Grilled Fish- The Impolite Way

I had so much fun with this tutorial about noodle soup that I decided to do another one!

One of my favorite meals here is fresh grilled fish. Unfortunately, there is no polite way to eat it.

In my opinion, it is most delicious when eaten with a sweet sauce called Jeow Pan Ba, sticky rice, long bean salad, and Pepsi!

 

Part 1

1. Grip the top fin and pull to separate the skin from the body.

2. Carefully peel the skin, making sure the meat stays intact.

3. Peel the skin until the entire side is exposed.

4. Extract meat with a fork (it will be quite hot).

5. Make sure there are no bones in your meat. Eat with the delicious sauce!



WARNING: Steps 6-11 are a bit messy, therefore these pictures may be too graphic for the little'uns.

Part 2

6. Clean out all of the meat on the first side.

7. Sever the spine at the base of the head and pull it out toward the tail. This will allow you to access the second side of delicious meat.

8. Eat.

9. Continue eating (can you spot the differences between pictures 8 and 9?)

10. If you dare, grab a spoon and scoop up the tender innards (pictured in the blue box). In Lao, these are called keuang nai - things inside.

11. Admire a job well done. Feed skin and bones to an eagerly-awaiting dog.

This entire meal costs about $6. So. Good.

A Country Outing

Sunday I went to the countryside with Hong and his family. Here are some of the happenings:

A Truck Ride

A Fantastic Hat

Sour Fruit (with a sweet, spicy, fishy sauce)

Sweet Fruit

Sisters

Baby Spit

Jonah

Bovine

The Distant Buffalo Mountains

Running Games

Rice Field Frolics

No matter how fancy you are,

it's never not a good time

to play with your neighbor's dogs

who secretly like you better.

♥

Wedding Wear

Friday night was Hong's sister-in-law's nephew's wedding, so naturally we were obligated to go. One of the things I enjoy most about Lao weddings is the bright clothing.

This time, I challenged myself to take pictures of women wearing clothes in all of the colors of the rainbow.

I'd say I was pretty successful. To make things fair, here are some candid pictures of myself and Hong. (Though I'm not sure how candid Hong's was. Check out that swag!)

So what color did the bride wear, you ask? Normally the bride wears yellow and red with lots of gold jewelry.

I wish I'd gotten a close-up of this lady's nails. Works of art!

Idioms In Common

Idioms are an important part of any language. Learning idioms in different languages give much insight into that culture. Though English and Lao differ greatly in both language and culture, we both use idioms in similar situations. Here are four common idioms in English that have counterparts in Lao:

Helmet Re-design

As I was doing some picture research for this post, I was inspired by some of the helmet designs out there. Some were designed to look like a globe, a golf/tennis ball, Santa Claus, or Optimus Prime. This website is dedicated to putting fake hair on the outside of your helmet. And of course, here's our all-time favorite head of helmet hair:

source

Not feeling quite confident enough to add actual hair to my helmet, I figured my best option would be to paint it. And as my creativity comes in bursts and must be attended to immediately lest it dry up like a raisin in the sun, I decided to use nail polish- the only 'paints' I had on hand.
First I removed the visor. No screwdriver? No problem!

Next, I picked my colors. I didn't want to use anything too dark, sheer, or expensive. I had purchased all of these polishes (except the white one on the left) in Thailand for about 50 cents each and the white one at a dollar store in the states for a dollar.

I took the white polish and drew a line down the middle. I wasn't too concerned about it being perfect. Not for any particular reason, I just didn't want to be concerned. Then I drew some geometric shapes on each side, filled in each shape with color, and went over any white lines that I'd accidentally painted over. Then I re-attached the visor.

My living room smelled like cheap nail polish for 3 days, but I really like the results! Other than wearing it while driving, Hong likes to wear it while playing guitar, and I like to wear it while playing with puppy.

'Umbrella' sing-a-long in Lao!

 

Apologies that the sound and video don't quite match up.

Real lyrics to the full song can be found here.

Kanhom

Jao me hua jai kong khoy, 

Leh puak hao se bo kuey nyek tang

Bang tii nai magazine, 

De jao goh bpen dao kong khoy

Bao uei poh nai gan kuun,

jao hen lot nyai sot sai

Leh ta yaak hai khoy yuu
Gap jao hai dai sameu

Poh wa

CHORUS
Vela daed ock

             Puak hao leuam  namgan                 

Bawk jao khoy jah you talot gan

Vow wa khoy pen muu kong jao

Me kamsaban Khoy ja you nam jao hod talod pai
De dio nee vela fon tok haeng ti sut              

Huu wa puak hao nyang mi gan yuu

Jao yun dai you nai kanhom kong khoy (x2)

Kanhom, kanhom, eh eh eh 

You nai kanhom kong khoy (x3)

Kanhom, kanhom, eh eh eh (eh eh eh)