Tuesday, November 18, 2008

What to do on Typhoon Day

1. Eat snails with safety pins. I am an adventurous eater, yes; however, the snails are all K's idea; I would never have ordered them on my own because they are too similar to slugs. This little stand is literally a thirty-second walk around the corner from the castle. I ate here Saturday, Sunday and now am back again today. They have stacks of crabs, clams, snails and scallops - depending on the day. This is the place we saw Thuy eating clams a few weeks ago, and now I can't believe I have just walked right past it so many times. (Perhaps I have been eating enough, regardless.) Anyway, the snails...um, yeah...they were...ok. A bit salty. Lots of work to get the litty itty bitty piece of snail meat out, too. I like the other seafood better, like, next...we:

2. Eat scallops topped with peanuts and green onions dipped in salt and lime and pepper along with a green leafy something. This is my idea. They are grilled to perfection. These two dishes, plus a lotus seed drink, cost only $1.80.

3. Eat something I have never seen before when I am out running a billion errands that have been on my list for weeks: the tortilla-looking thing tastes almost like divinity. It's crunchy and sweet. This woman is a Honey Artist, too. She paints honey in a Star-of-David pattern, tops it with coconut, and seals it with another divinity tortilla. It's delicious, and you may think it sounds too sweet, but it's not. I had better write down her street address, or I may never find her again. Every time I see one of these women now, I slow down and eye what is in their little containers. I don't want to miss anything. And they are so humble and gracious and grateful when you buy from them. Ahhhh.....

4. Hang out at the fabric stand with Thuy and Tan in the morning (and bring them banana cake with tapioca because they like it). They laugh and laugh when I tell them why I'm not at work today. "We never get typhoons here," they say. Flooding, yes, but typhoons, no. Not in the city. (I guess lots of places had "never gotten" tsunami's before, either...)

I want to climb up in Thuy's "Fabric Seat" with her. I could just hang out there with them all Typhoon Day long.


The moral of this day is: For those of you who love Snow Days, I know you would absolutely love Typhoon Days. They give you a chance to really, really slow down and enjoy (even snails).

5 comments:

kumma said...

As I read your latest post, U2's "Mysterious Ways" comes on the radio...

Smarj, you "lift my days and light up my nights..."

Snails.

That's it.

Anonymous said...

I had a friend was a snail eater back in high school
She could pick out with a pin so fast
Make you look like a fool, boy
Saw her the other night at this street side cart; I was walking by and she was chowing down
We found a plastic chair, had a few drinks but all she kept talking about was:

Typhoon days, well they'll pass you by
Typhoon days, in the wink of a young girl's eye
Typhoon days, typhoon days

There's a girl that lives up in a castle, she could turn all the boys' heads
Sometimes on a Friday Thuy’ll stop by and have a few drinks and after all are well fed
Tarn and Katherine, well, they clean up
I guess they probably should now
They just sit around talking about the old times
She says when she feels like crying she starts laughing thinking about:

Typhoon days, well they'll pass you by
Typhoon days, in the wink of a young girl's eye
Typhoon days, typhoon days

Think I'm going down to the pub tonight and I'm going to drink till I get my fill
And I hope when I get old I don't sit around thinking about it…but I probably will
Yeah just sitting back trying to recapture a little of the glory of
But time slips away and leaves you with nothing, mister, but boring stories of typhoon days…

(Sorry Bruce)

Marjie said...

My band members are all quoting songs and rewriting them, Sbill: thank you.

and AmyT: no way, you did not rewrite "Glory Days." It took me a minute to get it, but now I have been singing it all morning.

Brian? Karyn? Do you have songs in you today?
I love my band!

kumma said...

Well done, amy t.! Impressive.

Anonymous said...

The sweeter the better! Vietnamese food sounds like heaven! :-)