Sai Gon On My Mind

Most people (if not everyone) must have heard stories or have a vague notion of what Vietnam is all about. The first thing I thought of was "the war", as America was also an integral part of that part of Vietnam's history, it was something that struck me as what constituted "Vietnam".

But beyond that and the occasional trip to Pho Hoa (a Vietnamese restaurant) in our current malls, my knowledge of Vietnam was limited. So when the opportunity presented itself to be able to visit the country (to Sai Gon or Ho Chi Minh City in particular), I grabbed at it.

Before we left, well meaning people - well, actually one in particular - kept saying "You won't find any good sights in HCMC! You should've gone to Hanoi! It's a waste of time to go there and just go to HCMC and not Hanoi!" And while this person probably did not mean to disparage HCMC, it certainly left a bad taste in the mouth to have a future trip have this overcast shadow hanging over it. I resolved to leave all previous notions at the wayside and just enjoy the trip as it comes.

And I am glad that I did.

My impression of Vietnam (by way of HCMC) has changed quite a bit, ever since my trip. If you ask me now, the first thing that comes to my mind when HCMC is mentioned is "Motorcycle Madness!!!" - and this is NOT an exaggeration by any stretch! This is a city that LOVES their motorbikes! And they whizz by from every which direction, defying all sense of logic or reason. I was waiting for the crash of bikes any moment - but it never came! It was mad orchestrated chaos, performed as if this was a ballet recital, and everyone knew their parts, and performed with precision so that no one was injured...it is a sight that you must see with your own two eyes...I was with many Caucasians who were equally as dumbfounded as I was (and still am)!

The food was a large part of what made this trip so memorable...we had so much good food and in so much variety that its hard not to gush about it. One thing that I observed as central was the vegetation - I felt like a goat on a vegetarian smorgasboard! Whatever it was they were serving, you would be sure to come across loads of greens and herbs - which is a good thing, considering that in Manila, I don't get to eat vegetables that often.

I had to taste their pho - the "representative" Vietnamese dish most foreigners know. I had it at a sidewalk cafe, and an established chain (Pho 24), and both were excellent, except the one at the sidewalk was cheaper and had more servings =) Freshness was the key to their pho tasting great, I felt like the ingredients were just picked from the garden and served to me =)

I moved on to Banh Xeo ( a pancake that's filled with chicken, shrimp, bean sprouts, even more herbs - and you were given more vegetables covering half the plate for you to either wrap the pancake with or eat together with), and I think this is now my favorite Vietnamese dish - it was filling, but you still felt good about yourself because you knew it had so many healthy ingredients in one dish. Not to mention it was rather cheap (by Manila standards) - it only cost 35,000 Dong in a sidewalk eatery (roughly 75-80 bucks).

Of course, we couldn't let their fresh spring rolls go by - it was freshness personified, and I know what you're thinking, "what a redundant way of describing food", but it can't be helped, it felt like they were just making the dish for me and my party (it wasn't precooked and lying around just waiting to be served). Add to the rolls their sauce called nuoc nam - and you would be a happy foodie in no time =)

Eating in a Fast Food

I am a fan of eating out in fast food chains. For some reason or another, no matter how hard I try to eat healthy, I would always have a craving for those fried chicken or burger or fries.

In my many cravings, I would go to the KFC outlet in Sen Gil Puyat corner Chino Roces St in Makati City since I live and work within the area. Depsite this vow I made to myself that I SHALL NEVER visit that particular outlet anymore because over their insanely slow service. So I went since I have to satisfy a craving and so I could bring some for my partner as well. It was an hour past midnight, I told myself at least their service will be a lot faster this time since there are only a number of customers. I was the only one ordering. I was so happy that in a matter of minutes I will be able to devour that chicken burger and fries. In my disgust, it took the crew to take my order for more than 15 minutes. I will never be able to understand this policy of KFC requiring their crew to take orders and not allow them to jot down in paper what your order was. They will simply stare at you, try to listen ( "try" being the operative word) and remember your order. As expected, there are errors in the order and you had to repeat your order.

Another thing I noticed is that, the person who took my order, got the fries, took the burger, gave tissue and placed it in my tray is the same person who is doing the cashiering and handling money. Flashback!!! Weren't we taught in school, in TV ads, by our parents that handling money can transmit millions of bacteria? That Safeguard TV Ad played in my mind. I talked to the manager about it and all he can mutter was, "We ensure that our staff maintain good hygiene and sanitation". Huh? Hah? What hygiene is he talking about? In my 15 minutes encounter with the food handler / cashier. I never saw her wash nor sanitize her hands before handling the food she placed in my try. She took my order, took my money, gave me my change, she handled the food and assembled it in my tray. That's all I saw. I never saw the hand sanitation thing.

So I decided to cancel my order. I went home frustrated. Frustrated because of the slow service, the sanitation thing and most of all, THAT GREASY FINGER LICKING BURGER AND FRIES I NEVER HAD. Was it pride? Was I being OC? Should have I just given in to my craving, even if in my mind there's this soap ad which graphics of germs and bacteria playing in my mind?

Back home, I drowned myself with the ever reliable instant noodles (Lucky Me pancit canton - the best), hotdogs fried in butter and Coke in can. Shared it with my ever supportive partner ;-)

Surprisingly Good ;-)

I learned from a cooking show how to make a pumpkin soup and tried it myself. It was good the first time I did it. My partner and I actually loved it. We had pumpkin soup for several dinners, just pumpkin soup, since we were both trying to trim down. As I desired for variety of the soup, I started experimenting on what to put in the soup on top of the basic ingredients. I tried hard boiled egg. I tried putting a little curry powder. It was still good. Then a weird thought came, instead of cream, I put milk, then I added oatmeal less the curry powder. I thought of the adding oatmeal since an aunt, who worked in the Middle East for 2 decades, once taught me to make a tomato soup with oatmeal. I didn't really like the taste but I must say it is an acquired taste. Some might find it good.


Back to the pumpkin soup. Just thinking about it, we thought the taste would be very very weird. To my surprise, it was good. In fact, it must be really good since my partner liked it so much and he is very picky and choosy on food. Let me just share how I did it ;-)

For the ingredients, we will need the following:


Garlic / Onion
Olive Oil
Milk ( I preferred powdered)
Pumpkin (cubed)
broth cube
oatmeal
water
salt

Now for the simple procedure:

Heat the olive oil and saute onion. Add salt to taste, then add the garlic. Add the cubed pumpkin. Add water and broth cube then allow to boil until pumpkin is tender. Gather the pumpkin and blend in a blender for a course consistency then put it back to the pot. Add the oatmeal and the milk. Simmer for a few minutes.

Enjoy ;-)