Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Our friends, Vinh and Tracy, were here this weekend. Whenever our families get together, we eat a lot of food. We had an unfortunate experience with a restaurant this time around, but I think that between Vinh and myself, we were able to salvage the dining experiences. Vinh made Vietnamese Spring Rolls and let me help, so now I can do it myself! These are somewhat labor intensive at the beginning, but it's great served room temperature or even cold the next day (breakfast!), or next few days, so you really can prep ahead. The ingredients will keep for about 4 days, so make it all. This is traditionally an appetizer, but if you go to all the trouble of making it, just invite some friends over and make it a meal.

What you need
*Some of the items needed are somewhat specialty and may be found in an Asian super market. If you can't find something, substitute with what you think you might like. This isn't rocket science. And the food police won't come find you.

Pork loin, about 2 pounds
marinade for pork:
1 Tbs. white pepper
1 Tbs. ground ginger
1 Tbs. garlic powder
fish sauce and water, 1:1 ratio, about 1/4 cup each (roughly)
2 Tbs. sesame oil
--Mix above together. Place pork in bag with marinade and refrigerate for 3-4 hours.
--Grill pork, slice in strips

2 pounds shrimp, boiled till pink, de-viened, de-shelled, and de-tailed

for wraps
large round rice paper (leave "raw" at the table)
rice noodles (boil till tender, just a couple of minutes, drained)
romaine lettuce
cilantro
red leaf Thai basil (only the leaves of the basils, the stems are like twigs)
green leaf Thai basil
bean sprouts
cucumbers, julliened or sliced (cut down vertically, then sliced to make half-moons)
Hoisin sauce, mixed with a bit of water to make it dip-able
peanuts, crushed, mixed with Hoisin sauce (above)
--each person should have his own bowl for dipping sauce

large bowl of hot water (not boiling), in the middle of the table
hot sauce, if you want it
Your table will look something like this:
Here's how you go about it:

• take rice paper and swirl it in hot water, just enough to get it a little flimsy (just a little!)
• lay it down on your plate
• place shrimp at one edge
• lay a piece of lettuce on top of shrimp
• start laying on the rest in any order
• begin rolling paper sort of tightly; when you've rolled all ingredients up once, tuck in the sides and continue rolling (think "burrito")
  
• dip (or, if you're like me, slather) your wrap in hoisin sauce

• and..................
  

YUM!!!
Now, go make some!