My Green Worlds

Michael Bao Huynh is still at Bún, kind of, or perhaps as much as he ever was, I’m not sure.

“He’s my brother,” said Tony Lam, who owns the place and does the food. Huynh’s a partner there, but his day-to-day involvement is minimal, except perhaps when Tony’s out of town. And maybe not then, either. (click here if you’re curious about this topic, otherwise read on as I am about to change the subject).

Because although Tony conceptualizes the food, he trains cooks to cook. He doesn’t do it himself.

Bún has a new publicist (Susan Rike), and often with a new publicist comes a new round of press dinners.

Susan’s press-dinner style is to round up four to eight journalists and bring them all to dinner at once, in a group. She tends to do three such dinners per restaurant.

Often actors will neglect one of the most important parts of their resume, SKILLS.
We all know that Experience, Professional Training, Education is MAJOR-the main categories that tell the industry you have what it takes to play a role. But WHY is it important to have a STRONG skills section?

Many roles from commercials to Movies require some skill or the appearance of a skill, talent, language or artistic ability. It’s important to let casting directors and your agent know what you can do comfortably.

Athletic Skills- playing golf, swimming, diving, racing
Kevin Costner really does play golf and did many of his own shots in Tin Cup and the famous Johnny Weissmuller did dive off cliffs and stay underwater a long time in jungle streams for all the Tarzan movies. Paul Newman did drive race cars in a movie as did Jason Statham in The Transporter. Many actors do dangerous sports and stunts in their own projects. But for most action adventure movies there are stand-ins. For casting purposes they still need to know that you are relatively in shape and can move, run and do some “appearing to be dangerous” stuff. If you DO play golf or tennis bring your clubs and racquet to the audition and dress in your best golf shirt or Wimbledon tennis togs.

We non-native Oaxacans have our rules…don’t drive outside the city after dark, never eat fresh unpeeled produce, be cautious feasting on the street or in markets. For me, after less-than-orgasmic culinary experiences, there was “wait ‘til you’re on the coast to eat fish or seafood.”  Thankfully all changed after starting to dine at Veracruz a couple of years ago. For over 10 years owners Leo and Rosita have been serving up some of the best seafood I’ve ever eaten, anywhere.  Perhaps because as native Veracruzanos, mariscos is in their blood. Perhaps because they take pride in their fresh, and exquisitely prepared and seasoned dishes, as is abundantly evident when you see Leo continually seeking assurance from his patrons that all is well.

Located a few kilometers out of Oaxaca proper, Veracruz has a quaint coastal flavor to it, one side simple marine décor and the other a palapa.  I prefer the atmosphere of the beachy palm leaf roof with walls of reed construction, so for this comida we dined in the palapa.