We are excited to welcome Robert Vang’s first fish shop, Vang’s Plakat Aquaria, 7811 W. Burleigh St, as a sponsor of Silver City Asian Fest this year. Vang’s Plakat Aquaria has successfully expanded its business from sole e-commerce to the combination of online shopping and in-person services, and hosted the grand opening at their storefront last weekend.

Vang’s Plakat Aquaria started selling fish online beginning in 2008. Vang has imported approximately 50 different kinds of fish from Thailand and Vietnam and bred them in the United States. According to Vang, around 80% of the species are betta splenden in addition to an array of other wild type bettas such as the betta mahachai, betta smaragdina, betta albimarginata and betta imbellis.

Betta splenden

Vang has had an interest in breeding fish his whole life. “I first started off a small gallon tank that my father had bought for me. We just had some basic fishes, like gold fishes,” said Vang.

As an expert in caring fishes, Vang encourages all fish lovers to come to his shop and ask questions. Vang said that every customer should “get to know the fish before they buy them.” Take betta splenden as an example. They are naturally territorial, which indicates that people should keep them in separate tanks and use paper to avoid them from seeing one another. Vang suggested that “one fish per tank, otherwise they will fight.”

Are you interested in welcoming a fish to your home? Do you want to learn more about caring for fish? Ask Robert Vang for help! Come to Asian Fest and find Vang’s Plakat Aquaria.

“We are sponsoring Silver City’s Asian Festival again this year at the $2,500 level,” said Beth Dufek, the program officer at LISC Milwaukee. According to Dufek, LISC will also be involved in the entire event planning process.

LISC Milwaukee concentrates its efforts on building stronger community with neighbors and achieving sustainable neighborhood revitalization. They provide corporate and philanthropic support, offer neighborhood loans, grants and equity investments.

The long-term partnership with LBWN mainly rests on providing technical assistance grants through the Main Street Milwaukee program and pre-development loans for real estate development projects. For example, LISC Milwaukee funded a professional photographer at the 2010 Asian Fest.

According to Dufek, LISC Milwaukee also helps Silver City businesses to expand their businesses, including Asian International Market and Flowers by Pahoua.

Recently, LISC Milwaukee is contributing to the Quality of Life Planning team for the Zilber Neighborhood Initiative.

“It is a good neighborhood-building event that brings neighbors and others to a festival that exposes them to other cultures and the array of Asian-inspired retail on National Avenue,” said Dufek. “we hope that it gets more media attention. larger crowds, some sort of way to build on the momentum of 1,000 people visiting Silver City throughout the year.”

Five Milwaukee restaurants participated in the eggroll contest last year. Mamma’s Eggrolls took the public vote to share the title of Milwaukee’s Best Eggroll and  Tigerbite Food Truck won the celebrity judge vote. Judges included State Representative, Josh Zepnick,  Michael Tsuchihashi, the Food & Beverage Director from Potowatomi, and Martha Brown from the City of Milwaukee.

Mamma's eggrolls

Mamma’s eggrolls are wrapped up in a light crispy shell and deep fried, with turkey, carrot, potato, onion, and cellophane noodles inside.

As a specialized eggroll manufacturer, Mamma’s Eggroll was founded by the Hanesakda in 2009. “We mostly target Milwaukee-based bars and clubs,” said Hanesakda. Currently, there are 15 places that carry Mamma’s eggrolls in Wisconsin. Personal and business orders are both available. Either hot or ready-to-eat frozen eggrolls will be delivered in miles around. The prices are listed below.

Alex Hanesakda posed at the 2010 Asian Fest

Personal orders: 

1 dozen pre-cooked eggrolls = $15.00
1 dozen frozen, uncooked eggrolls = $12.00

Business orders:

1 case = 240 eggrolls = 70¢ per egg roll = $168.00

Can’t wait to try out the authentic Lao eggrolls? Can’t wait to listen to Mamma’s Eggroll’s family story in person? Can’t wait to witness the victory with Mamma’s Eggroll?

Come and join us to celebrate the 5th anniversary at the Asian Fest with Mamma’s Eggroll!

For more information about Mamma’s Eggroll, please visit www.mammaseggrolls.com/

Asian International Market store window

Asian International Market, 3401 W. National Avenue, is a grocery store specializing in authentic Asian products, ranging from fresh vegetables, fruits, sauces, noodles, frozen and canned goods to traditional kitchenware.

Fresh vegetables

Asian International Market is very popular among Laos, Hmong, Thai and Vietnamese. “Most of them live in the neighborhood,” said  Thoy Schuelke, the owner of Asian International Market. “I see them almost every day.”

Authentic cooking sauce for Thai and Lao cuisine

Asian International Market also offers home-made fresh papaya salad and sticky rice, which is quick, convenient and customized for every customer. One cup of salad costs $5 and each order of sticky rice for $2.

One employee is making papaya salad.

Schuelke started her family-owned business since May 1, 2006.  Now this full-service grocery store is operated by Schuelke, her husband, sister and brother-in-law.

Asian International Market has sponsored Silver City Asian Fest since it started in 2007. This year, they will not only donate $500 to the event but also assign volunteers to help out with events’ setup and cleanup.

Feel free to stop by and try out its home-made Asian food. It’s open seven days a week, from 9am to 7pm.

Thonakhoun Phonduangs, the owner of Vientiane noodle shop, 3422 West National Ave, demonstrated us how to make bubble tea at home.  It only takes five minutes and you are able to customize the flavor as much as you want to.

Step 1: Put one cup of sugar and ice in your blender

Step 2: Add two cups of milk

Step 3: Peel off the mango skin and chop them to small pieces. You are free to add any other fruits into your bubble tea.

Step 4: Blend all of the ingredients.

Step 5: Add some bubbles (also called “pearl”) into your plastic cup. One small bag of bubbles costs around $2 at Lao market.

Step 6: Put some cream on the top and your bubble tea is READY!

Do you want to try authentic bubble tea? Come and join us. You will learn how to make bubble tea from native Laos at Asian Fest.

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