White Weekend

This weekend we had our first and only holiday party in Saigon.  Our friends from work organized a White Elephant Gift Exchange in honor of the Christmas Season.  We all had to bring some food to share, a 50,000 - 100,000 Dong gift to exchange, and a favorite song for the playlist.  To get ourselves in the holiday spirit, we went to meet our friend for an early, pre-holiday supper.  We ventured into uncharted territory with a Vietnamese street staple - Chao.  It is a porridge made out of rice, ginger, and green onions.  Then, you get to point and pick which kinds of "add-ins"  you would like.  Since Jimmy and Adam are all about eating like the locals, they went with the traditional style of porridge.  This meant their bowl of delight was filled with pig skin, blood sausage, coagulated pig blood, fried bread donuts, and ... gasp ... pig intestine.  In all actuality, the porridge was delicious.  However, next time Adam might stick with the Heidi-version -- rice, pork sausage, and fried donuts!

All that goodness was less than 50 cents.  And yes, it was worth it!

Heidi and Jimmy at the Chao Stand (aka plastic tables and chairs in an alleyway off a busy road right beside the weight room/billiard hall).

Adam showing off a white elephant gift.  No, it's not just a conical hat ... its an EMBROIDERED conical hat!

Heidi getting up close and personal with the Peking Duck Head.  What can you say?  They were standing under the mistletoe!

Today we treated ourselves to an expensive lunch in Vietnam.  Both of us were ready for some food other than traditional Vietnamese.  So, we went downtown to a Mediterranean restaurant to see what was on the menu.  We fell in love with the location, the menu, and the healthy, fresh food that tasted so vastly different than anything we have eaten in the past 4.5 months.  And, as we waddled away from our huge lunch, we laughed that our splurge still only cost us about $18 USD.   Happy holidays, indeed!

Our Mezza Plate at lunch.  Such a different flavor profile from what we have been eating.  Not a drop of fish sauce in sight.

A delicious, huge salad.  Our first lettuce since moving abroad.  (Not counting Heidi's accidental ordering of "stir fried lettuce" -- ugh).