On my last day in Baltimore, while Lan of Angry Asian Creations was at work, I toyed with the idea of exploring the city, but really, I was on vacation because I needed a rest. So that's what I did. The Maryland blue crabs and bean pie will just have to wait for my next visit. After walking 7 miles all over Washington, D.C. two days before, and Mount Vernon the day after, being a couch potato and watching the Cooking Channel and the British version of Law and Order seemed just right.
Shortly before Lan came home from work, I figured I should get off the sofa and make something for dinner. I promised her Hainanese chicken rice (although it still never tastes like how my mom does it). I raided her pantry, and remembering the bean thread noodles with tree fungus and dried shrimp that my mom used to make when I was little, decided to make Mien Bap Cai Nam Meo Trung (Vietnamese Bean Thread Vermicelli Noodles with Cabbage, Tree Fungus, and Eggs). The bean thread noodles were cooked in the leftover chicken broth from making the chicken rice. It's not really a soup, but more of a lightly brothed noodle dish. It certainly can be a soup if you wish though. My youngest aunt often uses the leftover chicken broth from making Hainanese chicken rice and adds bean thread noodles and shredded chicken, but I was afraid there wouldn't be enough chicken to go around so I made this instead.
