Snappin'

I remember 11 years ago, I took a photo of a bowl of pho I was about to enjoy. I had borrowed a Nikon from Thu and I was just taking random photos that day when I decided to stop down at Wok N Roll underneath the Scientology building on Guadalupe. If you lived in Austin in '99, you might be saying what the hell are you doing going there for pho, but I'm telling you, it was better than 90% of the offerings in Austin at that time. I had a few exposures left on the roll, and as I'm sitting down to enjoy it, that pho bowl was inordinately pretty to me at that moment, so I took a photo of it. It was a moment I wanted to preserve. I developed the roll a few days later, and the photo looked better than it did in person.

I hung it up in my bedroom because it was certainly worthy of being hung on my wall, or in this case, scotch taped. All I knew was that if I was having a shitty hour, I could always go eat pho.

Back then, I got a lot of quizzical looks and questions asking me what it was doing up on my wall. What, do you not like beauty, weird person?

I've seen peoples' Twitter and Facebook pages the past couple of years and there's a shit load of food-photo-taking going on.

The last thing I would want while I'm eating a Double Stack at Wendy's is to get an update, on my cell phone,  from my very good friend, showing me how good their meal was at the moment. Just like how I don't want to be at a red light on Kirby and Westheimer, with some tool rolling up next to me, revving the V-12 engine on his Bentley as it rattles the duct-taped side window of my '97 4Runner.

The food is really good here in Vietnam. I get it, you get it. But no photos of food from me.

Pho Gia Truyen lived up to its reputation. No lime or Hoisin, though.

What's great about food is that no matter how beautiful it is in the beginning, it all ends up looking the same at the end. For all of us.

Some of us exit the digestive tracts a little quicker

(To be sung to the tune of Aerosmith's "Cryin'")

There was a time
When I took a pic of my pho meal
With a borrowed Nikon SLR
I developed the photo, yeah
Hung it up on my bedroom wall
You went and asked me "What would you do that for?"

Listen, all I wanted, was beauty to lighten up my mood
I know, now all I see on Facebook are photos of your food.

Now you're snappin' pics of your meals
And I'm wonderin' what's the big deal?
Your hypocrisy is killin' me

Don't take my pho-to

Yesterday was Valentine's Day, and I didn't know they celebrated it all over the world.

I doubt there's a KFC this romantic in Kentucky

Alas, my first American meal in Hanoi was still a family affair. Four of my siblings got their paychecks from the Colonel back in the day, and as a young boy, I sure ate a lot of it as a result of their 'no one-day old chicken will be sold at Kentucky Fried Chicken' policy. A couple of buckets were a common sight at my house come 11 pm, about the time Alfred Hitchcock Presents aired. 

The KFC was decked out with balloons forming the shape of a large heart. I'm sorry I couldn't spend Valentine's Day with you, Valerie. I hope you can take comfort in knowing that the chicken just wasn't the same without you, and that I still prefer our good friend Popeye's.

As R & B Jewel once said, Me - You =  Blue

I wanted to say Happy Birthday to one of my best friends Steve. I just heard I'll very likely be seeing him this summer, and we can celebrate it then. You're a good one, Steve Tran, and I know you would never send me a photo of your meal unless you made it yourself.