Vietnam - The Food

Now that we have officially been back from vacation for over one month it is time to finally post some stuff and stop complaining about jet lag. Yah 19 days on break traveling through southern Viet Nam, what a time! There were 15 of us in all, Ben's immediate family including myself (6), aunt Melissa and uncle Mike who live in Italy (2) and aunt Tach, uncle Hung and cousins [Tien 1, Tien 2, Thien 3, Yen, and Crazy] from Vietnam (7). Here we are minus the italians.
I was a little nervous about the trip especially in regards to eating and going to the bathroom. Luckily, I am not a picky eater but there are some things I just can't eat. Like what if someone served us intestines or chicken heads and it was super rude to refuse, what would I do?? But no worries because the food was great and I pretty much liked everything I tried.

THE BEST STUFF - Fruits, Veggies and Coffee

Fresh, fresh, fresh that sums it up. One hundred bucks to anyone who can name all the fruits in the market picture, I'll give you two freebies, there are apples and 2 kinds of oranges.










Another awesome thing about the fruit was it traveled by basket everywhere. One morning we were sitting drinking coffee and the oranges just walked right up to us. How cool. The availability of super fresh produce made coming back to Maine's horrible winter fruit and vegetable selection a real downer.

I'm a big coffee drinker and feared the Vietnamese would handle coffee like Mexico where they grow some great coffee but export it for cash and serve their people instant crap. Not in Vietnam, their coffee is prepared individually with sweetened condensed milk and then poured over ice. It is almost dessert in a cup and I have tried tirelessly to replicate it at home but it just ain't happening!




Weirdest Meal - BREAKFAST

Honestly you never know what you might get for breakfast. Many days we had sandwiches, which is a little odd but works. Also we had alot of dough bally things like donuts and steamed dough with eggs inside. Everything was good, just very different.

Ben's parents rented a van and we traveled from Saigon up the coast towards the city of Hue. Then the breakfast fare really started to get weird. Ever had slimy rice pancakes rolls covered with hunks of pork loaf, dried onions and cilantro for breakfast? I don't think so but you are missing out because it rocks (minus the onion burps).

How about fish soup on the beach with chopsticks. Probably haven't done that either but that was also a grand breakfast and what a view. Can't get that at McDonalds.

We ate alot of soup and it was almost always a safe bet as long as you don't mind tentacles. I got squid in my breakfast soup a few times. Not the worst thing I could imagine but just doesn't fit breakfast quite like eggs or waffles.

Regardless breakfast was always adventurous, fun and enjoyable. We could learn something from Viet Nam, like how to pass leftovers for breakfast.

COOL STUFF

SPRING ROLL BUFFET. One of my favorite meals was at a roll your own spring roll joint. The help staff knew we were helpless and spent most of the evening rolling for us. Cousin Yen was appalled that we spent $5 a person on dinner(typically a meal was $1 - $1.50 per person), but we usually ate at native only restaurants with Vietnamese prices, not the American tourist prices at the spring roll store.

FAA- SOUP whatever you wanna call it, you can find it anywhere and it was always good. We tried to make this at home too, not quite the same but we are getting better.(And here are those italians)

ROLES REVERSED In Viet Nam guys do most of the cooking and the women handle the money. Hmm I think that is a wonderful idea. Here is Tien 2 chopping veggies for din-din.

FISH PARTS. Most fish is served whole in Viet Nam and the skin and fins are the favorite parts. I ate the meat and left the crunching to the eldest cousin Tien 1, he loves fins. Chew those things good my friend, we don't want you to rip a hole in your throat.

STREET FOOD We found a sweet potato stand in Da Nang that was sooo awesome we ate dinner there one night. MMM sweet potatoes. Yen, Chu Hung and Zee Tach dug it too!

and then there was the SCARY FOOD


Caution the clear noodle faa may have some body parts in it. Ben got a pig's foot and mine had a chunk of the spinal column. But no worries Xuyen's chopsticks flew in and collected the pieces before we hardly saw them. Tien 1 politely requested our refused pig parts and ploop they were in his bowl. I surprised even me and heartily ate without thinking much about the whole ordeal, until Tien 1 put the whole foot in his mouth, that kind of got to me. Man that crazy guy has an iron stomach.

Eels and rabbits anyone? Mmmmmm I am not hungry anymore.

Careful what you wish for. Pew ordered a hamburger and well..... they got the bun part right. The meat was headcheese with little bone slivers, yummy!! Serves you right for spending the whole trip looking for american food.
And the SCARIEST of the SCARY. You know what this is!

Christmas where are you?

School really got the best of me last semester and that is my excuse for why this blog has suffered from neglect. I am sorry blog, after all we have been through and then I have to make up dumb untrue excuses for why I haven't been around. Ben is sad too, he misses my blog. I don't quite get why he misses it, he lives with me, everything I write on my blog he lived through or has already heard me say, its all a repeat for him. Maybe he is just enamored with the way I weave together words to tell beautiful stories. Nope that isn't it either but that sentence made me laugh out loud.

So we made it back to MN before Christmas which was fun but way too short. I got to visit 3, count em, 1, 2, 3 new babies. They were all so cute and it made me a little sad to think the next time I see them they will be 6 months older and hardly even babies. Stay babies Weston, Riley and Sidney, just for me!












Okay no more blogging about not blogging, that is lame. What is also lame is we still have our live Christmas tree up. I am dreading the needles but also am waiting for it to feel like Christmas has passed. Because we were out of the country and really did not celebrate Christmas we are kind of stuck in December. I am planning on making some Christmas cookies this weekend, playing some Christmas music and maybe then the tree will come down?

2 Years Today

I'd choose you all over again

Mice suck

Sometimes complaining gets you nowhere other times it gets you something you might not have bargained for like maybe a 10 ft wide christmas tree. Last year I teased Ben about our little Charlie Brown tree so this year he showed me and brought home this monster. Every ornament we own and 7 strings of lights later the thing still looks bare. Not to mention the fact we had to scoot our couch so close to the tv I get dizzy everytime I watch it. I guess complainers get what they have coming huh.

Lately we have been hearing noises in the area where we trapped the squirrel last month. Thinking maybe the squirrel that got away was back Ben set a mouse trap and hoped it wasn't a squirrel because a mouse trap just wasn't going to cut it. Later that night we were sitting at the kitchen table when we heard a noise like a pool ball rolling down the track inside an old pool table. Ben snickered while I was confused. "We got one" Sure enough, the trap had went off and we had a mouse inside the crawl space above our woodstove. Saturday morning we had another and as I sat at the kitchen table all day Saturday trying to write a paper I heard the trap go off 4 times. Sunday morning, yep you guessed it, 7 mice in 24 hours, that is disgusting.

This blog is still active

Facebook has been the demise of this blog, facebook I hate you and all your flaws and addictiveness. Pffft.

Halloween is a big deal here in Bangor. There were some houses that were decorated so awesome and I meant to go take pictures but I never did, I was probably on facebook. We did put together a couple of costumes that were pretty sweet in my opinion but almost totally lost on the crowd we hang out with. Seriously who has not seen the movie Juno? Tell me why? It was an awesome movie and well I know it was a bigger deal in MN because it was shot there and stuff but still...COME ON. I did get some laughs drinking a beer wearing my pregnant suit but why that was funny I do not know. We see pregnant women walking down the street drinking a beer and we don't laugh at them. Maybe they laughed because I didn't have the full effect without a smoke to go with the beer?

Thanksgiving takes on a whole new spin when you don't have family to celebrate with. It was more like a vacation than a holiday. We deep fried a turkey and trimmed all the fixings, invited our Canadian friend over and ate a great lunch, then packed up and headed up to camp.

A few weeks ago we watched the movie The Strangers. That movie freaked me out and a number of times I wanted to just shut it off and forget about it but we watched the whole thing and now I am a little weary of staying somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Late Friday, while we were staying in the middle of nowhere, we heard a knock on the door and then this dude just walked on in. Ben and I were sitting under the propane light reading and I freaked out. If he had asked if Tina was home I know I would have crapped my pants (line from scary movie) But no it was just toothless Charlie from down the road who forgot his blankety blank dammit corn starch. He wanted to make coconut chicken but no cornstarch, oh the travesty. Sorry man we don't have cornstarch, we have like salt and pepper, a bottle of vegetable oil and some antifreeze, that's about it. See ya and thanks for scaring the crap out of me. BTW you made going to the outhouse after dark a near death experience for me for the REST of the weekend. Thanks

Living like Little House on the Prairie, even for just a few days is pretty weird. After dark we played cards, read, took turns on the guitar and I worked on a quilt but by about 9 o'clock we were ready for bed. It felt like we were like 80 and had nothing to do. In some ways it was a nice break from everything, in other ways it sucked. Like I really dislike radio, especially the bad middle of the boondocks radio we had to listen to and my fingers, yep they kill from too much quilting and too much guitar and oh did I mention my hair after not washing it for 4 days. Yes that sucked too.

But soon enough the weekend was gone as weekends tend to do and we were on the long drive home. We keep 20 Questions in the car for such occasions and usually have some fun with it. My mom hates 20 Questions, she thinks the things sees inside her brain and that scares her. Hmm I don't think that is how it works but there was that one time her word was kangaroo and she answered I don't know for almost every question and it still got kangaroo. I can't explain that. But anyways we were playing on the way home and I stumped the thing with fish hook, score for me. Ben was on like question 14 and I guessed his word, it was gum. Again 20 Questions was stumped, its first guess was sanitary napkin and then it guessed spaghetti. Seriously that was almost as weird as kangaroo.

Yes We Can

Furry Brats

We really dig having a big ol' house. It is great for visitors, entertaining, and having my own space when Ben is getting on my nerves. On the other hand there are some ways it really sucks, like in the winter when we have to heat the massive thing and all the time and energy spent keeping all the critters out. We have had bats, mice, a stinky dog and now a pair of red squirrels.

I was doing homework late one night in the kitchen and heard a whole lot of scratching, running and scurrying. We knew a tame red squirrel had been in the basement eating sunflower seeds. What we didn't know was we had a pair making a nest somewhere close to the vent above our wood stove. Little jerks. The Saturday after my run in with the squirrels both Ben and I were in the kitchen making lunch and I spotted the squirrel above the wood stove. Being the thing was so tame I was able to talk to him through the vent while Ben lifted the vent cap and snatched him from above. The squirrel screamed bloody murder which scared the other squirrel into hiding. We kept squirrel #1 in a bucket while we waited to catch #2. We never caught #2 and #1 spent so much time in the bucket we couldn't re catch the pissed off rodent to terminate him. So we had to drive him across the river into Brewer and let him go. We haven't seen or heard from either of them since.Which is good because we don't have time to deal with squirrels, we got enough going on with Woof, the furry brat. Woof expects a certain amount of attention and if he doesn't get it he whines or pees in the porch or digs a hole in the yard. Some days, I would gladly give him away, other days he is all right. But Ben he loves Woof all the time. You see Ben and Woof love to hunt, I think hunting is for rednecks. So they go do their hunt thing and Ben kills stuff and Woof goes and gets it. On special days like this one here, Woof does what no hunting dog should ever do. Ben was in the house talking to me on the phone when he had to put me on hold. Through the window he spotted Woof eating his ducks. I am not bummed, I think duck tastes like tire, but Ben he was PISSED off. Hah!! See Ben, the dog is a brat, you were just in denial.

Family Fall Fun

In the last month I turned 30 and both our parents visited for a week a pop. You understand why I haven't posted, S-T-R-E-S-S.

Teasing we had good times, viewed the New England colors and ate hearty. Mom and Dad #2 were a couple of busy bees, Bert rebuilt our dilapidated deck and Xuyen cooked up a storm and brought home half a cow from the grocery store. Yep she thinks we are going to starve to death out here without her taking care of us. We eat good Mom #2 but better when you are here.


In between the parents I had me birthday #30. It really wasn't traumatic like it has been for some of my friends. Who cares if I don't know what I want to do or where I am going to live, I got my friends, my family and Ben, it is all good. Oh and Woof you too! Ben planned a surprise party that I kind of ruined by inviting people over the same night. But it was fun and I got Dairy Queen cake and lobster wellies. The boots are sweet, I wear them everywhere, no lie, with sweatpants.

Last week Mom and Dad #1 rolled into town at the peak of fall colors. I am not sure they were that impressed. My dad just wanted to play cards and my mom wanted to sit on the deck and watch the river. They were a huge help getting our house ready for winter by hauling wood and cleaning up the yard. Thanks again to our little migrant worker (mom) and beer wench (dad) . I pulled off a surprise birthday party/retirement party that I know they were not expecting. Probably has something to do with the fact that their birthdays are in August, but hey I missed it and 60 only comes around once in a lifetime. My buddy Lisa's parents were also in town from afar so they even had friends their age (almost) to talk to. I know I am awesome!

My parents are awesome too. They got us early Christmas presents including a sweet patio set for our refurbished deck. It looks pretty fancy but I think it is a nice fit and the new waffle maker, oh I love it.

Notre Maison

One post in September, wow I am lame. What the heck have I been doing? I think school is sucking out my brains.

I got the remodel bug again, the bathroom has been done for months, so on to the kitchen. I only intended to pull off wallpaper and paint BUT that is not what went down. We found paneling under the wallpaper so we spent a week removing wallpaper paste, mudding and sanding. Yuck. Plus I had timed it right before Ben's parents were due in town so we were in a rush. We ended up spraypainting the stove (almond to white), painting the trim and baseboard heaters, changing the light fixtures and putting in a new sink. Okay everything but the kitchen sink! We actually got most of it done, I still plan to paint the cabinets and do a few things but fresh paint and a modern light fixture made a huge difference. Who says $100 can't get you far these days!

When I bought paint for the kitchen I also bought new colors for 3 of the bedrooms upstairs. That did not thrill Ben as he hates to paint but my friend Lisa loves to paint so I have a great helper. Bedroom #1 was painted from peach to maroon while on a break from scraping wallpaper paste from the kitchen. But bedroom #1 also turned into a massive project when I was coerced by the neighbor to pull the carpet and refinish the hardwood floors. The first 2 feet of the floors looked great but after that were just plain bad and I now understand why once upon a time people had put down carpet. Well the carpet is gone and if you plan to stay with us you better bring slippers because we won't be finishing this one for awhile.

Beijing 2008

If you know me at all you know I love the Olympics, alot. This year's olympiad was like every other in the fact that I intended to watch every minute of it but pretty much missed it all. But the swimming, I saw the swimming! Way to go Phelps, Crocker and man god Lochte. You guys were incredible.

One way we did celebrate was to hold our own Beer Olympics Maine style.I know the beer olympics is not a novel idea, in fact if you google it you will see that every bar, fraternity and serious drinker in the country has been involved in beer olympics. Still it was a first for all of us and we had 5 teams, 5 events, opening cermonies, the medal stand, a keg of Bud Lite and one fun night. Too bad we got last place and 2 losers were the winners. Oh the irony!

Although summer was sad to let go fall is pretty sweet too. The leaves are starting to change and it is football and harvest time. We had an awesome garden season, here is one day's picking. Nice veggies huh?

Too bad fall also means school, because going back to school is a real drag. The first 2 weeks are past and I survived but it has not been fun. Plus I am teaching freshman engineering majors, physics. Oh boy they are full of excuses for why they don't come to class or turn in their homework. I don't care if your roommate wouldn't give you a ride to campus or you got locked out of your dorm, I am not your babysitter. Jeez, 18 year old boys, they are annoying!