The kitchen territory

Wednesday, July 14, 2011

12:30 PM (Vietnam Time)

Scott and I cooked our first meal at the guesthouse yesterday. Scott and Ngan went to the market to buy us vegetables and came back with bagfuls of exotic fruits and vegetables: bon bon (Vietnamese fruit), mang cut (fruit), longan, cauliflower, bittermelon, and chai bau (translates to pregnant fruit, because it is shaped like a butternut squash and looks pregnant!). Even cooking was an adventure. The lady (Co Loan) that keeps the house is overly helpful and didn’t believe we could cook. She kicked Scott out of the kitchen immediately and started the rice for us without asking. I wanted to make my tofu with tomato dish similar to my mom’s, but Ngan and Co Loan kept wanting to help or making comments. I kept having to say, “Don’t worry, I know how to cook! I cook at home all the time.” Every little thing I did, Co Loan would comment on. “Why are you cooking the tofu so long?” Then, she would dip her chopsticks into my sauce and taste without saying anything. I opened up a few backs of rau thom, or herbs, looking for some basil. They were teasing me, saying, “You can’t cook that in there! That’s for banh xeo (Vietnamese pancakes).” I kept asking Ngan, “I am looking for basil.” No one understood until I asked Scott to bring down his computer and pull up google translate. Finally, the point got across and Co Loan went outside to cut me some fresh basil. I finally finished my dish and set it out on the table. Co Loan came over to taste it and said one word, “Good!” I felt accomplished as if I had just won the challenge on some cooking show. Then, Ngan proceeded to cook the bittermelon with eggs. I found out that the kitchen is a very territorial place. It must be the place where the woman is in charge. I had to urge Co Loan not to wash our dishes and that she already did too much for us. I think she is slowly starting to warm up to Scott and me.

Cigarettes and fruit

Fresh seafood

So much for so little

Fish from the sea

While we were cooking, Scott and Bac 10 (literally translates to Mr. 10) were having a little Vietnamese lesson together while enjoying the tropical fruit. I could here Bac 10 teaching Scott words such as: fan, eat, bicycle, delicious, all the names of the fruit, and so on. Bac 10 would stop every once in awhile and smile would brighten his very stern demeanor. It is really hard to get a smile out of Bac 10, so Scott had also accomplished something. Bac 10 said that Scott was a funny guy. We offered Bac 10 and Co Loan lunch, but they had both eaten. However, they did enjoy the fruit with us. I think our little gesture of cooking and offering food softened them up to us a bit. Overall, it was a challenging, yet enjoyable experience. Now I definitely appreciate the safety of my own kitchen.

-Audrey

Piles and piles

Never short on fruit

The ones that look like plums are our favorite

The kitchen territory

Vietnamese family style

Homemade tofu dish