Finds Banh Goes Double Banh choong...

Finds

Banh Goes Double

Banh choong and banh tet are nothing more than beans, rice and meat, cooked Vietnamese style. The rice is sticky glutinous rice, the beans are mung beans cooked to a yellow paste and the meat is pork. They’re rolled up inside each other jellyroll fashion and wrapped in banana leaves. Banh tet is from South Vietnam; banh choong, from the North, is a smaller, more compressed version of the same thing. Both are delicious sliced, sauteed until slightly crispy and sprinkled with sugar. The cooking instructions are from Viet Huong restaurant and deli in Chinatown (727 N. Broadway, No. 107), which makes them both.

Spam’s in the Swim

Spam sushi? You’d better believe it. Pacific Supermarket, at 1620 W. Redondo Beach Blvd., Gardena, sells a seaweed-wrapped rice roll with the canned pink lunch meat in the center. Called Spam musubi , it’s in the prepared foods section, packed three rolls to a tray and garnished with a Japanese style pickle.

Thanks. Now Let’s Eat

If you’re of the school that thinks one can’t have enough thank-yous or enough recipes, Collins Publishers has what you’re looking for: a selection of recipe note cards. Illustrated with photos from some of their cookbooks (they publish both the “The Beautiful” and the “Country Garden” series), these cards come with recipes on the back. Take Italy, for example. A gorgeous view of what appears to be a small town in the Cinqueterre looks like the cover shot from “Italy the Beautiful.” The recipe on the back is for a seafood salad from the same book. For cornier sentiments, try, well, the series with covers and recipes from “Corn: A Country Garden Cookbook.” At bookstores.

Tough Glove

Flinch when you slice a bagel? Can’t bear to shuck an oyster? Always burning your hands? Mini Mitt is the thing for you. Made from a combination of a densely woven polyester and cotton material, cotton batting and heavyweight canvas, the Mini Mitt is more flexible than most oven mitts and also tough enough to protect from most accidental knife cuts. Made by HealthLine Products, a manufacturer of food service products, the Mini Mitt is machine-washable and is water, grease and fire resistant. Call (800) 473-4003.