Spring Break 2012: Food, Folks & Fun

This past week represented our final major break in Vietnam. We embraced it, welcoming two final sets of visitors and returning to some favorite places in this amazing country.

Food

We took Stephanie and George to our favorite goat restaurant...but forgot to bring someone along to help us order. At one point the waiter grabbed my breast (this is mike typing fortunately) in a move to suggest, I think, that maybe I wanted chicken breast? I should have just nodded instead of just sitting there a little shocked. We ended up with chicken feet. There is no meat on chicken feet. This meal was food, folks and fun all rolled together!

I've always wondered if snake wine was really made with snakes. Not any more. The glasses George and I are about to enjoy came straight outta the glass jar filled with snakes in this photo.

After a bike ride through some rural areas of the Mekong Delta, we arrived at this cool, hidden restaurant where they served us an "elephant ear" fish, grilled and propped up on a plate of greens. Colin dove in, taking bits of fish and making spring rolls. We also had corn soup with lotus seeds and some huge prawns...

...Colin is becoming quite the adventurous eater. Makes traveling so much fun.

Hoi An, quite possibly my favorite city in Vietnam will be remembered for two foods: The best Bahn Mi I've ever tasted (above) and Banh Xeo (below). The Bahn Mi stand we visited was featured on Anthony Bordain's show: No Reservations. I could have eaten here for all three meals all three days. "A symphony in a sandwich" indeed.

We've ordered Banh Xeo many times in Saigon, trying to like it as we've heard such good things. Not until this trip did I see what everyone was talking about. "xeo" is said to be like the sound it makes as it sizzles in the pan. It is a savory fried pancake with bean spouts, cucumber, herbs, thinly sliced pork and prawns all wrapped in a spring roll wrapper and dipped in a fish sauce. Amazing. This photo is one Lauren made during a cooking class she took at Morning Glory in Hoi An.

Folks

We have been so blessed by all the friends and family that have braved the long flights, used their precious vacation time and spent the money to visit us here in Vietnam. This past week we hosted what will likely be our final visitors here:

Stephanie & George Malone in Mekong Delta...

...and in the historical town of Hoi An, visiting from Seattle.

Ginny and Matt Park...

...and their daughter Vivian spent their anniversary weekend with us, from Singapore. 

And we made some new friends along the way.

Fun

Lauren having some fun with the horn collection at the Reunification Palace.

Trevor "helping" water a garden in Hoi An.

Everybody's got a water buffalo.

While on our tour of fishing communities in Hoi An, a man on the boat
made Colin these toys out of palms he paddled over and picked.
The thing he's holding flapped its arms when you pulled down on the end.

Trevor getting the hang of net fishing. 
The smiling, toothless fisherman patiently helping us kept saying: 
"Ohhhh, no fish. No lunch." when each of us would pull in our empty nets.

We ended our time in Hoi An with some relaxing beach time. The water was "refreshing" and the sand was
perfect for digging huge holes and finding ways to protect our "sand kingdom" from the incoming tide.

When it was time to go we knew what was awaiting us: we return to only two more months of school and the mounting craziness of embarking on another transition. We are far from over in terms of enjoying good food and great people here, but we know these next months will fly by and we'll soon be heading home for precious family time and then our next adventures in Seoul!