Kuching! Sweet Sweet Mart

Does Sweet Factory still exist? I always felt like the luckiest kid when my parents would let me fill a plastic bag with shark gummies, jaw breakers, and Jelly Bellies. I was so excited to discover, on the very bottom level of a mall in Malaysia, this Sweet Factory-ish store called Sweet Sweet Mart.

 Not only did they have a wide selection of wrapped candy, they also had dried fruit,

nuts and chips, 

and wafers and cookies.

Hong had a difficult time choosing. 

 Mmmmm such a fun reminder of childhood!

Two Sweet Things

Two sweet things happened last night:

This ridiculous ice cream with pears and chocolate at a French restaurant...

 ...and Mama with her new teeny puppies under a van!

In Season- Rambutan

Rambutan is one of the weirder looking tropical fruit that we have here. It's also very refreshing on these extremely hot and humid days.

This is a rambutan! In Lao it's called Mak Ngo. Mak means fruit. Ngo is the actual name. The vowel is so short. It's a very glottal sound and is still really difficult for me to pronounce!

 This is the inside of a rambutan.

 This is the part of the rambutan that you can eat. There is a white seed on the inside.

Once you're finished eating a rambutan, it seems wrong to just throw away the hilarious-looking rind. But what should you do?

Why, put them in your eyes, of course!

 Hong got the hang of it much faster than I did...

 ...but I got it eventually. Sort of.

Why I Need to Make Lists

I went to the local minimart yesterday with the intention of stocking up on food so I wouldn't have to leave the house for meals (we're in FULL ON New Year water fight mode!) however I didn't have any specific plan, so I ended up buying a strange mishmash of things.

1. Baked beans- I got these home and immediately wondered why I had bought two. Then I wondered why I'd bought even one. 

2. Seaweed Pringles- One of my students brought these to our Lao New Year's party on Thursday. I hadn't tried them before because I don't really like plain seaweed, but they're actually delicious!

3. Whole Wheat Joma bread- Mmmmmm. Love me some Joma bread. Now I can make my famous baked-bean-and-seaweed-pringle sandwiches.

4. Footsee socks- Seriously? I have no idea why I picked these up. I think it's strange, though, that the brand is 'Golden Legs' and they're made in Thailand where only the whitest of legs are beautiful.

5. In Time- Don't judge. I was in need of entertainment and it was between this or Final Destination 5. And what could be better than Amanda Seyfried AND Justin Timberlake in the same movie? Answer- almost anything. It wasn't terrible, but within the first 10 minutes I was wondering how it could possibly have a satisfactory ending. Answer- it doesn't.

6. Bik Kuri- I bought this drink for two reasons:

a. the smiling ice

b. this special message.

 
It tasted like a mix between Pedialyte and Red Bull. 

Today it's supposed to be 97 degrees! This afternoon I'm going with Hong's family to join in the water fighting. We'll ride in the back of Hong's brother's truck and throw water on passers by. It should be excellent.

Unique Treats- Happy Pop

My students like to surprise me with interesting snacks. Here's one called "Happy Pop".

Colorful packaging, iffy ingredients, all signs point to 'excellent Asian treat'.

 

Inside the package was a lumpy lolly-pop and a blue plastic top.

 

 First impression.

 What ARE you? The best way I can describe it is a mix between a Tootsie Roll and a Sugar Daddy.

 

But check out that spinning top action!

BAM! Happy pop indeed!

Lettuce Wraps- Lao Style

Pan Ba literally means Fish Wrap. It's fun to make and delicious to eat!

 

1. Leafy greens- lettuce, cabbage, and an assortment of herbs. There’s also a small bag of rice noodles in there somewhere.

2. Fish- It comes strapped tightly in a piece of bamboo (they use it to hold on to when the fish is being grilled). If you need instructions about how to disassemble the fish, head over to this post about how to eat grilled fish.

3. Sauce- This sauce is called Jeow Pan Ba - Fish Wrap Sauce (also mentioned in the grilled fish post).

4. Toppings- bean sprouts, lemongrass, chili peppers, unripe star fruit, long beans, peanuts, horseradish, fried pig skin, eggplant, and cucumber.

Now, assemble and eat!

 

1. Get a wrapping- either lettuce or cabbage (I usually choose cabbage because I like the crunch).

2. Add a piece of fish.

3. Choose any toppings! My first wrap contained a long bean, some mint, and bean sprouts.

4. Hong’s wraps are usually more robust than mine. His had mint, a pepper, noodles, and another leafy herb (not sure what it’s called, anyone know?)

5. Dip in the sauce and eat.

6. Make another! I decided to get a little adventurous with my second one: eggplant, horseradish, noodles, peanuts. A little strange. It’s fun to try different combinations!

Small Reminders of Home - KFC

A student surprised me with a box of KFC!

And it was gooooooooood.

New Experiences- Buffalo Skin

While cooler weather and bonfires make me think of roasting marshmallows, Hong is reminded of days in his youth sitting around the fire roasting buffalo skin. So we bought some.

 

As I didn't feel comfortable starting a bonfire in my front yard, Hong fried the little pieces of skin in a pan.

 

Right after I took this picture, the smell of frying skin wafted to my nose. I slowly backed away and took one last picture before shutting the kitchen door.

I am sorry to say that I didn't actually taste the buffalo skin. Maybe next time. The smell was an experience in itself.

Seasons- 3 in 1

This is such a colorful time of the year in Laos! We are experiencing the last of the cool weather and for a short period of time, we get (in my opinion) the best of three seasons:

Spring Blossoms

Something's always blooming in Laos! But this time of year is especially colorful. 

                                        Summer Fruit                                    

Though it's not the best time of the year for fruit, you get to see it beginning to ripen. These trees are in my neighbor's front yard: a Jackfruit tree and a mango tree. There is a pink hammock strung in between. (My house is the light one in the distance.)
Watermelon and Jichama (man pao = coconut potato) are quite easy to find.

Autumn Leaves

There are only a few kinds of trees that change color here, and one of them happens to be right outside of my house. I love green, but Autumn leaves are definitely my favorite kind!

Now if only we could get a bit of snow...

Unique Treats- Lunar New Year

Lunar New Year is on Monday, and some of my sweet students gave me some traditional treats.

 1. sugared, colored coconut strips; corn, strawberry, taro, and banana candy; candied pineapple, papaya and ginger; one prune.

 2. extremely sticky rice tightly wrapped in layers and layers of banana leaves.

 

3. spam-like meat (made with lots of MSG) wrapped in layers and layers and LAYERS of banana leaves.

Guess which one was my favorite!

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.

Noodle Soup- The Polite Way

A common lunch here in Laos is noodle soup. There are a couple of different varieties. This one is called Kao Piek (wet rice). It consists of broth, thick rice noodles, meat (usually chicken or pork), fried onion, and spring onion. You can ask for it with or without coagulated blood.

1. First, you must decide how to dress your soup. The choices are: fish sauce, soy sauce, hot sauce, tomato sauce, vinegar, hot peppers, pureed ginger, sugar, MSG, ground pepper, lime, and bean sprouts.

2. I chose ginger, bean sprouts, and lime.

3. Pick up a noodle with your chopsticks. This can be tricky as the noodles are very thick and slippery.

4. Place the noodle in your spoon. If the noodle is too long to fit, cut it with the edge of your spoon.

5. Add to your spoon anything else from your bowl that you would like to eat. I added a fried onion. (The thing that looks like a leg is actually a delicious fruit shake. You can a bit of it in step 7.)

6. If you get a beautiful chunk of meat like this one, it’s easy to eat. If you’re foreign, they’ll often give you the nicer pieces of meat. The lady serving us actually said “Tooay nee samlap falang dur!” = “This bowl is for the foreigner!”

7. If you get pieces like this one (more common), you’ll have to use your fingers to make sure to get every bit of meat off of the bone.

One bowl of delicious soup costs 12,000 kip = $1.50.


So how do you take your Kao Piek?