Coffee with frozen yoghurt.
By all accounts this combination should be nasty. When it was first suggested I wrinkled my nose and steered clear imagining a sour affogato, unpleasant fusion striking again. I mean its frozen yoghurt (which I like to call frogurt) with a shot of coffee poured over. How could it be anything but rank? Luckily for everyone involved (especially me), this surprising combination works.
What came first? Oh the horrid poultry question that endless drunken nightmare conversations have failed to answer. But I can tell you that the idea of the cake came first, after the purchase and subsequent wrinkling of the passion fruit, but before the making of the curd. I could draw you a timeline, like an English teacher explaining the past continuous, but I won’t.
Chúc mừng năm mới! Happy lunar new year! I am still learning what this means and how it is celebrated here in Hanoi, but I now know that it involves precarious transportation of plants, chưng cake and human chess at the temple of literature. For me it meant forced hibernation, cups of tea, icy strolls and taking the time to make passionfruit curd. This tart sweet condiment requires attention and constant stirring over low heat to thicken without curdling. The perfect past-time for a lazy holiday afternoon.
Pad Thai, Bangkok, Jan 2010.
Hello! Just to keep you all updated on my jet-setting ways (hah, as if), I am leaving Hanoi today for a well earned rest (lets just forget that I haven’t worked since October) in warmer climes. I’m off for a few computer-less weeks in lovely Laos, via Bangkok if the political situation doesn’t escalate. I hope it remains safe and calm because I need to buy some cake tins to bring back to this great land of aluminium cookware.
Images from previous Laos holidays.
I’m looking forward to sticky rice with ridiculously spicy laap, beerlao and whatever interesting food I can find. Do you have any recommendations?
Plus relaxation, sunshine and books, oh yes. I will still be updating this space while I’m away (hopefully swinging in a hammock somewhere with a chirping birds and a mango smoothie in hand), including some great posts about my favourite Vietnamese foods. Business as usual.
Images from previous Laos holidays.
I’ve been busy this last week. Hanoi shut down for Tet holidays and I took the time to make a some new pages. Check out the navigation at the top for my new recipe list and review list pages. Oh, and I am this weeks SBS Featured Foodie. How exciting!
Guess I should think about packing!
Grocery shopping in Hanoi requires determination, smarts and discipline. Meat, fruits and vegetables are best bought fresh at markets that dot the city. Unfortunately I have to cross a highway to get to my closest market (insane traffic) but in a side street near my school a ladies set stalls up morning and night. Eggs, freshly pressed tofu, pork and chickens sit side by side with all manner of vegetables from ruby ripe tomatoes to stunningly fresh green onions. On the other side of the street you can buy processed meats roasted pork with crackling that lives up to its name and other pre-prepared food.
