Lucky Money
February 3, 2011
Today is the Vietnamese New Year known as Tết, so to all my Vietnamese and non-Vietnamese friends, chúc mừng năm mới!
I have fond memories of childhood Tết celebrations where adults would give me red envelopes containing “lucky” money, also called Li Xi. The giving of Li Xi–usually adults giving children the red envelopes–is a tradition that symbolizes the giving of luck and wealth for the new year.
Advertisement
Now I get it!
I went to Vietnam Cafe today for some Pho again, and people were saying happy new year to one another. And today is was surprisingly empty, do people take this day off traditionally? If so I feel bad about making them work. If not, you can say that I was alive with the spirit of the Vietnamese new year and celebrated in style with a hot bowl of Pho, and some very, very excellent egg rolls (perfectly done, and seasoned). By the way I got the beef PHO COMBO today, it had thin sliced beef, chunks of roast, sausage, meatballs, and tripe. I didn’t realize it had tripe until I wondered what the strange substance was and closely reexamined the menu. All in all the flavor disguised the tripe, but the texture was still kinda weird. I have to say the roast added additional yummy, and the sausage was very smooth reminding me of braunschweiger , liverwurst, or even whole hog sausage. and On that note I leave you with a congratulation for all of your people, Happy New Year, may the new year bring you many revolutions that you own, and a life that takes shape in your own vision!!!