Sundays are quiet in Xieng Khouang and this one was no different. Shockingly, Youla was already up and about when I rolled out of my room for a morning cup of Nescafe. Having told him the night before that I wanted to go to the market, he had prepped the motorbike and was ready to go. Instead of riding with him, I took the opportunity to drive myself to the market, taking full advantage of the clear Sunday morning roads. Helmet on, I cautiously followed him through the center of town and made it to the market without any problems.
I hadn't really thought about what I wanted to cook, but vegetables were a priority. In the end, I bought an onion, some potatoes, ginger, a pumpkin, and some eggs. In order to ensure the freshness of anything, its important to go to the market really early, and since it was already past 10, any hope of leafy greens was shot.
We returned to the office and I started cooking. Starving, I whipped up some home fries and scrambled eggs, using my new best friend, the electric wok. Not sure how the cook the pumpkin, I decided to first cut it up, peel it (which was the hardest part using my huge butcher knife), and place the cubes into a the steamer tray above the wok. I filled it with water and let the pumpkin soften. I diced up some onion and ginger and threw it into the water. Ten minutes later, my pumpkin was soft and I added half of it into the boiling water which was now a pumpkin ginger soup. The rest I managed to puree with a fork and eat it plain. While my soup boiled, I cleaned out the pumpkin seeds and prepared them for roasting. I wasn't sure how they would do in the wok, but with a little oil and a dash of salt, they came out perfectly. I had created the perfect New England feast, and with the weather feeling like fall, it made me feel right at home.
After spending the whole morning cooking, I cleaned up the kitchen, stored all the food in the fridge and headed over to the QLA. Youla was there working and there were a couple tourists in the visitor center. I introduced myself and let them know to ask me if they had any questions. Right now, the center is staffed by volunteers with varying degrees of english and I am trying to set an example for how to make visitors feel welcome. It is quite the task as many are shy about their english.
We hung out at the center then wandered around trying to find a french press and coffee. It was a lost cause and I will hold out until returning to the big city at the end of the week. Around 4 we returned to the office and Youla prepared some of the leftover noodle soup I brought back from Mr. K's on Saturday. There are four types of noodle soups in Laos: pho, mee-ka-tee, spring roll noodle and another variety I have yet to try. These were of the spring roll variety and the broth has a chili kick. It's pretty good and I doubt I could ever replicate the recipe.
I went back to reading my book for a couple hours until Viengmany called and told me she was coming over for dinner. Its really sweet of her to be so concerned about me being alone. She arrived around 6:30 and insisted we eat my pumpkin soup. We heated it up and threw some of the papadums in the wok. She actually liked the soup, or was just being nice. While eating dinner we turned on the tv, which gets HBO here, and watched Soul Surfer (which should only be played on buses to Wellesley... thanks KGB) followed by another American chic flick. It was fun trying to explain the jokes to her and getting to practice my minimal Lao skills. I'll miss hanging out with her when I'm back in Vientiane, but she will be in the city with her family for my birthday and has promised to celebrate with me!
Monday has GPS on the agenda so stay tuned for my battles with Google Earth and Garmin!
No comments:
Post a Comment