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... And a whole lot of catching up!
I know I've talked about food before - more than once - but as you've probably gathered, leisure activities in Quang Ngai aren't exactly buzzing. This means that drinking coffee and eating the local specialities occupies a fairly big part of our free time.
There's lots of chicken and pork, many kinds of fish and delicious squid and prawns. The meat is all "free range" and often tough, which probably explains why most of the dishes involve slicing it wafer thin and marinating it, or boiling big pieces then slicing and marinating before stir frying or barbecuing. It seems to have much more flavour than meat at home though.
Unlike in China where I didn't attempt to make the local dishes, I've decided to have a go at Vietnamese food. I get (usually vague) instructions on how to make favoured dishes and I found a little recipe book, but mostly I'm making it up as I go along, trying to copy the tastes of the food we have in cafes. My own "Vietnamese fusion". With this I've been having mixed success, but usually edible, making hybrid dishes, sometimes substituting ingredients and certainly omitting the MSG so prevalent here. It's sold in 2kg bags in the supermarket!
Some of the local flavours I really love are the combination of fresh tomato and pineapple in the soups and hotpots; barbecued eggplant with chopped peanut and spicy topping; all sorts of barbecues and the many dipping sauces that accompany them. Each dish has its own dipping sauce and they're not to be wrongly combined. Barbecuing is done in bucket-sized earthenware pots with hot coals in the bottom and a mesh rack placed across the top. My favourite remains the banana flower salad, however, and I'm contemplating how I can find banana flowers when we return home :(
I think I'm still traumatised by the sweet "polystyrene" bread in China. (Western style bread that is, the many kinds of flatbreads there were delicious). Here there isn't any variety, but the crusty white banh mi (think the pointy-ended Vietnamese rolls which were popular at home a while back) taste like real bread. We've also found imported French butter in the supermarket. I find I have to eat my bun with just butter to enjoy the flavour, then eat the filling separately afterwards. I often eat plain buttered banh mi followed by peanut paste and sliced tomato, or cheese, sandwiched between cucumber slices. Does that constitute an eating disorder?
Love the food here and enjoy the eating experience, but I'll have unlearn some dining behaviour on our return to Oz. Stop wiping the cutlery and crockery before eating, stop dropping scraps and empties under the table - and remember to eat quietly with my mouth closed!
Since starting to write this ages ago, we've been to New Zealand and back, then been visited here in Vietnam by our daughter and her family. We went to NZ for a conference where the other half received a gong from an academic association he was heavily involved in in another life. He received an email out of the blue offering life membership - and funding to attend the annual conference in Auckland to receive it. The timing coincided with the semester break at the university, so we went for a couple of weeks holiday. It was winter there of course, and our coldest weather gear from Vietnam was hopelessly inadequate. We fortuitously stumbled on an op-shop and kitted ourselves out nicely, then left the purchases at another op-shop on the day we left!
We landed back in Hanoi to meet up with the family who had already arrived and were waiting for us. Spent a too short fortnight with them doing a bit of travelling and sightseeing.
A couple of travelogue posts for another time perhaps.
- comments
Frank and Lyn Thanks Avenel,Loved the photos - Zig will be envious of the food photos I'm sure. There is a vacancy on the WA program of Master Chef if you are interested. With combinations like yours you would at least win the unusual category! Your "sandwich" reminded me of the ones my dad used to make for me when I was an apprentice. Lettuce and peanut paste and sometimes sultanas added! The thick layer of vegemite he put on one day put me off the black stuff for ever.We were impressed by the energy Owen displayed. Cheers, Frank and Lyn
Zig Hi Avenel, The photos of the various dishes definitely bring back memories of our time in Vietnam. We experienced similar dining but Indian cuisine in KL when we stayed with Sri Lankan friends. Now, as for the chocolate cake, that was never on the menu! I loved hearing about your clothing episode in NZ - I've done the same when we were travelling around Australia in our motorhome and there was a drastic weather change from state to state. Sounds like you're making the most of your time in Vietnam. Keep up the good work! Cheers, Zig and Dino
Maree & Clif Well done with the photos and I agree with Lyn, Zig will be so envious! My next sandwich is cheese & cucumber. My goodness Owen, it looks like an hour after Xmas dinner!! I don't believe I have ever seen Banana flowers so I think you are going to go up North for those. A great blog Avenel, we really enjoyed it
Darryl Stock That food looks great. There has been a number of things written for backpackers here (it seems Vietnam is currently part of one big backpacker highway we are told in the UK ) saying don't eat the food in the street stalls as it likely to be rat meat! Ugh I think I will continue to stick to Heinz tomato soup. Trust you both are well!
avenel We like our vegemite. We brought some with us and get visitors to deliver when they come. However discovered an Ozzie run deli in Hoi An sells it, so it's on the list when we go there. Actually we both like just a scrape so the first tube lasted almost a year. The banana flowers come from a variety which has a lot of seeds so the fruit isn't eaten. Don't think they'll grow it at home. Haven't heard the one about the rat meat. We eat at the roadside quan ("cafes") sometimes, the food is delicious. Tend to be a bit shy of the carts. I'm actually more concerned about the recycled oil they might use for cooking. This was an issue in China.