Chez Lauren

For anyone that's keeping track, I made dinner for the first time since I've been here. Some strange version of chicken fried rice with garlic, soy, and the local hot sauce; it was delicious and I'm proud of it, considering I often hard-core refuse to cook and when I do cook I'm never quite sure how it's going to turn out. I chose today as my starting point because tomorrow is a holiday (one of, I think, three for a whole year) and most of the places we tried to go to for lunch at work today were closed. Even the street food! (Alas, Monday chicken curry, we shall meet again. Soon.) Rightfully so, when even the xe om drivers were letting people down, I realized I had to take matters into my own hands.

Sadly I haven't ventured into any of the fresh fruits/veggies markets because of the odor, but I'm working on it. That's not to say I haven't discovered some amazing and healthy fruits and vegetables (longan and morning glory being my favorites, respectively). I think the markets are best to attack in the morning because:

a) they haven't been sitting in the boiling hot sun all day.
b) people haven't picked over them or coughed/sneezed on them too much yet.
c) they don't smell like... ugh, I'll let you imagine that on your own.

I have to admit, I really like the smell of the fruits just before they go bad. Like around 6pm, the air is ripe with a sticky, sweet smell that I associate with summer and perfectly ripe fruit salad.

Further than my favorite fruit, Vietnam has the most delicious fruits I've ever eaten: dragon fruit, litchi, and jackfruit (among others). I already don't know how I'll give them up to come back to the US. And avacado smoothies <3

I'm super blogger this week. Don't get used to it. When the cat is away (aka no work tomorrow), the mice will play (remind me to talk about the super-rats in the future, and I'm not talking Breakfast at Tiffany's, though, there are a few of those, too); headed down to Bui Vien aka downtown/the backpacker district.

x,L

PS: HTML is petulant and I strongly dislike it.