Flower arranger shares art

by Thanh An

Class act: Professor Yasuhito instructs students on how to arrange a flower vase. — VNS Photos Thanh An

HA NOI — Sasaki Yasuhito, a professor of Japanese flower arranging, carefully places each flower of a rose bouquet into a well-decorated vase and to present in a show introducing floral art.

His audiences watch with unwavering concentration as he skillfully moves his hands and they constantly ask how to create spectacular flower vases like his.

Yasuhito has come to Viet Nam several times to conduct workshops on floral art. During his latest visit to Ha Noi he said he had a chance to see many flower shops around the city. "To my surprise, there are not only a lot of flower shops but also many kinds of flowers of all different colours. I was thrilled to see that Vietnamese people have a passion for flower arranging like many nations I have travelled to in the world," said Yasuhito.

He emphasised that the Vietnamese only use flowers and put them into round vases, while the Japanese tend to decorate a vase with both flowers and plants to show balance and harmony.

It's natural: The art of flower arranging dates back to the 16th century, with many contrasting but complimentary materials expressing the beauty of a natural landscape.

As a child, he took an interest in flowers and plants after watching his father work in the garden. Yasuhito, who has spent years studying the art of flower arranging, said: "The floral art, meaning ikebana in Japanese, was created 550 years ago. At first, it was owned by monks and represented the spirit of Buddhism. A long time after, it has become part of Japanese culture."

According to him, the ikebana is divided into two basic styles: rikka and shoka, both of which are classical styles and linked with the Japanese art of flower arranging today.

"Rikka originated in the 16th century, with many contrasting but complimentary materials expressing the beauty of the natural landscape. It was enjoyed by people of higher class in the old society to express their wealth. Shoka originated in the 18th century, presenting a bright feeling of lower class and includes simple materials," said Yasuhito.

After explaining the origins of ikebana, he turned to his audience and told a story about his first lesson—the moment he decided to enter the world of ikebana.

He said most of people do not realise that each time they pick a flower, they are taking its life forever. Thus, the flower does not remain as beautiful as it looks when it is "alive", said Yasuhito.

Yasuhito continued: "The main concept of ikebana is plants are also living creatures like human beings. Thus, people should appreciate the life of plants each time they are put into a vase. Ikebana highlights the beauty of nature. In flower arranging, long plants are used to represent the image of mountains, while short ones are used to represent the image of fields and villages underneath."

After a brief introduction to ikebana, Yasuhito began modelling an example of ikebana free style to his audiences. He looks enthusiastic when he shows some visitors how to arrange flowers as well as gives them recommendations after they finish their work.

Listening carefully to Yasuhito's advice, Nguyen Thi Ly, a female guest from the Trung Diep Tea Club, said in excitement that she was completely impressed by the show.

"Professor Yasuhito has taught me a precious lesson and a different view of floral art. In order to create a nice flower pot, you have to learn to appreciate the life of plants just like yours," she said.

Vu Le Quyen, another guest, said: "I think the spirit of ikebana is rising ahead to the sun."

When visitors asked him more about his art, Yasuhito was eager to offer them books for further study. Yasuhito said he was scheduled to conduct workshops in HCM City and Da Nang next month. "I wish to represent Japan's love of nature to the world through ikebana and I hope that the Vietnamese will come to enjoy that kind of culture as well," said Yasuhito. — VNS

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Paris marks Ha Noi anniversary

PARIS — A gala night to celebrate the millennial anniversary of Ha Noi was held at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris on Friday.

The celebration was organised by Vietnam Airlines in collaboration with the Vietnamese Embassy in France, the Viet Nam Permanent Delegation to UNESCO and the Ha Noi Municipal People's Committee.

Addressing the function, Vietnamese Ambassador to France Le Kinh Tai spoke highly of the initiative to organise the event and stressed traditional co-operation in many areas between Viet Nam and France, particularly in culture and arts.

The selection of the UNESCO headquarters in Paris for the function showed Viet Nam's gratitude to French leaders and UNESCO for practical assistance to Ha Noi's millennium celebrations, he said.

Diplomats picture capital city

HA NOI — Almost 200 photos taken and collected by foreign ambassadors and diplomats working in Viet Nam, as well as researchers, artists and photographers from many countries, are on display at an exhibition that opened in Ha Noi on Friday.

The black and white and colour photos record the simple moments of a peaceful Ha Noi, which is now on the path of development and integration.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Ha Noi People's Committee Vice Chairman Ngo Thi Thanh Hang said the exhibition helped strengthen friendship, understanding and cultural exchanges with international friends.

The exhibition at 45 Trang Tien St ends tomorrow.

Germany hosts Viet Nam exhibition

BERLIN — A photo exhibition on Viet Nam opened on Thursday in Wiesbasde, in the Germany state of Hessen to mark the 35th anniversary of the two countries' diplomatic ties.

In the exhibition are photos taken by 50 young Hessen residents during their visit to Viet Nam last month.

Addressing the opening ceremony, Hessen Culture Minister Dorothea Henzler and Viet Nam Consul General Nguyen Huu Trang praised the two countries' activities of the Viet Nam Year in Germany and the Germany Year in Viet Nam, saying that such programmes would help links.

The exhibition will run till October 29.

Meanwhile, a photo exhibition was held in Duesseldorf, in Nordrhein-Westfalen state.

On display were 50 photos taken by Vietnamese children affected by Agent Orange/dioxin. The display was put together with Schmitz Stiftung Fund assistance. — VNA/VNS

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Gala night in Paris celebrates Hanoi’s anniversary

A gala night to celebrate the millennial anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi has been opened at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

The gala, organized by the national flag carrier, Vietnam Airlines, in collaboration with the Vietnamese Embassy in France, the Vietnam Permanent Delegation to UNESCO and the Hanoi Municipal People’s Committee, was part of oversea activities to celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi next month.

It was also held at a time when the Thang Long Royal Citadel has been recognized by UNESCO as a cultural heritage site of the world.

Addressing the function, Vietnamese Ambassador to France Le Kinh Tai spoke highly of the initiative to organize the event and stressed traditional cooperation in many areas, particularly in culture and arts, between Vietnam and France.

The selection of the UNESCO headquarters in Paris as a venue for the gala shows Vietnam’s gratitude to French leaders and UNESCO for practical assistance to Hanoi’s millennium celebrations, he said.

The gala night featured performances by Vietnamese singers and an art troupe from the Thang Long Song and Dance Theater.

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Gala night in Paris celebrates Hanoi’s anniversary

A gala night to celebrate the millennial anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi has been opened at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

The gala, organized by the national flag carrier, Vietnam Airlines, in collaboration with the Vietnamese Embassy in France, the Vietnam Permanent Delegation to UNESCO and the Hanoi Municipal People’s Committee, was part of oversea activities to celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi next month.

It was also held at a time when the Thang Long Royal Citadel has been recognized by UNESCO as a cultural heritage site of the world.

Addressing the function, Vietnamese Ambassador to France Le Kinh Tai spoke highly of the initiative to organize the event and stressed traditional cooperation in many areas, particularly in culture and arts, between Vietnam and France.

The selection of the UNESCO headquarters in Paris as a venue for the gala shows Vietnam’s gratitude to French leaders and UNESCO for practical assistance to Hanoi’s millennium celebrations, he said.

The gala night featured performances by Vietnamese singers and an art troupe from the Thang Long Song and Dance Theater.

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HCMC street ushers in fine dining options

They say that British colonizers left their former ‘assets’ with railways, while the French left bread and coffee. The quip is intended to be derisive, pointing to superior British planning and nation-building. But Ho Chi Minh City’s foodies may well disagree.

This city of seven or so million is thankful for the culinary tradition the French left. Along with the one million or so Chinese immigrants, the southern spicier take on Vietnamese food and the multitude of cuisines that have sprung up around the city over the last decade of rampant economic growth, Ho Chi Minh City has become a Mecca for lovers of fine food.

Among the most popular streets for food lovers in the southern melting pot are the small, narrow and quiet streets of Ngo Van Nam, Le Thanh Ton, Suong Nguyet Anh in District 1 and Nguyen Thi Dieu, Le Ngo Cat and Le Quy Don in District 3.

The secret of their success could well lie in the three features they share, Sai Gon Tiep Thi (Sai Gon Marketing) newspaper reported.

They are all located near downtown but with less traffic and a wide variety of local and international dishes available at countless roadside restaurants, bars and coffee shops.

Le Quy Don is among the latest destinations to enter the list of popular food streets in the southern hub.

Within the last 12 months, countless restaurants, bars and café have been sprung up on the quiet street, luring customers from across the country to the small area for a change of scenery and new dinning experiences.

Opened in 1992, Cay Tre (Bamboo) Restaurant charms customers as a throwback Vietnamese garden villa.

The humble eatery which can serve up to 100 guests a time offers a wide range of traditional Vietnamese food ranging from simple, inexpensive daily treats to fancier dishes like chicken cooked in clay pots and hot pot made from seafood and flowers.

Seafood lovers can also head for Ngoc Suong Restaurant for some of its renowned specialties of fish salad, seafood spring rolls and raw oysters.

“Le Quy Don was a quiet street with little light and few people passing by,” Ngoc Cuong, marketing director of the restaurant, said when recalling when Ngoc Suong first opened its doors in 1996.

Pricey Au Manoir De Khai also found a place in an old villa at the corner of Le Quy Don and Dien Bien Phu Street and serves up well-to-do locals with a premium French dining experience.

Residents living on the street soon found their homes surrounded with a bevy of dinning options, from the most luxurious dishes to bizarre delicacies of ethnic minorities.

More menu options at the street’s eateries also mean new clientele.

A few years ago, most restaurants only attracted businessmen and expats but the venues nowadays are packed with office workers and young, hip locals.

The high concentration eateries and coffee shops on the small streets has also motivated the business owners to look for more menu options, services, new targeted customers and improve the venues’ designs to compete with their next-door rivals.

Nha Toi (My House) Restaurant takes pride in its barbecue dishes while Red Tile Restaurant lures diners with its collection of rare delicacies from rural areas of Cambodia such as mouse and dried fish and catfish from Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia.

The increasing number of food streets like Le Quy Don is, after all, a part of HCMC’s booming food industry where people are know for their love of food and their willingness to spend to prove it.
 

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Bun cha, Hanoi’s ‘most precious’

It is hard to find someone with greater knowledge of food and culture in Hanoi than writer Thach Lam.

In his famous work, Hanoi - 36 Old Quarters, a rustic Confucian scholar, upon smelling bun cha, or rice noodles with grilled pork patties, during his first visit to the capital, breaks into verse: “In 1000-year-old Thang Long, is it the most precious object?”

Bun cha, served with small, savory, crispy, caramelized pork and thin rice vermicelli on a bed of fresh vegetables and mixed fish sauce, is considered one of Hanoi’s 15 quintessential noodle dishes.

Central to it are the tiny grilled cha vien (pork patties) or cha mieng (fatty pork slices) or both.

Bun cha uses ground pork shaped into a meatball. When meat is thinly sliced or shaped into a ball, it must have a small portion of fat to keep its juices when grilling. Traditionally, pork shoulder is a perfect choice for cooking this dish because it is naturally firm meat and has the ideal proportion of fat.

Well-marinated meat is skewed on a bamboo stick or placed on a barbecue and grilled on charcoal.

The two kinds of cha sometimes arrive on separate plates and are dipped in a mixture of fish sauce, vinegar, chili, and garlic, sometimes with lightly pickled green papaya and carrot.

The smoky, savory caramelized pork pieces are dipped in the sauce and eaten along with the noodles.

The fish sauce mixture plays an important role in blending the tastes and flavors. Making it is considered as an art by itself. For instance, if the pork turns out to be salty, less fish sauce is used, and vice versa.

These are accompanied by a basket of fresh herbs and vegetables whose contents vary from place to place. But the most common are small lettuces, bean spouts, curled shredded morning glory stems, cilantro, and other minty, spicy herbs.

The vegetables and rice vermicelli are arranged in a single plate.

Some chase the vermicelli and meat down with a crunchy piece of lettuce or zesty herb. Others choose the wrap and dip approach, using the lettuce to bundle up some bun, a piece of pork, and some herbs and dunking the package in the broth before biting on it.

The classic accompaniment to bun cha is nem (spring rolls), which are a combination of minced pork, vermicelli, mushrooms, and bean spouts. They are made by being wrapped like an egg roll in rice paper and fried. They can usually be ordered with beer in Hanoi.

Though the origin of bun cha is not clearly known, it has for long been a popular dish that can be found on a traditional shoulder pole at street corners as well as in restaurants around Vietnam and in Vietnamese restaurants abroad.

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Hanoi on show through photographers’ eyes

Some 200 photos taken and collected by foreign ambassadors and diplomats working in Vietnam, as well as researchers, artists and photographers from many countries worldwide, are on display at an exhibition which opened in Hanoi on Friday.

The black and white and color photos record the simple moments of an ancient and peaceful Hanoi which is now on the pathway of development and integration.

Visitors have a chance to share with international friends their feelings about the capital city’s relics and landscapes through photos of Hoan Kiem Lake, Hoa Phong Tower, The Huc Bridge, Tortoise Tower, Ngoc Son Temple, the Temple of Literature with doctors’ steles and antique Khue Van Cac (Pavilion of Constellation of Literature), as well as Long Bien Bridge and Tran Quoc Pagoda.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Ngo Thi Thanh Hang said the exhibition is a beautiful flower in the multicolored flower garden celebrating the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi, helping strengthen the friendship, understanding and cultural exchange between people of Hanoi and Vietnam with international friends.

The exhibition, entitled “1,000-year-old Hanoi through international friends’ eyes”, will run until September 28 at 45 Trang Tien Street.

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