Vietnamese Vermicelli Noodle Bowl (Bun Dac Biet)

I'm finally back in town. Actually I've been back since Saturday night but I am still in an emotional rut. If I don't think about it too much, I'm okay but once I start to think about it...well I get really sad. Life is just not fair sometimes.

Everyone at work thought I took a week long vacation. It wasn't exactly what I would call a vacation. I flew back to San Diego to attend my dear cousin's funeral. She was way too young but I guess I am comforted by the fact that she is no longer suffering. It was a tough week for everyone.

Tonight I decided to make Vietnamese vermicelli noodle bowl aka bun (pronounced boon). I marinated some boneless skinless thighs and shrimp last night. Today I grilled the chicken and shrimp, reheated the frozen egg rolls, made the sauce, cut up the veggies and boiled the rice vermicelli.

- Grilled Lemongrass Chicken (Use same recipe for the chicken found in this post for com ga nuong sa recipe here)
- Grilled Shrimp (marinate shrimp with the chicken and then grill)
- Egg rolls (I had frozen fried egg rolls. They are really handy. I just reheat them in the oven and they crisp up nicely.)
- Vermicelli noodles, boiled

Garnish:
Lettuce
Bean sprouts
Green onions, sliced (I also like to grill them when I use a grill pan or George Foreman)
Cilantro, sliced
Carrots, julienned
Mint leaves
Peanuts, chopped
Fried shallots, onions or garlic

Nuoc Cham (recipe here)

Assemble everything in a large pho bowl. (The bowls are from my mom. I brought back two dozen pho bowls when I drove to California.)