Nguyen Thanh Nga Long time no go to market Going to Bac Ha, I took him to Thang Co Double cup of corn wine rises to the sky… That’s the flute flying Brocade scarf flying Colorful winding A cup of drunkenness So many cups are also drunk I hear the horse neighing I hear the trumpet Thousands of dresses covered the market The highlands fly up colorfully with golden sunshine The smell of buffalo mixed with the smell of smoke Warmly shrugging off the shoulders, talking and laughing You are like a boy riding a horse Walking with you is full of love I bought the highland shirt The blanket for you to cover Don’t forget the bottle of wine to drink with
Si Ma Cai Although Bac Ha has “hundreds of bundles” () Still missing a hug to my chest The white plateau is long gone
poppies Only your hair is left flying like Thai stream, Tay stream My waist is as slim as Khau Pha Mong pass I still remember Your lips are like rice flowers Burn us in the cold
fair… ()Bac Ha comes from the Tay language “Pac ha” which means “hundred bundles of life”. Touch Tran Le Chien I touch you, my heart is on fire Touching the smile makes me feel at ease Touching the drunken yeast with a drop of wine Touching the soulmate we give each other… Touch your eyes, your lips melt in your breath Reality like a dream vibrates back We… touching each other thought it was a legend A region of perfection… dissolved in nothingness Is it real or a dream only when we feel Touching the awakening thought of a hundred years! Mr. Thien Le Tien Vuong On the other side, Mr. Evil huffed Mr. Thien doesn’t talk… just smiles The temple door stands at the gable Mr. Thien looked at life, happy? Colorful life, no no The way to the vast Buddha realm My soul is half Buddha, half ghost Looking at Mr. Thien is like a relative Go to the temple and gently put your feet up Stepping through the mundane is near the fairy realm Holding hands and bowing to the door of meditation How many troubles and sorrows will melt Baby, go to Nirvana What do you do with worries in life? Looking at Mr. Thien standing and smiling Sounds like a giggle, human life… ephemeral.

Illustration Green bananas are peeled by my mother, cut into bite-sized pieces, all of them. The bacon is just cut into pieces and marinated with some main noodles, spices, chopped dried onions. The bean covers are cut into square pieces, fried until golden brown. In the past, to cook banana pea snails, people often used toasted golden roasted turmeric soaked apricot beans. When eating, the piece of beans still has a slight smell of coal smoke, so it has a very unique flavor. But now, the baked beans in the market have gradually disappeared. The pot of broth is boiled from the bones of the pipe that has boiled on the stove. Green onions, perilla, guise leaves, and the smell of Chinese boats I have also washed and chopped. When the ingredients were almost ready, my mother told me to wash the snails and put them in a pot of boiling water with a little salt. When the snails are cooked, the mother quickly pours them into the basket and then drains cold water. Snail juice is gently decanted into a bowl after settling. My two brothers huddled together to help my mother. In just a moment, the snail meat was cooked in a bowl and my mother told me to wash it again with water mixed with diluted vinegar and then marinate with some main noodles, delicious fish sauce, turmeric powder, and cooking oil. Put the pot on the stove, my mother fried the dried onions very fragrant and then put the snails into the stir-fry. With snails, she only lightly sautéed them and when she came out, she didn’t forget to pick up a bit of shrimp paste to enhance the taste. Remove the snails into the bowl, my mother continued to stir-fry the pork belly with only a little bit of fire, then put the bananas in and stir-fry together to really absorb the salt and fish sauce. At this time, my mother put a plate of golden fried beans and sautéed them with bananas and meat, then poured the broth into the pot, simmering. There are many ways to prepare the broth for the banana bean vermicelli, but my mother often chooses to “fight” together the simmered bone broth and boiled snail water in the pot after stirring the other ingredients. Add a bowl of natural or batch vinegar to the pot of broth to get a mild sour taste and then simmer. When the banana is ripe, we will have a thick pot of banana bean broth, all the ingredients blend together with a harmonious taste. The pot of bananas and beans is boiling and fragrant in the kitchen. I divide the vermicelli into each bowl, put the fried snails on top with green onions and herbs so that my mother can fill the broth with bananas, beans, and meat on top. The bowl of white vermicelli is mixed with a thick broth with pieces of banana, fresh yellow beans with a little green onion on top, which is eye-catching. The banana bean snail noodle dish is finished, the whole family gathers together to enjoy. Everyone scoffed with the fatty leopard flavor of meat, the flesh of bananas, the crunchy sweetness of snails, the mild sourness of the broth served with raw vegetables, adding a bit of hot chili pepper to the tip of the tongue. Raw vegetables served with this vermicelli dish cannot lack lettuce, coriander, herbs, perilla, a little banana flower and thinly sliced ​​banana stem. Later, I had the opportunity to go to many places, enjoy some other local dishes. But… for some reason, I always remember the taste of my mother’s idyllic banana bean noodle soup cooked in the small kitchen, remembering the moments spent with my parents and brother in the old days.