fruit please!

i am mang cau! roar!

so today was day 2 on my asia tour. there were more misses than hits today but the day is still not over. so the day started with the mysterious mang cau fruit that i mentioned yesterday with the custard like texture. yummo! so this is what this thing looks like. its like a wanna be artichoke, its a little squishy to the touch and is about the size of a large orange or a mini grapefruit. i like how it looks, maybe ill use it as my inspiration for my pottery when i get back. always looking for new ideas and you know me, im all about texture! meow!

hai ya!

so this is where our day started off bad... how do you cut this thing? pls beware you have fingers

word... this thing was gross. it was not ripe, and it had that young im not ripe taste. all that build up to be let down! mai gets F for fail, epic fail!!

we took the rest of the mang cau's we got, out of the fridge, and onto the counter and left them out to get super squishy and super ripe. should take about 24 hours in this weather. i told mai to leave them out on the balcony, but she said outside the fridge is warm enough... so thats mangos and mang cau's now on the waiting list to be consumed. will update this later...

so for brunch, mai wanted to take me somewhere less fancy, she was telling me its still a little fancy, but explained that they had no door. i was totally sold on the no door thing, but of course when we get there, its not they have no door, its just one open space... one open fancy space!

anywho this is lunch. this is what this place is famous for. i guess its some type of mashed gelatinous rice type tapas with crushed peanuts and a crispy fried shrimp on top.

you scoop, you dip in fish sauce, you eat!

i really wanted to eat some sort of rice dish, every one out here is always eating! walking around town, all the shop people are always eating. rice, noodles, fried things, sweet things. i want to try it all! except for the smelly fish paste that they smear on the rice (blech!) 

this is not rice...

so this place had no rice dishes. boo! so i got the rice vermicelli with pork and veggies. it was bomb! i like how out here they dont cheap out on the spices! more pickles! more cillantro! less chili peppers! sweat beads...

i wanted to try these other kind of summer rolls they had on the menu. i think i can be baller when summer rolls cost 1usd. ummm but you taste like the other dish... your just wrapped in a better packaging! design team gets a A for making me think the menu had lots to offer >:(













so after food, we went to the market to walk around. i still need to get my family back in japan something since the two weeks before i came out here i was mega busy. its hard to look for gifts! its like the most strenuous thing ever. im constantly asking myself will they like this? do i like this? is this just crap? its crap!

cake corner!

vietnam is like a huge canal street, all the shops have the same junk. what happened to the days when i used to see "real" silk scarfs, 2 for $10, a steal? i must be like grown up or something.

so at the market i still needed to find my jacket fabric, the lining to the jacket, and my dress lining. i have decided my jacket will be a super shaaaaaaaap navy blue. i was going to do a satin cobalt blue or royal purple inside lining. baller! but then i decided that it might be tacky. yes typing that out it sounds tacky. just because i get to design this doesnt mean i get to do whatever i want. so i decided on something different. you must all wait and see what kind of graceful sense i have. o ho ho!

am i delicious?!

since the mornings mang cau was gross, we sat down and challenged to have a mang cau smoothie. mai swears that its delicious, i told her if its gross im throwing the smoothie in her face!

OMGEEEE!!!!! this thing is like heaven in the mouth! it has that smoooooth custardy flavor just like the book said! i was impressed, and now i am obsessed with mang cau smoothies <3

che variety, just add ice

mai had the che'. i guess the snack drinks here are called that. basically its cut fruits with some jelly type stuff topped with ice. i also have become a huge fan of this.

#1 che right hurrrrr

there was one questionable one... looks kindda like frog eggs but when i investigated, its just basil seeds that have been boiled. its still gross looking though, this is another challenge while i am here.















ok i think thats what ill post for now. going to fish for my pet carp in the mekong tomorrow! wish me luck