Vegetarian Vietnamese Cuisine

I haven't posted much since I've been busy, and spoiled.  My husband has been doing a lot of the cooking, though now that he has an exciting new job, I will probably end up doing a lot of the cooking again, so watch for more posts soon :->

Meanwhile, I wanted to share a few pics of the gorgeous, delicious dishes we found at Mon Chay  a wonderful Vietnamese all-vegetarian restaurant in Carmel.  Apparently the recipes were created by Buddhist nuns and all the faux meats, broths, sauces, etc are created in-house.  It was absolutely delicious and so much fun to be able to order anything on the menu (except the sweet teas that had milk in them). 

For our first visit, we tried an amazing "hot pot" recipe with tofu in the most amazing, delicate, flavorful broth I've ever tasted:

We also ordered the deep-fried oyster mushrooms (a huge splurge but worth it! they melted in your mouth. Mmm!) and the lemon "chicken" -- tasty, but not quite my favorite.  

The next day (yes, we went back!) we also tried spring rolls, eggplant stir-fry, and Tyler got the famous "pho" (sp?  it's pronounced "fuh") soup which he loved no end.  I was too hungry to bother snapping pics that day ;-)