January 23, 2018
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Tempting, but…

Although I awoke this morning with cold symptoms, I quickly started to feel more and more human as the morning passed. This is day 7 or 8 of my man-cold/jet-lag stew. I have tai chi class this evening and I think I’ll be OK to participate (yay!). Tomorrow is haircut day at the Nite Owl after which I expect to feel much less scruffy.

We saw a few outdoor street barbers in Hanoi and in Saigon, and I admit I was just a tiny bit tempted….DSC02457.jpg

After all, they offer “ear clean”, whatever that means. When push comes to shove though, I’ll stick with my regular barber, Steph.

January 23, 2018
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Phở

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This is Saigon phở, served with heaps of greens and herbs, fresh chilies and limes or kumquats. The broth is more fragrant in the south I think, and in the north there are fewer fresh herbs served. Both are spectacularly good. The beef in this one looked like brisket. In Hanoi I enjoyed a bowl that had both brisket and rare beef, thinly sliced and barely cooked.

January 22, 2018
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The Post

The Post is a newspaper story, the true story of the Washington Post and the Pentagon Papers. It’s very timely and it reminds us we are not living through the first time an American President has gone after the press, nor the first time time a President has lied to the American people.

The film has Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks leading an excellent ensemble cast, but I would say it is Bob Odenkirk who really stands out in this film as an old-school reporter. Streep Plays Kay Graham, the Post’s publisher, who ran the paper during this period and through Watergate. One of the interesting things I hadn’t realized is how close Graham was to the high-level politico set in Washington and how she had come to terms with that and separate those relationships from the paper.

The Post is a very good film. It has a slower pace than we usually see these days and I like that. It takes us back to the Vietnam war and that is particularly interesting to me, having just visited Vietnam 40-some years after the “American War”.

 

January 21, 2018
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I think I’m addicted to Vietnamese coffee

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It took me no time at all in Vietnam to learn I love Vietnamese coffee, and especially their iced coffee. Now it doesn’t have to be swanky, weird-assed weasel coffee, made from beans eaten (and pooped) by honest to God weasels (I don’t even want to think about the collection process). Regular run-of-the mill Vietnamese coffee is just fine. It doesn’t even have to be brewed by a woman in a small boat with a brewing set-up – although the iced coffee I enjoyed that morning in the floating market near Can Tho was as good as it gets.

Note to self, I thought. Your mission is to learn to make this bodacious brew as soon as possible after getting back to Canada. Even while down for the count with that unfortunate combo of man-cold mixed with a dose of jet lag, I managed to get on the interwebs and order us up a couple phins, the single cup devices used to fix up the brew.

I sneezed and coughed my way to a grocery store today and picked up some stronger coffee than we usually drink, and also a supply of the other essential ingredient, sweetened condensed milk. I can’t remember a time in my adult life when I’ve had sweetened condensed milk in the house, but there is a first time for everything.

You start with the milk. Pour as much as you want in your cup, anywhere from just enough to take the edge off ,to the extra-sweet over-the-top deal lots of people in Vietnam seem to enjoy.  Then add your coffee to the phin, place it on top of the cup and put the filter cover on top. Some models have little screws while others are simpler gravity filters. The water should be a little less than boiling. Slowly add a little water, enough to completely wet the grounds. Wait 20 seconds, then slowly add more water, filling the phin. It should take maybe 4 minutes for the water to drip through the coffee into your cup.

Once the brewing has completed, thoroughly stir the coffee until all the condensed milk gets mixed in. If it’s iced coffee you want, there is one more step. Load up a glass with ice, pour the freshly brewed coffee over the ice, stir and enjoy.

I think I’m going to brew one right now.