Hi Friend,

Something new is simmering, and bringing back some old favourites too!

I’ll be pressing pause on the In My Kitchen with Paula podcast for the next month — but for good reason! I’m taking this time to start creating something I’ve been dreaming about for a long time:
a travel journal designed for culinary adventurers like us.

But this isn’t your typical journal. It’s part guide, part keepsake, part mindset tool — a space to capture the flavours, connections, and reflections from your journeys. Grounded in mindfulness-based strengths practices, it offers prompts to collect recipes, notice the moments that move you, and gently transform the way you travel.

Inspired by my travel principles — let it marinate, bend with the unexpected, and let meaning unfold — this journal is less about planning and more about presence.

In the meantime, I will be introducing you to some of my favourite culinary people (our original In My Kitchen Hosts) and our most popular culinary experiences and providing the recipes here available just for our IMK community. 

Raymond’s Vietnamese Noodle Bowl

I have been craving this dish since June, and I plan to make it very soon!  I learned to make this dish with Raymond who was an In My Kitchen Host.  This was one of  THE favourite on-line cooking classes that we did..many times.  I love it for its freshness, but also there are so many little “dishes” that you learn to make within the main dish.

About the dish, as described by Raymond:

Bún is what we call rice-vermicelli in Viet. It is so common in many of our meals that any dish that includes rice-vermicelli is called Bún. In most restaurant menus, Bún has its own category which usually include BúnBò Nướng (grilled Beef), BúnGà Nướng (Grilled Chicken) or BúnChả Giò (Spring Rolls).  

Bún is a light meal that can be eaten anytime of day often anytime after breakfast and before dinner. We call it a light meal instead of a snack. On a hot day, Bún can also be a refreshing and substantive dinner.

Check out the Recipe Here

You know how much I love — and am endlessly curious about — the person behind the recipe.

When I first started In My Kitchen and brought on a new host, the very first thing we’d do was sit down for an interview. I wanted to truly get to know them — their stories, their roots, and the dishes that shaped them.

Here’s a little glimpse into part of my conversation with Raymond (below).
But even better? You can listen to our more recent podcast interview right here.

Every Dish Has a Story — This One’s Raymond’s

Where were you born?

I was born in Vietnam, and for the first 10 years of my life we lived in a small provincial town built by the French with wide boulevards that teemed with food-vendors from morning to night.  Steps away from rice paddies where foraged herbs can be bought directly from the farmers working the rice paddies..

Can you tell us a little bit about the history of your family?

 Our family arrived in Winnipeg at a time where we only had 2 chinese general grocers in its historical Chinatown. We could only find dried goods like spices, condiments, rice and noodles. As for fresh herbs, cilantro was only available occasionally. For those first few years, recreating family meals on weekends with limited ingredients made us extremely resourceful. Like the time we substituted shredded pork rinds with cellophane noodles for “Bun Bi” and wished for one day to have all the necessary ingredients  to create that authentic taste of our favourite comfort foods again.

Not knowing at the time that 2 years after we arrived in Winnipeg our family would open the 1st South-East Asian grocery in Winnipeg. From that moment on food became the central focus of our family. I remember the very first  time we received fresh herbs from Hawaii. They were the freshest, most fragrant herbs we smelled since we left Vietnam. That weekend we all cooked together and made our favourite dishes like “Canh Chua” (spicy tamarind soup), “Goi Coun” (Salad Rolls) and “Bun Thit Nuong”. Everyone took turns to eat between shifts working at the store. This would establish our shared weekend family gathering for years to come.

At the store, I was assigned the go-to person for English speaking customers where adventurous locals would want to know what to call certain herbs in English. Little I knew at the time that apart from scientific names, most of what we eat have no English names. So we hyphenated “Vietnamese” to any herbs resembling what aroma already existed in English. 

How do you express your love for cooking and culture?

I did not appreciate my own culture outside our home when I was growing up. Vietnamese food was not well received outside family circles until recent years. However, I learned from a young age that countries have borders but flavours will cross cultures. For example “cilantro” is an ingredient used for cooking in many cultures based on  warm climates. Making anything with cilantro is a good way to introduce your cooking to people from other cultures with a common ingredient.

 What are some of your favourite ingredients to use and why?

Lime, cilantro, chillies and fish sauce. These 4 ingredients can turn any supermarket finds into Vietnamese food. Lime with salt and pepper is an excellent mix for steamed fish or any shellfish. A few slices of red Thai chilies and fish sauce in a small dipping bowl is a meal staple for many Southeast Asian tables.

What makes Viet cuisine special, what are your favourite dishes?

A typical Vietnamese meal has at least 50% vegetables, 25% protein, and 25% carbohydrates. We eat at least half of the vegetables raw. Leafy lettuce is often used for wrapping. My favourite dishes to share are self-assembling salad rolls and noodle bowls. 

What do you love most about cooking?

Cooking relaxes me and is also nourishing for my mental wellbeing. Learning to cook is a lifelong passion because sharing and appreciating differences in food cultures make learning more enjoyable.  

Do you often cook together as a family?

We were a family of foodies before the term “foodies” was coined. Not surprising as our new life in Canada, for many years, evolved around a food market. To this day, every chance I visit my siblings, food is often front centre of our visits. We often ask for each other's specialty. It’s incredibly reassuring, even when we disagree, we still find my brother Giang makes the best  Bun Vit Chao (Duck in Preserved Tofu w/ noodles).

Happy Travels, Happy Cooking!

P.S If you would be interested in our Vietnamese Noodle Bowl on-line culinary experience, just hit reply to this email and let me know. We can always bring it back and it is a fun way to connect.