I have been very busy the past few days with work, fun and getting ready for the Lunar New Year.  The Giant and I will be leaving for a trip on Wednesday morning, and don't have plans to return until the First (My Birthday!)  Who knows if we will even come back to the city, we may just keep on traveling! 

TET holiday is pretty major here and everything closes down for a week or so.  I have been stocking our cupboards with snacks and packing the fridge full of beer just in case everything really is shut down!

My other big news is my birthday present!  Gavin got me an electric bike!  You can read more about it HERE.

I guess this will be my last post for a week or maybe longer, well, Happy New Year!

Tuesday:  Pretty uneventful day.  We didn't have much food around the house due to a planned trip to the beach, so I snacked on peanut butter and crackers.

My pre-work snack included part of this cheese and crackers plate along with a few bites of the Giant's leftover pasta.

Before we left for work I started to not feel so well.  By the time we got to work I had a full blown fever.  I managed to get through three hours of work, (and eat a small plate of noodles with tofu at our work provided meal) but felt like death by the time I got home.  I went straight to bed.  Meanwhile Gav canceled all of our travel plans for Wednesday.

Wednesday:  Felt a bit better, but hung around the house for the whole morning and afternoon.  We had literally NOTHING at home to eat, so it was cereal for Gavin, Milo for me, and a shared plated of orange slices and PB&J crackers.

We were starving by 4, and realized it was time to get out and get some real food in us.  Sushi sounded perfect!  I had a tuna and avocado roll, a salmon roll, a few pieces of various nigiri and a few bites of vegetable tampera.  It was perfect! 

After dinner we went to the rum bar and had a few drinks.  The rum there is so sweet and light, it tasted so good with out leaving you very fuzzy.  Apparently some of the Vietnamese men at the table next to us had a few too many bottles of rum...one fell off his motorbike, and his friend helped him up and put him back on to drive home!  You really have to watch out for drunk drivers here!

We ended up at a friends house late night.  They prepared an amazing Filipino feast for us of Vegetarian Adobo with tofu, whole eggs, potatoes and rice.  They also made massive platter of deep fried cheese stuffed hot peppers, fried morning glory leaves and some traditional dipping sauces.  Although I wasn't very hungry, I managed to have a few peppers and a small helping of Adobo.  So yummy!

Today Gavin and I slept late and by the time we were up and out of the house it was 2 and we hadn't eaten anything.  We went back to Pho Hao and had some pho.  I got mine meatless, it was divine! 

It feels like I haven't used a computer in forever, let alone written a post about food. 

This weekend was extremely busy with endless hours of work.  Nothing worth mentioning on the food front.  Our weekend meals are generally rushed and not so tasty.  However, I always get a picture in of my breakfasts.  Here is Saturday's:

And Sundays:

Monday was another early wake up to prepare for Mui to come and clean our house.  She really is the sweetest gal I've ever met.  Breakfast was coffee and fresh pineapple for me and a noodle and egg bowl for the Giant.

We got a sushi and saki lunch in in between errands. 

We finally made it to the pool for a bit of rest and relaxation around 3 and stayed until 6, drinking Tequila Sunrises and eating a massive fruit plate.

My only photographed meal of the day was dinner.  I made giant servings of spaghetti with eggplant. 

I used to make this a lot in Istanbul.  It was my first time making it in months (I think since last winter or spring) but it might have been my best ever.  I topped it with some Gouda cheese which gave it a little extra flavor. 

I hardly made a dent in my massive helping, but the Giant managed to get through most of his!  I guess he'll finish mine for lunch today.

Breakfast this morning was much like our other breakfasts, fresh dragon fruit and a sliced pear along with Milo made with half milk/half water.

The Giant got up around noon demanding food.  Breakfast was made.  I had Milo with milk, a slice of wheat bread with cheese and part of a massive fruit plate.

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I accidentally erased the picture of Gavin's breakfast on my camera, but he managed to down two eggs and four slices of bread with cheese and tomatoes.  It was an impressive meal.

After breakfast I busied myself with laundry, cleaning and cooking.  Within an hour after breakfast the Giant asked for pasta and a snack.  He got some left over spaghetti with zucchini along with bread and I made veggie spring rolls for a snack.

Today I made mine with lettuce, cucumber and noodles.

 I made a sweet chili peanut butter sauce for dipping.  Looks awful, but tastes so good!

Yummsers.

Yesterday our computer and internet were running so slow I couldn't even check my email let alone blog my eats.  Internet is generally good and relatively fast in Vietnam, but our computer is a dinosaur....it's an 8 year old laptop from my husbands college days.  We had talked about using some of our wedding money to get a new computer this summer when we were in the states, but for some unknown reason we decided against it.

Anyways, on to food!

Wednesday was one of those disaster over eating days.  I wrote last about the Pho Bo Chin (Beef noodle soup) I had.  Even though we ate it fairly early, it left me so full I thought it would be best to skip dinner.  Rather than dinner I had a cup of yogurt.  Then disaster struck.  Gavin got hungry.  I ended up making way too much pasta with zucchini and had a small bowl myself.

I was so full afterwords, I felt like I was going to explode.  I had an awful stomachache, and when to bed feeling sick.

Yesterday I woke up with a skip in my step, determined not to make the same mistake.  We had wheat toast with fresh peanut butter and jelly for breakfast (I had one thin slice) and a kiwi.

We met a friend for lunch at a really cool Malaysian restaurant behind a mosque in District One called Quan Com Cary An Do Hoi Giao.  We had heard about the place and were excited to try it.  We ordered a bunch of little dishes to share between the three of us.

We had potato curry, okra, chicken curry, peas, rice and nan.  I had a piece of nan and helped myself to all the veggies.  The portions were small and we were hungry so we ordered a second helping of the okra and potatoes!

It was so good!

We finished off the meal with coffee and headed out the the Pham to pay some bills and get some packages together to mail back home.  I had two small glasses of wine in the process.

Snackage occurred for "dinner".  I had some whole wheat toast with mozzarella cheese and some dried jack fruit.  We found ourselves back at 138 for drinks in the evening.  Gavin got some rice, I had a few bites, but mostly just stuck to wine for the evening.  We had another busy night of bar hopping around Saigon and finally found ourselves at our late night pho spot for this vegetarian delight.

I piled mine with veggies and hot peppers!  MMmmm!

Gavin finally woke up and demanded food.  Here is what he got:

fruit plate with kiwi, watermelon, and pineapple

Fresh French bread
scrambled eggs with zucchini
cheese
fresh peanut butter
blackberry jam

Here's the spread

 Here's my plate

This afternoon we went to look at electric bikes for me.  I really need my own means of transportation, and I think an electric bike would be best.  More to come about that.

For lunch we went to Pho Hao, a famous pho restaurant here in town.  It sure was impressive, with breads for dipping, massive piles of veg, and heaping portions of meat. 

However, it was all a bit too much for me.  I gave Gavin most of my meat, ad could hardly get through the noodles.  I think I would go back next time a little more hungry.

Yesterday was far from ordinary.

Before work I enjoyed two Tim Tams with Gavin.  He just loves these things.  I did a "Tim Tam Slam" with mine.

Work dinner was noodle soup with liver and a quail egg.  It was pretty bad.  In fact work was pretty bad.  I taught one of my older classes, 12-14 year-olds.  The boys and girls are just starting to notice each other, and their new budding feelings seem to be the only thing they have on their mind.  I really felt like I was wasting their time and they were wasting my time.  I think something is in the air, because all of us teachers looked defeated as we left work.

After work a friend invited me to "Ladies Night" at Lush.  I had never been to Lush or knew where it was, but decided to check it out.  It turns out is a super club.  I hate clubs.  The second I stepped in I wanted to run out.  The whole experience was awful.  The music, the creepy guys, the fakeness, the working girls.  NOT MY SCENE.  I got a drink (they were free) and made my way to where my friends were.  It was so loud I could hardly hear what they were saying.  Finally I got one of them to leave with me and head over to a rum bar to meet up with Gavin and friends.  What a good decision that was!  The rum bar is an sidewalk bar, which sells their own homemade rum.  Their menu is simple and easy...bottle of rum, bottle of coke, lime.  The rum is very light in alcohol and sweet.  It complements a coke well.  A few bottles had been ordered by the time I we got there, I helped myself to glass full of the combination.  It was nice to have good conversations that you could HEAR with some friends.

After the rum bar, we headed down to Assport of a bit of grub.  I chose to stick with water while everyone else got a night cap and had a veggie curry. 

Since I have been up I've drank a few huge tumblers of water and snacked on a massive satsuma as well as an organic kiwi.

Yesterday was a debacle and I felt awful all day.  I was really disappointed in myself.  I haven't been that hung over in a LONG TIME.  It totally disrupted my day.  I managed to accomplish everything on my long list of things to do, but never got out of the house to the store.  Disappointed. 

Food wise it was ok.  Unfortunately everything went unphotographed, but I had a massive bowl of strawberries.  They didn't taste all that good and looked like they had been grown in a swamp, but what can you do?

Throughout my day I had two yogurt cups and a plate of cheese and crackers.  I made Gavin a massive helping of spaghetti and corn (it was we had left in the veggie department!) with tomato sauce and fresh garlic.  I had a few bites.

I read this post on the Daily Garnish and really felt a connection to it.  I cut back to almost no alcohol this time last year.  I lost about 8 pounds with in a month or two as well as felt better.  I am not quite ready to quit drinking all together, but it is time for a major cut back again.  I hated how I felt yesterday.

Today I woke up early with pep in my step.  Breakfast was a hard boiled egg and some crackers and cheese.

We shared a big mug of coffee and one of Milo with milk.  Neither of us get enough calcium in our diets, so I have been trying to drink vitamin-infused milk as of late.  I hope it is working!

Gavin surprised me with a surprise date for lunch.  We went to a restaurant we had never been to before called Hideaway.  It's a super cute cafe that's hidden back in a alleyway.  

I got a huge salad with grilled veg, greens, and chicken, along with a iced green tea.  I would order it again, it was just that good.

We also shared an appetizer of bruschetta with goat cheese.

Gavin got a grilled sandwich with chicken, pesto and eggplant.  It was pretty bland.  It needed a lot of help.

This super cutie was blocking our bike when we were leaving....what a face!

We went for a massive supermarket run after lunch and are now resting and relaxing before our evening classes.

Unfortunately I have a lot to catch up on.  I woke up this morning to a really messy house, a splitting headache and dreadfully thirsty.  Back up a bit:

Saturday was, as I thought, soup.  It was much like My Quang only with more broth.  I skipped out on the meat once again.

I also had a yogurt before heading off to work.  And a glass of wine when I got home.

Sunday was another crazy ten hour teaching day.  It started off with gruel and coffee along with some fresh pineapple with chili salt for dipping.

Then I got to see these adorable faces for a few hours.

Gavin worked at a different branch Sunday morning, and was already home by the time I got there and had picked up some take out noodles and strawberries.  A perfect lunch!

I was feeling pretty tired by hour 7 of working, so picked up a cafe sua da (iced coffee with sweetened milk) to fuel me.

Work provided dinner was pretty bad.  Huge rice noodles with some mystery processed meat and veg.  I skipped the meat, but ate the rest.  One of our coworkers found an EYELASH in her meat.

After work I was hungry.  We stopped at a store on the way home and I got some little Panda cookie snacks.  They are probably awful for you, but they were so cute and jumped out at me.  Yummy!

I also had a glass of wine.

Half of me wanted to curl up in bed for the night, while the other half was feeling like hitting the town.  I am sure you can guess which one I chose.  We headed down to 138 to meet some friends, I drank wine and was merry and also had some unpictured crab legs in tamarind sauce.

We headed on words to another bar where I had an entire glass of wine spilled on me.  Pretty big damper on the evening.  On the way home we had some late night soup.  I had mine meatless. 

There is a lot to do today.  I have alot to clean up around the house, laundry to do and a massive shopping trip that needs to happen.  Due to lack of food in the fridge I reached to CHIPS for a morning snack.  Why am I eating these?  I have no idea.  Time to put the bag away.