Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Saigon March 22, 2017

The small, crunchy fish are the best.
Fresh tomato and orange juice.





He was in the ARVN for five years.



Emily, Virginia and I can drink the Mắm nêm.
Had to add hot peppers to this one though. 





The best Nuoc Mam I have ever had.

Sleeping on the job. :)





The baby sitter waved at me as I was walking and when I sat down the child bowed graciously and then offered me a bite of her food.  When I said I was full the babysitter said to sit on my lap and she might me able to convince me. :)  Not a shy bone in her body as she promptly went around the table, sat on my lap and offered me a spoonful again.  Wish there had been a shot  of this.

10 comments:

  1. You take pictures of these lovely shops. I wonder whether Internet shopping isn't undermining them as it does in other parts of the world!

    I think it's very conservative to admire small downtowns. Then Wal-Mart and other big box stores gutted the downtowns. Today the Internet is gutting the big boxes, which I hope results in some niche for a return of some small independent stores.

    Anyway, I think everyone likes seeing little shops. We all like downtowns, even if online shopping is so much more convenient. I try to avoid big box stores, shop from a mix of the other two. And big box grocery stores in the US can be great, some of them. Some older local chain grocery stores really join the community, are very local. It's nice. They offer the positives of the local downtowns I think, and their margins are low.

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    1. I don't believe theInternet has affected them so much but large department stores I am sure do, though these Ma and Pop stores sell at the minimum profit and since they also live there, a living is made.

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    2. Ty for the explanation.

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  2. Wow, that's a lot of great food! The crunchy fish, betcha can't eat just one!

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    1. They are pinky size and I spend about $40 a week on street food, but could do it for $20. The food pictured runs 60 cents to $1.30 and I split the meal each day for the most part.

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    2. If I went there and saw that food, I'd come back thirty pounds heavier and twice as happy.

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    3. Maybe not as everything is fresh. My English friend Richard who stays here loses addition weight every 6 months and he is already skinny. He attributes it to the un-doctored food, I, unfortunately, don't have the same results......:)

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    4. Brock, one concern: In America we fear eating Vietnamese fish, because it's said to have formaldehyde or other chemicals. Especially the farmed fish.

      I noticed today the mahi-mahi I'd been regularly buying is sourced from Vietnam, though wild.

      The local shrimp (wild from SC) is ironically some of the cheapest seafood available for me. I know where to buy it almost straight from the fishermen, so I can get it cheap here.

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    5. formaldehyde or other chemicals.

      Don;t know, but hat's what we were told about the 33 beer in the sixties, but that didn't slow us down. :)

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      The local shrimp (wild from SC)

      Yes, I buy the same in NC as it is better, I believe, although shrimp is one seafood that tastes OK after frozen.

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