Today is also going to be another quiet day at home. It will not be fun, cause Sophia needs to catch up on homework. Yes…I know, I know, boo Mommy. I want to get it out of the way before it gets busy. More cousins are descending into Vietnam and bright and early our family went to the city to pick them up. We didn’t go this time, because they will be tired to go home and go to sleep after about 24 hours of travel like us. We have a whole clan here!
For breakfast was Pho again, the adult size bowl. My girl can put down some Pho. All the little kids had the kids bowl…not my little girl…she had the full on adult bowl with full veggies and all the available meat. She finished the whole thing except one teaspoon.
I had promised her that if she drank half a coffee and was not crazy I would let her drink a whole cup by herself. My cousin of course spoiled her and bought Sophia her own cup. She loved it. This is the same kind of coffee that I used to have as a kid. It brings back memories of going with my cousin, and my grandfather.
The picture is my beef noodles topped with young banana all kinds of herb such cilantro, basil, sawtooth coriander, among others that I have no idea what they are in English.
When I got home I realized that my aunt had also bought me some rice and it was sitting at the house, so I ate it too.
My nieces and nephews were shocked that I could still eat. What they fail to realize is that this humongous bowl of pho is the small in America. Its a little bigger than the kids bowl.
This is broken rice, with grilled pork, egg, egg meatloaf, veggies, and peanuts. It was not very much, and I finished that off with a custard apple, and some tea.
The dragon fruit looks tempting, but I think I’ll pass for today. We have more days before I tackle dragon fruit. Sophia has had this in America, so it’s not that big a deal to her. I want to introduce her to those things that are not available in America. Durian was opened, but it was kind of disappointing. The imported ones are better. No surprise, Sophia loves the custard apple and also like me likes to spit out the seeds inside out.
However, we only spit it out in a baggie that goes to the garbage can. I remember as a kid I would try to spit it out as far as I could into the river sitting in the back of the house. I also snack on some young jackfruit, and a few other treats just sitting around.
We plan our trip. Everything is pretty close, and with the weddings, and the other events, it takes 2 weeks out of our trip, so its kind of hard to do anything. I guess it will have to wait for next year.
When my cousin arrives we bring in luggage, and have a home cooked meal. There was chicken and a few more things that I forgot to take pictures of.
Then my uncle brought out Hennessey VSOP for my cousin’s husband. Of course, how can I not partake? Plus, Ryan is not here to drink for himself, so I have to drink in his place. — Oh…darn (sarcastically). The shot glasses here are pretty small. The crispy frogs and the salted fish come out as drinking food. It is the best. Of course, everyone acknowledges that Ryan is missing from this circle. The intention of this circle is to make Ryan jealous and wish he came. Anne is has also joined us in drinking. From left: Anne (cousin), Sung Vi (my dad’s kids, his sister also named Huong, my dad (uncle), my youngest uncle, me, and David, my other cousin’s husband. Yes, we have a huge family.
And in true Asian style, there is karaoke, however the kids hog it, and personally I love karaoke, however I’m not drunk enough to actually sing, so I go upstairs to put Sophia to bed and video chat with Ryan. This picture and this normal Tuesday are the best parts of life and the little things that a great life are made up of. In the words of my favorite author:
“It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.” Arthur Conan Doyle
Meaningful Tea 