Green: A must-have for Tet is Mut Dua, which is basically candied coconut meat. The young coconut meat is glazed, sprinkled, dipped, covered, what have you, in sugar for a sweet combination of chewy coconut and sugar. The green color, of course, is added afterwards, but the great thing about candied treats during Tet is this: anything can be candied and colored -- Loquats, kumquats, peanuts, cashews, coconuts, ginger, lotus seeds, soursop, tamarind, sesame, etc. The different varieties of sweets add the necessary colors to the household, and green is always important for my house.
The yellow of flowers such as Hoa Cuc and Hoa Mai cannot be left out. During Tet, in every household you will find at least one flower pot with yellow flowers. Might I add, yellow is an auspicious, lucky number for me, and my name even refers to the yellow of royalty.
The red of Li Xi (lucky money envelopes) and of firecrackers are a must during Tet. But red also appears in the form of red roasted watermelon seeds. Eating these tiny seeds is a favorite past time, especially for young kids. It takes SKILLS to crack these things open without breaking the shell so that you can pull out the creamy, crunchy meat in the center. I can't tell you how many I'm able to eat in one sitting, but they are quite addictive. Splitting them open, breaking the shells down the side, then pulling out the meat -- it should take no more than 1.5 seconds, if even that, but you'd be surprised how long it takes some folks to tackle one single watermelon seed. The telltale signs of eating these things? Red finger tips!
Green: A must-have for Tet is Mut Dua, which is basically candied coconut meat. The young coconut meat is glazed, sprinkled, dipped, covered, what have you, in sugar for a sweet combination of chewy coconut and sugar. The green color, of course, is added afterwards, but the great thing about candied treats during Tet is this: anything can be candied and colored -- Loquats, kumquats, peanuts, cashews, coconuts, ginger, lotus seeds, soursop, tamarind, sesame, etc. The different varieties of sweets add the necessary colors to the household, and green is always important for my house.
The yellow of flowers such as Hoa Cuc and Hoa Mai cannot be left out. During Tet, in every household you will find at least one flower pot with yellow flowers. Might I add, yellow is an auspicious, lucky number for me, and my name even refers to the yellow of royalty.
The red of Li Xi (lucky money envelopes) and of firecrackers are a must during Tet. But red also appears in the form of red roasted watermelon seeds. Eating these tiny seeds is a favorite past time, especially for young kids. It takes SKILLS to crack these things open without breaking the shell so that you can pull out the creamy, crunchy meat in the center. I can't tell you how many I'm able to eat in one sitting, but they are quite addictive. Splitting them open, breaking the shells down the side, then pulling out the meat -- it should take no more than 1.5 seconds, if even that, but you'd be surprised how long it takes some folks to tackle one single watermelon seed. The telltale signs of eating these things? Red finger tips!
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