Know your basil from your borage? Fennel from fenugreek? Mint from marjoram? It's the zestiest quiz ever from Slashfood.

I often clip recipes out of the newspaper, but frequently they just get heaped onto the big pile that represents my To-Do list and forgotten. However, a couple of days ago I found myself standing in my kitchen, looking a three-pound bag of sweet potatoes and lemongrass that I had bought on a whim and realized that I had clipped the perfect recipe for those items not two weeks before.

The Philadelphia Inquirer recently ran an article about Ellen Yin, the owner of Fork, a restaurant that helped revitalize the Old City neighborhood of Philly. She's publishing a cookbook/memoir in honor of the restaurant's 10th anniversary. They ran several of her recipes along side the article, including one for Sweet-Potato Lemongrass Soup, perfect for my random ingredients. It turned out a really silky soup (although I think I would reduce the amount of water just slightly, as I like my pureed veggie soups a little thicker) that starts out tasty and gets better over time. It's a terrific recipe for fall, when you want something warm and soft, colored with the hues of fall (the recipe is after the jump).

I'm getting back in touch with my Asian side, all. It started with a little dig into my roots with bulgogi, and now, motivated by the Chinese New Year this weekend, I am going full force with a little lesson in Asian greens. There are so many greens and vegetables that originate in Asia that we could cover, but we're just picking and choosing ones that we see pop up in recipes more often than others.

Bamboo Shoots - These are so common, it seems odd to include them, as if they were "exotic" in some way. Bamboo shoots are the part of the bamboo grass that we eat, which are harvested before the bamboo gets too tall and tough to eat. Most commonly, bamboo shoots are canned, though it is available as fresh bamboo. If you buy fresh bamboo, it has to be cooked, as fresh bamboo is hard to digest. Bamboo shoots are often used as an ingredient in stir-fry dishes, like Beef and Bamboo Shoot Stirfry.

Quick and easy cooking sometimes gets bad-mouthed by those who prefer their dinners to be slow-cooked and as authentic as possible. I won't rehash the quick aspect of the book, but in this case, the fact that the recipes are easy is a major selling point. Vietnamese food is not nearly as well known as other Asian cuisines are and rather than launching into what might be a complex and expensive task of producing completely authentic Vietnamese at home, it's a good idea to at least familiarize yourself with some of the flavors and dishes that are popular.

Quick & Easy Vietnamese: 75 Everyday Recipes presents this unique cuisine in a very accessible way, much as its counterpart does with Thai food. The recipes are easy to read and most are accompanied by tempting photos, all of which will make you realize who Vietnamese food is popular even before you taste it. Many of the more exotic ingredients called for, such as lemongrass in the Lemongrass Shrimp, will probably be available at your local grocery or specialty market, but the book also has a list of mail-order resources in the back that should help you find anything that your grocer doesn't carry.