (more of a race issue). Still, the novel is short and compelling.

Almost two years in production, the new Infosite finally comes to life. Although I have contributed the look and feel (all three themes currently available), the harder parts belong to my colleagues. Megg Brown has done an incredible job of hammering out the backend development while Tim Brown comes on board and nails down the CSS segments. Glad to see the site is redesigned!

Asia’s executives need to put their heads together to find a new subject because the returning of Mua He Ruc Ro 2005 is nothing but a huge hype. The core value of the presentation, which is showcasing of Vietnamese-American successful individuals, is weakening. What dominates the show is a whole bunch of fashion designers (do we need that many?) and Miss Vietnamese Americans that are only half-qualified. What even worse is the unentertaining musical part (with only a couple of performances stand out). Backed up by Asia’s ensemble, Nguyen Khang gives Truc Ho’s “Chang Khac Gi Nhau” a remarkable rendition.

Asia must be focusing strictly on the younger generation because, beside Thanh Tuyen and Tuan Vu, most of the singers are young, and half of the performances are filled with up-tempos and club joints. On the recovering of an ancient sugary pop “In My Fantasy,” Trish looks mad scary as a Japanese doll, and her rhythmless steps are scarier. Thai Doanh Doanh’s Chinese and English version of “Hoang Chau Cat Cat” drives me off the wall. Her performance is like an annoying filler of the show. They have nothing better to fill the space so they throw her in. What is up with the A boys? Dressing in hardcore army wears, and yet still appearing to be as soft as grapes, especially their feminine moves. They also recruited an MC who brags, “And now you want me cause I’m up in the charts.” Excuse me, what chart is he referring to? What the heck is Thien Kim doing in J-Lo-Versace dress? Her outfit is so loose that if she tries to dance, her clothes would drop. So she just stands there during the break trying to look cute, which appears more hoochie than cute to me.

Not only the performances are bad, the hosts are even worse. Viet Dzung steps out of lines a couple of times. When he tries to be funny about the “whipping,” he sounds extremely perverted for a man of his age to make such a sexual remark on a girl in her early twenties. I just could not believe it when he asks one of the girls to turn around and comments the scar on her back as “Vet Thu Tren Lung Ngua Hoang.” Doesn’t he deserve a smack for that? Trinh Hoi is not as bad as Viet Dzung, but his jokes are as tasteless as well. The way he introduces Bao Chau as “a new face with an expensive name.” Bao Chao doesn’t add anything exciting as a host either.

Asia 47 has to be one of Asia’s lamest videos ever. Please Asia, I beg you to discontinue making wasteful products. Be creative, find or write new music, and stop repeating yourself.

How could a cake be salted? It doesn’t sound right, but it tastes fine. The creamy tofu-like cake combined with savory topping, and accompanied by mixed fish sauce, bean sprouts and mixed greens make Banh Man an indelible dish. I had this unusual cake two years ago for the fist time prepared by Ba 3 who is an extraordinary sweet woman. I tried it and the delicious taste never escaped my mind. Over the weekend, she made it again as a special request from me so I can take a picture of it and, of course, have another piece of her wonderful Banh Man.

They say hotpot is too hot for the summer; I say hotpot is good for any time of the year, particularly the savory Mam Kho Ca Keo. I used to hate Ca Keo because of the bitter tang, but now I can’t have enough of that distinctive flavor. Unlike other fishes, nothing is wasted from Ca Keo. Even the fragile bone is comestible. Beside the fish, the eggplant is also scrumptious, especially when the Mam Kho’s broth infiltrated into the pale pulp. Of course, the hotpot wouldn’t be complete without the herbs, mixed greens, banana blossom, vermicelli and a bottle of beer. More than one beer might be required to wash down the salted broth (mainly when it gets thickened) and to cool down the explosive Ot Hiem (hot peppers). Just had Mam Kho Ca Keo two days ago, and now I am hankering for more.