It's hard to say how exactly I found myself making guacamole last night, but sure enough, not only did it go down, but it was one of those great things that can happen when one travels. It all started two nights ago...
I ate dinner at a place called Mango Mango. The chef is a guy from California and it's one of those fusion places that would be uber-trendy in West L.A. It did not disappoint. I had a great bowl of bun, Vietnamese vermicelli with all kinds of greens, herbs and pork of course. Along with a funky eggplant and pumpkin tempura thing and a couple of beers, it came in under $10. What I ate would easily have pulled down $35 back home. I wandered around a bit afterward and as is often the case with 'pretty' food, found myself a little peckish a bit later.
I headed back to the open eating/drinking area where I ate the night before. Had an incredible beef fried wonton thing that was nothing like any wonton I've ever known. Got to talking to the woman who served it to me. Somehow got on the subject of my profession and the next thing you know, she's showing me a notebook where someone had written out a few phrases in Spanish to use with the tourists. I made sure all the accents were where they were supposed to be and then started talking about , surprise, surprise...food. Somehow got on the topic of avocadoes which are plentiful here and used quite a bit in the cuisine, much to my surprise. One of the most popular ways to use it is in a shake, apparently. It's blended with ice, milk and sugar and is supposed to be delicious. I made a face when she explained. I told her that in my experience, avocadoes are used in savory recipes, not sweet ones, as in guacamole. Then she made a face. Whoah. I told her that if she had not liked guacamole, it was only because whoever made it for her could not have done it right. This went back and forth for a little bit and in the end I told her that I would make it for her the next day.
So yesterday morning I headed to the central market and rounded up all the ingredients. I was very worried about the chilis because the ones I would normally use were nowhere to be found. I picked a couple of green ones that most resembled a serrano and hoped for the best. Tonight I returned to the scene of the crime and when she and her husband (the owner) saw me approaching with a couple of bags in my hand, I think they were pleasantly surprised, to say the least. First I had to eat, however. I had another bowl of the cau loa noodles and ordered a special eggplant dish that took forever to prepare, but was worth it. It was tangy, smoky, sweet, sour all at once. Amazing. Then, in a scene that no self-respecting health department would approve of, I was given a knife, a bowl and a cutting board. And where I finished my meal a few minutes earlier, I started to put it together.
She took notes while hubby used my video camera to capture the scene. Everyone seated around us obviously took notice and within a few minutes, everyone was watching the spectacle. Good stuff. When it was finally done, I tasted it and was pleasantly surprised (and more than a little relieved) that it was actually pretty good! The whole staff approached to try it. Some really liked it. Others made the face I make when confronted by squash. But then a bunch of other customers also dove in. People from Australia, Belgium and the best was a guy from Chile who happened to be a chef and gave me a big thumbs up and said it was damned good. Not sure how any other event on this trip will top how much fun all of that was.
Other than the above, yesterday was a nice day off. Folks here at the hotel had remarked how nice the beach nearby was. Yeahh, yeahh, yeahh. People tend to exaggerate their beaches, but I decided that yesterday I would just do nothing, in essence. I had not had a day like that since the trip began. So I rented a bike (.75) and pedallaed the 5 km. to the sand. Wow. I was pleasantly surprised! The beach really was very nice! Super-soft sand, clean, warm water, no waves...just very relaxing. Chilled under a palapa thing on a lounger at an eatery and just took it easy. Oh and ate a plate of spring rolls and grilled shrimp that were very, very good. It goes without saying that it was very, very cheap, no?
Today I'm back on the train for only three hours and I head north for Hue. I think I will like it if for no other reason than Hue, almost, almost sounds like one of my favorite Spanish words: guey (with the umlat over the u) which is kind of like way in English. I realize that this is as moronic a thing as I could admit to, but there it is.
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