Wednesday, August 27, 2008

The Tapeworm is Tired of Baguettes

Food. Finally.

Katherine and I go apartment hunting again after school, and we are taken to District 3 by people at Nicehouse.com "Real Estate Services for Foreigner." We like the place, but we like the two-hour walk back to our hotel even better.

District 3's got what I have been waiting to find: winding alleyways filled with interesting food and markets without a tourist in sight. The people in these back streets are friendly and welcoming (making it so difficult to pass up any of their food)and therefore Katherine gets a taste of what it's like to be with me on full stomach drive (perhaps my surroundings make me forget the stomach churn). I like her even more now because she just rolls with it and wants to taste everything with me. She's totally unfamiliar with Vietnamese food, so that is fun, too. The woman in the picture is making Bot Chien. At first we think it's fried potato and eggs with green onion, but it isn't quite potato-y in texture. We have no idea what it is, but some girls spell it for us and we Google it when we return: it's fried rice flour cake, and it is delicious. Here is it in serving form topped with shaved green papaya and served with soya bean sauce:
We sit at a little plastic table with little plastic chairs for about twenty minutes...this woman is very popular with the after school teenage crowd and she takes her time with her art. I wash my bot chien down with something called "Bird's Nest White Fungus-Nature's Drink." Very tasty. After the bon chien we find this cart with humbao, Vietnamese style filled with minced pork and a hard boiled duck egg. Brian, do you think my tapeworm and I could pass this opportunity to make you happy? No way. I am very grateful to my tapeworm for allowing me this opportunity.
Hopefully I will tell you about my new home and school details within the next few days...

6 comments:

Brian Bowker said...

Mmmmm... That humbao looks so good! I imagine that it's better coming from one of those little, silver carts too. I'm so jealous!

The other stuff looks good too!

Will finding this affect your apartment searching?

Unknown said...

Nolan would go nuts! He's got your genes of trying exotic foods. A few days ago, he had a snadwitch with, mayo, musterd,yogurt, chicken, pickles, and sour cream... he had me try it... um, it wasn't my favorite thing in the world!!! lol. Miss you! ~Megan

The Norris Clan said...

It all sounds SO good! But the part that got me was the shaved green papaya... mmmmm.... SO glad you got the chance to partake.

Anonymous said...

So glad you and your tapeworm are making some great progress together! Also excited to hear you are getting closer to having a home and a fun person to live with-sending copious amounts of love jaci

Marjie said...

Megan, be patient with Nolan because great chefs begin by making sandwiches with pickles and yogurt.

Marjie said...

Oh, and yes, Brian, this district has my name on it. I think I have convinced Kathryn of the same!