And speaking of lunch / dinner / whatever in Houston...

There are a lot of Vietnamese sandwich shops and I do not fool myself that I found The Best One when I happened to be in Houston for 2 weeks, eating plenty of banh mi. I was just glad fresh and happy banh mi were plentiful, and I indulged.

I learned two new things at Givral's Sandwich Shop.

1. You can really, truly make a banh mi with any protein: In the bayou, that can mean a southern-fried catfish banh mi — especially "for the Lenten season." I'm a little regretful that I didn't try this when I had the chance.

2. Putting a fried egg on your banh mi is said, at least by some, to make it even better. As if. But again, I look forward to trying this because it is just barely possible that an excellent Vietnamese sandwich becomes excellenter (sic) when you add a fried egg.

OMG, I just thought of this: Make the banh mi at home so the egg can be from my sisters-in-law's henhouse.

I have put this on the To Do list for someday. I hope it comes soon!