Good Morning, Booklovers!
Please welcome author Nancy Nau Sullivan to the blog today with a background article and recipe for her Blanche Murninghan mystery series.
The blog is yours, Nancy!
A Trip to Vietnam
by
Nancy Nau Sullivan
by
Nancy Nau Sullivan
I write about mystery in different countries, and my character, Blanche Murninghan, leads the way. Part-time journalist, part-time beach bum—and part-time amateur sleuth—she doesn't stay at home on Santa Maria Island. She travels, sometimes on assignment, but more often than not, she's caught up in some adventure that makes her wonder why she ever ended up there.
The latest installment finds Blanche in Vietnam where she is searching for Jean McMahon's mother, a Vietnamese beauty who married an American soldier. Blanche is also looking for the truth: What happened to her father, an Army scout killed in an ambush in Vietnam in 1970? He is still MIA...
Read all about it in the new Blanche Murninghan mystery, Mission Improbable: Vietnam, due June 29 from Torchflame/Light Messages Publishing.
Like Blanche, I went to Vietnam. (Unlike Blanche, I didn't have to fend off thugs who were thwarting my mission.) At first, I wasn't excited about making the trip. I had memories of the sixties—plus it's a long haul with at least sixteen hours in the air. Cousin Chuck talked me into it. Well, thank you, Cousin Chuck.
It was the most fabulous trip I've ever taken, not only for the sights (mountains, the sea, the colorful cities and rivers and jungles) but also for the FOOD and the PEOPLE.
A good number of Vietnamese study English and tourism on the university level, and they are eager to show off their beautiful country. I visited in late February, a less rainy, steamy time in the south, and it was delightful—except for the motorbikes. (There were some fifty million for nearly a hundred million people in 2019.) My guide, Thuy, told me, “Pretend you are in the stream and let the fish (that would be the motorbikes) swim around you.” She was intrepid and saved me, or I'd still be standing there, terrified. One evening I ventured from my hotel onto the sidewalk and looked up just in time to see three motorbikes (on the sidewalk) bearing down on me. I got out of that stream, fast.
Yes, the surprise of a lifetime was meeting the people, and especially the people who cook the food. Did I say FOOD? Vietnam has been occupied by the Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, French, and Americans, at least, and each country has had major influence in the kitchen. The French baguette is a street food; cheeses, honey, jams, spring rolls, vegetable dishes, noodles abound. The “egg coffee” is sort of a caffeine pudding in a cup. The breaded, fried, whole delicious fish arrives standing on its side in a metal rack. There are so many fruits in this tropical country—sopsour, gac, dragonfruit—fruit I'd never heard of much less tasted. It's a feast for the eye and the stomach.
I loved it all, but the treat, for me, was the serving of rice: all shades and preparation of yellow (earth), green (plant), red (fire), white (metal), and black (water), each color representing an element. At Propaganda bistro in Saigon, a busy bright restaurant buzzing during one lunch hour, I ate crunchy red rice with slivers of vegetables and shrimp. It was divine. The Vietnamese add fish sauce to nearly everything, it seems. It is an acquired, pungent taste—and aroma—of fermented fish or anchovy, and among the chili, garlic, ginger, and other saucey sauces of Vietnam, it's the one.
I leave you with my version of Com Do. But I'm afraid the only time I'll taste that kind of heaven again is to get in the plane, and go!
The latest installment finds Blanche in Vietnam where she is searching for Jean McMahon's mother, a Vietnamese beauty who married an American soldier. Blanche is also looking for the truth: What happened to her father, an Army scout killed in an ambush in Vietnam in 1970? He is still MIA...
Read all about it in the new Blanche Murninghan mystery, Mission Improbable: Vietnam, due June 29 from Torchflame/Light Messages Publishing.
Like Blanche, I went to Vietnam. (Unlike Blanche, I didn't have to fend off thugs who were thwarting my mission.) At first, I wasn't excited about making the trip. I had memories of the sixties—plus it's a long haul with at least sixteen hours in the air. Cousin Chuck talked me into it. Well, thank you, Cousin Chuck.
It was the most fabulous trip I've ever taken, not only for the sights (mountains, the sea, the colorful cities and rivers and jungles) but also for the FOOD and the PEOPLE.
A good number of Vietnamese study English and tourism on the university level, and they are eager to show off their beautiful country. I visited in late February, a less rainy, steamy time in the south, and it was delightful—except for the motorbikes. (There were some fifty million for nearly a hundred million people in 2019.) My guide, Thuy, told me, “Pretend you are in the stream and let the fish (that would be the motorbikes) swim around you.” She was intrepid and saved me, or I'd still be standing there, terrified. One evening I ventured from my hotel onto the sidewalk and looked up just in time to see three motorbikes (on the sidewalk) bearing down on me. I got out of that stream, fast.
Yes, the surprise of a lifetime was meeting the people, and especially the people who cook the food. Did I say FOOD? Vietnam has been occupied by the Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, French, and Americans, at least, and each country has had major influence in the kitchen. The French baguette is a street food; cheeses, honey, jams, spring rolls, vegetable dishes, noodles abound. The “egg coffee” is sort of a caffeine pudding in a cup. The breaded, fried, whole delicious fish arrives standing on its side in a metal rack. There are so many fruits in this tropical country—sopsour, gac, dragonfruit—fruit I'd never heard of much less tasted. It's a feast for the eye and the stomach.
I loved it all, but the treat, for me, was the serving of rice: all shades and preparation of yellow (earth), green (plant), red (fire), white (metal), and black (water), each color representing an element. At Propaganda bistro in Saigon, a busy bright restaurant buzzing during one lunch hour, I ate crunchy red rice with slivers of vegetables and shrimp. It was divine. The Vietnamese add fish sauce to nearly everything, it seems. It is an acquired, pungent taste—and aroma—of fermented fish or anchovy, and among the chili, garlic, ginger, and other saucey sauces of Vietnam, it's the one.
I leave you with my version of Com Do. But I'm afraid the only time I'll taste that kind of heaven again is to get in the plane, and go!
Vietnamese Red Rice (Com Do)
4 1/2 cups cooked long-grain white rice
3 tablespoons butter
3 large cloves garlic, finely minced
1 to 2 shallots, chopped (about ½ cup)
4 tablespoons tomato paste
1/3 cup of dry white wine or vegetable broth
1/2 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon white pepper
2 tablespoons fish sauce (optional)
1 cup chopped shrimp, pork, chicken, or beef (optional)
½ parsley or mint, finely chopped for garnish (optional)
Put the cooked rice in a bowl and leave in the refrigerator, loosely covered, for at least a day to dry out. The rice must be dry or it may stick together and get mushy. Separate the grains mid-way through the day to dry evenly.
Let rice come to room temperature before frying. Melt butter in a non-stick skillet at medium-high heat until foamy and add garlic, shallots, tomato paste, wine, salt, and pepper. Cook and stir for two minutes.
Add rice to the mixture and toss with two forks lightly to coat. Continue frying over medium-high heat for two to three minutes—or longer, cook and toss until rice is dry and crunchy. Turn off and let rice set. Add more salt and butter, to taste.
Serves four, in bowls. Sprinkle a bit of chopped parsley or mint on top. And pass the fish sauce—a little goes a long way!
4 1/2 cups cooked long-grain white rice
3 tablespoons butter
3 large cloves garlic, finely minced
1 to 2 shallots, chopped (about ½ cup)
4 tablespoons tomato paste
1/3 cup of dry white wine or vegetable broth
1/2 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon white pepper
2 tablespoons fish sauce (optional)
1 cup chopped shrimp, pork, chicken, or beef (optional)
½ parsley or mint, finely chopped for garnish (optional)
Put the cooked rice in a bowl and leave in the refrigerator, loosely covered, for at least a day to dry out. The rice must be dry or it may stick together and get mushy. Separate the grains mid-way through the day to dry evenly.
Let rice come to room temperature before frying. Melt butter in a non-stick skillet at medium-high heat until foamy and add garlic, shallots, tomato paste, wine, salt, and pepper. Cook and stir for two minutes.
Add rice to the mixture and toss with two forks lightly to coat. Continue frying over medium-high heat for two to three minutes—or longer, cook and toss until rice is dry and crunchy. Turn off and let rice set. Add more salt and butter, to taste.
Serves four, in bowls. Sprinkle a bit of chopped parsley or mint on top. And pass the fish sauce—a little goes a long way!
MISSION IMPROBABLE: VIETNAM
Genre: mystery
Release Date: June 29
It’s 2003, 30 years after the Vietnam War…
Blanche “Bang” Murninghan is sitting on the dock of the Peel ‘n Eat Pier on Santa Maria Island, sipping an excellent draft. She doesn’t see the woman eyeing her—not until she appears at Blanche’s side and forever disrupts a peaceful idyll in this quiet Gulf coast town. Blanche's reputation as an amateur sleuth has gotten around...
The woman is Jean McMahon, the daughter of an American soldier and a Vietnamese beauty. Jean needs Blanche's “determination.” Will Blanche go to Vietnam and help Jean look for her mother? The request hits Blanche hard. Her father was killed in Vietnam, and she’s never gotten over it.
When Blanche and Jean meet ex-pat “Stick” Dahlkamp in Ho Chi Minh City, the adventure ramps up—fast. They board Stick's motorcycle and cross rice paddies, his old stomping grounds as a former Ninth Infantry Division Riverine. But Stick is now owner of The Follies, a popular bar in Saigon, and he'd got friends everywhere who might help, and indeed they do. And don’t.
Shady characters keep hampering the search, but Blanche and company race on—to all the places Jean's mother met Hank McMahon, a former infantryman. Blanche's stubbornness beats down every door. She is helping Jean, and she's following her father’s trail. He left without a trace. Or did he?
Pre-Order/Buy Link:
Amazon: www.amazon.com/Mission-Improbable-Vietnam-Blanche-Murninghan-ebook/dp/B09TWP8VXX
B&N: www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mission-improbable-nancy-nau-sullivan-ms/1139300995
BooksAMillion: www.booksamillion.com/p/Mission-Improbable/Nancy-Nau-Sullivan/9781611534283
Genre: mystery
Release Date: June 29
It’s 2003, 30 years after the Vietnam War…
Blanche “Bang” Murninghan is sitting on the dock of the Peel ‘n Eat Pier on Santa Maria Island, sipping an excellent draft. She doesn’t see the woman eyeing her—not until she appears at Blanche’s side and forever disrupts a peaceful idyll in this quiet Gulf coast town. Blanche's reputation as an amateur sleuth has gotten around...
The woman is Jean McMahon, the daughter of an American soldier and a Vietnamese beauty. Jean needs Blanche's “determination.” Will Blanche go to Vietnam and help Jean look for her mother? The request hits Blanche hard. Her father was killed in Vietnam, and she’s never gotten over it.
When Blanche and Jean meet ex-pat “Stick” Dahlkamp in Ho Chi Minh City, the adventure ramps up—fast. They board Stick's motorcycle and cross rice paddies, his old stomping grounds as a former Ninth Infantry Division Riverine. But Stick is now owner of The Follies, a popular bar in Saigon, and he'd got friends everywhere who might help, and indeed they do. And don’t.
Shady characters keep hampering the search, but Blanche and company race on—to all the places Jean's mother met Hank McMahon, a former infantryman. Blanche's stubbornness beats down every door. She is helping Jean, and she's following her father’s trail. He left without a trace. Or did he?
Pre-Order/Buy Link:
Amazon: www.amazon.com/Mission-Improbable-Vietnam-Blanche-Murninghan-ebook/dp/B09TWP8VXX
B&N: www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mission-improbable-nancy-nau-sullivan-ms/1139300995
BooksAMillion: www.booksamillion.com/p/Mission-Improbable/Nancy-Nau-Sullivan/9781611534283
Nancy Nau Sullivan's Mission Improbable: Vietnam is the third installment in the Blanche Murninghan mystery series—the first, Saving Tuna Street was nominated for best mystery, 2020, at Foreword Reviews. Nancy, a former newspaper journalist, taught English in Mexico, Argentina, and at a boys' prison. She lives in Northwest Indiana and Anna Maria Island, Florida.
Her website: www.nancynausullivan.com.
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