Cooking.....

I arrived to find that my room now has "cooking facilities" which means I don't have to eat almost every meal at a restaurant. I have a small induction hot plate for cooking. I have not used an induction heated stove or hot plate before and I really like it. It stays cool until you put a flat bottomed skillet or pot on it. Then the thing heats up FAST! It really reminds me of a gas stove because I can control the heat quickly and easily. I also have a rice cooker and a ton of dishes, pots and pans and all sorts of utensils I don't know how to use. It is nice to be able to cook and I can create dishes like this…..



But in order to cook, it means that I must go shopping. This is where things get pretty interesting. Shopping to most of us means a trip to the closest HyVee, Schnucks, Albertsons, etc. You look at the meat wrapped in plastic in nice little refrigerators...or if you want something special you ask the butcher. Vegetables are in nice bundles in the vegetable section of the store. You waltz up and down the aisles, tossing things into your cart.....and pay on the way out.

Hanoi does have what I call a "big box" store called Big C. It is just like a super Target or Walmart. All the food looks tired, veggies are old --but you can easily find what you want and toss it into a cart and pay on the way out.

But things are much different for most shoppers in Hanoi. Daily trips to the local market are pretty standard. For me, I manage to stretch my food so that I only need to go two or three times a week. My local market is fairly close by--only a 10 minute walk. But once I get there.......boy, things are much different than shopping at HyVee or elsewhere.

On my list today was fruit, shrimp, cabbage and anything else that looked good. I bought some shrimp last week....oh my....it was wonderful. So I went back to the nice "fish lady" (one of about 4-5 in the market) and she helped me pick out about 15 big plump shrimp.




Once I had selected the ones I wanted...and that was a challenge because they kept hopping out of the basket....I asked her to clean them for me. She will cut off the tails and heads with scissors and then she squeezes their guts out using her fingers. When finished she puts them into a small plastic bag and I am ready to move on. Today I bought about 15 BIG shrimp and they cost me 35,000 dong...which is about $1.75.


There is a HUGE assortment of fish at the market. Squid, eel, snails, crabs....just about anything. I am going to try some of the other types of fish later....but am just now beginning to be comfortable with this type of shopping. Anyway....the photos below show just a few of the many choices.





Next I hit the pommello man...one big fruit for 60 cents. Some rambutan (fuzzy fruit with very sweet center) and finally some mushrooms, onions and garlic. I forgot how much those things cost.




I took a few pictures of some of the morning activity. Chickens were everywhere this morning. You can select a freshly killed one or you can pick your own live bird and they will kill it, pluck and cut it up while you wait. The photo below has a bunch of chickens in the cage and a while plastic type of "funnel" hanging on the side. You pick your chicken and they stick its head in the funnel thing and pull it down tight. The head sticks out the bottom. They cut the birds throat and let the blood drain out. If you want your bird cleaned, you can take it down the aisle to these guys who will do the task for you.





One lady said you can tell a good bird by looking at some little nubbly thingie on a chicken's leg. I saw it...but have absolutely no clue as to what it is or what/why this is key to a "good" bird. If anyone knows, please tell me!



The pork people are everywhere. This pork is some of the best looking pork I have seen in a long time. Most of it probably was killed yesterday or last night. I looked at it carefully and I was really amazed at how great the meat looked. You can pick a piece of loin, shoulder, ear, leg, snout...anything. They will hack off the amount you want. Like everything else it is very inexpensive.



There is a vast array of garlic types, onions, ginger, corn and other vegetables. I always ask "how much" and usually they tell you the price per kilo or gram. If it seems ok, I pick out what I want, she weights it and tells me how much I owe her. The challenge is learning the numbers in Vietnamese. Twelve is ten + two and twenty is two + ten. It sounds easy...but gets confusing when they rattle the price off quickly. But everyone is patient with me and very nice. I have learned that speaking a bit of Vietnamese goes a long, long way in being friendly. I am happy that I know a few words because everyone always laughs at me when I speak.


On the way out of the market--I spy a man with a ton of plants...flowers and bushes. They really are beautiful. I spy a wonderful yellow "tree" in his motorbike basket.




Wow....it is gorgeous. It even has a pot...and I begin to think that it would look very nice outside my door! So the negotiations begin. I have a student friend with me --and she tells me to be quiet because she will do the bargaining. Back and forth....he is shaking his head no...she is persistent. After a great deal of bargaining, she manages to snag this for me for $6! I happily put it under my arm and off we head to the dorm. On the way back, everyone smiles at the sight of this beautiful plant and asks "How much?". When they hear 120,000 dong, they shout "Great Price".....!




So now the beautiful plant is outside my door.....and I smile every time I see it! I hope it survives a few weeks--but if not, even a few days of enjoying it makes it worth the trip.