Friday Hooky Date and Belated Father's Day Treat

BIKSS is out of town on a work trip. He'll be gone for a week. 

Also, one of mum's caregivers has gone home for a well-deserved vacation! She'd been here 4 years and Covid prevented her from travelling sooner. But now that everything is *almost* back to normal and restrictions have been lifted, we put her on a plane and bid her bon voyage on Tuesday. 

There were a few hiccups cos her country's immigration and travel policies are THE WORST but she's finally back home safe and sound, and having a lovely time with her family! 

So I am now on leave from work for 2 weeks taking over her duties. It's a good thing I kinda enjoy cleaning and packing up things. I've had time to bottom-water my plants, pack up the extra bottles and boxes that I don't need and chuck them in the recycling bin, sort out my larder and organise my storeroom. I've pulled out things to cook up quickly, and binned some other things that have expired and will never get cooked. 

It's been a very productive two days so far. No prizes for guessing who's going to be on a Marie Kondo kick this fortnight. 

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Meanwhile, last Friday BIKSS came round to the clinic to get his second HepA/B shot and we went roaming after, to spend some time together before he left. Also, we didn't celebrate Father's Day and I told him I would put my holiday itinerary planning skills to use and plan a day of treats for him, as a gift for Daddy-O.

BIKSS suggested a restaurant at a horticulture park - so that's where we went. The food was a little overpriced IMO, but at least the Iberico pork was good. 

Top right and bottom left - bean curd skin nuggets! We didn't know what to expect having never tried anything like it before, so that was an interesting experience. 

After lunch we went to a factory outlet mall. I saw this pair of Giuseppe Zanotti sandals that were super pretty. They also cost $1200+. Ah well. This was the only way I was ever going to have something so costly on my feet so I put it on, took a foto and put it back on the rack. Note the not-so-pink-anymore shoe on the other foot. I really should wash them. 

Anyway, BIKSS wanted shoes, which is why we were at the outlet mall in the first place, but nothing called out to him, so we abandoned that after a couple of hours to go to a VR thing at one of the science museums. I didn't think it was all that fantastic, altho BIKSS enjoyed it. The content wasn't what I was expecting, and my earpiece came loose midway so I had to hold it against my head the rest of the film, AND when I checked with BIKSS later on, turns out that while I was slamming into all the torri gate pillars, his virtual pod went through the middle of the things no problem. I think my program was faulty LOL. Still, I'm all about experiences, and that was an experience. So it's all good in the end.

After that we headed off to a Mexican(-fusion?) place for dinner - it's a good thing I made reservations cos the restaurant was crowded as fuck. While waiting for them to prepare our table we stepped outside for me to have a smoke. We heard walk-ins being told that they had to wait 1.5 hours for a table. Needless to say, they went somewhere else. It wasn't fancy or anything, and if I had to describe it I'd say it was a hole in the wall! I'd seen toilets fancier than that.

AND BIKSS noticed that aside from one other guy besides himself, all the diners were women. I'm not sure how that's significant... but evidently it was noticeable to him. I, on the other hand, was oblivious.  

I got a virgin azul margarita, and BIKSS had the chocolate caliente on ice.

The waiter recommended a light snack while waiting for our main, as he said it might take about 15-20mins. The esquites wasn't exactly a corn salad tho, it was more like just feta + corn. AND it turns out we needn't have ordered it cos our main came just a couple of minutes after the corn did. 

I must say, tho, the taco platter didn't disappoint. Clockwise from bottom left :

1. Charcoal tortilla birria (lamb) - served with lamb consomme in the middle
2. Battered shrimp with pico de gallo and yuzu sriracha aioli
3. Beef cheek braised in coffee sauce, with truffle mayo, jalapeno and pickled onions
4. Vegan taco - tofu, beancurd skin, roasted sweet potato, corn salsa and vegan sour cream
5. The Banh Mi taco - chicken, sesame cured quail eggs, pickled veggies and sour cream
6. Grilled barramundi, chipotle sour cream, pico de gallo and crispy kale

Would we go back there? YES. My favourite was the fish. The prawns were a close 2nd. BIKSS preferred the meaty ones. I think the beef cheek was his favourite. 

After dinner we went for a walk along the beach, and climbed up the stairs to an old lighthouse. I forgot to take a picture, so you'll just have to imagine. We chatted and enjoyed the view, and then headed home. 

It didn't end there tho. Once in a blue moon BIKSS runs out on Saturday mornings to do stuff. And that weekend he had to run down to the office for 15 mins to check up on some contractors, so he asked if I wanted to tag along then have breakfast after. 

So I did. And we did. And I'm glad to announce that the place I discovered (hurray for online vacation planning sleuthing skills!) did not disappoint at all! 

Mocha for me, cappucino for him, truffle chicken pie for me (ok, to share) because I LOVE CHICKEN PIES AND I LOVE TRUFFLE ANYTHING, and a big breakfast complete with homemade bacon, the juiciest pork bratwurst, and scrambled eggs that were a little stiff and cut-able with a knife - perfect for me, altho BIKSS prefers a runnier, looser version. The sourdough was toasted just right and the tomato relish was refreshingly just-tart-enough. This one took BIKSS by surprise cos he's no fan of tomato ANYTHING. But he actually liked it! Verdict - VERY SATISFIED!

In other food-related news, I just discovered an online shop started by a local veggie wholesaler recently. I ordered a bunch of stuff on Monday night, they delivered my boxes on Wednesday early morning, and I've never been more impressed with veggies that were ordered online and not picked out in-store. I've ordered from a couple of bigger well-known stores before, but even then I'd be looking at something like a 20% waste situation - eg. from bruising, yellow leaves or a bad potato etc. 

But these guys, everyone who was home and saw the boxes when I opened them up was impressed and amazed at how fresh, green and clean everything was. The best part - it's the same price as the veggies I get from my local place. Maybe even cheaper. AND delivery was free (for purchases over $15). 

I ended up with about 3kg worth of veggies and mushrooms (for $22)! Guess who's gonna have a fun time frying up her vegetables! 

Malabar spinach with white shimeiji stir-fry

Enjoy today's chip pic! 

The Food Foto Dump

Yeah so I've been in a mood lately. Which means all the fotos have been sitting on my phone waiting for me to get my ass in front of the lappy and downloaded. 

I'll spare you the details and give you a quick summary :) With some poetry to boot!

Not quite done with ol' Vietnam

We wandered to an unpopular mall

Where Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese 

lived side by side, come one, come all!

Bun cha, kangkong salad, veggie pancake, grilled prawns 💛 (👈= super yummy!)

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The internet has every recipe you need

I found bun-cha marinade for the chook

With pickled veg and dipping sauce,

My veggies and me to the beach we took

Air-fryer chicken after soaking overnight in marinade 💛, stir fried veggies in fish sauce, 

home-made carrot and cucumber pickles, fish sauce and lime dipping sauce

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Some time ago we found a joint

With waffles near perfection

Rum raisin was his choice, 

and lychee my selection

We hadn't had waffles in a long time so we decided to give ourselves a treat :) 

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The day before we tucked into this meal

My tummy was quite the awful mess

So let's have soup, I said to BIKSS

We ordered too much, we must confess

House-specialty fried tofu with pickled veg 💛, stir-fried brinjal with mince meat, 

egg and prawn 'fuyong' and white radish pork rib soup.

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This restaurant is my favourite place

When I want somewhere quiet

Cloth screens hanging from the ceiling

Block others from noticing your diet

Sushi 💛 and sashimi bento with miso soup, chawanmushi and mini salad, 

mackerel head nabe (hotpot) and very, very slim and pointy chopsticks!

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This Monday past we ate some grub

That wasn't so fantastic

The soup smelled burnt, (but the pork was good!)

And the crab roll tasted plastic 😒

Truffle crab roll (I don't know why it was grey) with soup of the day (that seemed to be roasted squash of some kind, only we couldn't tell WHAT squash cos all I could taste was the burn!), cheesy pork schnitzel - truffle in the mash - just no. Too much. No. BBQ sauce. Why. Why would you put BBQ sauce on a schnitzel? The mushrooms buried under the cheese were good. As was the actual pork cutlet💛. I wasn't a fan of the sliced cheese either. Urgh. 

Dalat Day 3 & 4 and I'm Done with Downloading Pics PHEW!

So after our salmon restaurant dinner we headed back to the hotel area by cab. We decided to make one more pass over the night market cos BIKSS was contemplating getting some fresh strawberries to take home. 

There was some cultural show going on. It was pretty fun to watch, and the audience was very sporting! 

They also played a medley of songs on some traditional instruments which I recognised from the cruise we went on in HCMC.

More artichokes - and yes, I bought a packet of artichoke tea - pleasing, mild, with a slightly sweet aftertaste.

Those chillis! 

And we got this for our Blogfriends! So you write down what you want written on your keychain and the guy burns it into the wood there and then! It didn't take more than 3 mintues, I swear. And it was VERY affordable.  And so that was the end of Day 3 and our vacation!

On Day 4 we left Dalat for home. This is Tuyền Lâm Lake - about halfway from town to the airport. The cab driver even stopped for a bit so I could take photos of the lake. He pointed out golf courses, resorts and other popular tourist retreats along the way. I suppose they'd be great for people who want to just chill out in one place, but there'd be absolutely nothing to see or do for miles. It's not exactly close to town. 

We managed to squeeze in more local dishes for brunch at Dalat airport - Bún Bò Huế (beef noodle Huế style) , and Banh Mi Bo Kho - baguette with beef stew. 

But by the time we got to HCMC for our connecting flight I was craving more familiar fare. I wanted some chips dammit! So we got comfy at a Burger King and feasted on fried chicken and fries! 

And that is the end of our Dalat photo trail. I'm intending to do a pilgrimage to La Vang in August, if things go according to plan. So hopefully I'll be able to share more Huế cuisine with you then! 

But for now, enjoy these Vietnamese Prawn Crackers (Bánh Phồng Tôm) :

Dalat Day 3 - More Churches, More Food, More Walking

It's taking me forever to download all my pics. The stuff on the blog is maybe 15% of the total number of fotos I have. That's A LOT. 

Anyway, ready for more? After our Tea for Lunch we headed to Crazy House. It really was a bit mad. I'm glad we didn't decide to stay here on our vacay after all. I think it would have been just too much stimulus for me. And since people would be walking past the rooms all day everyday it's just a little bit lacking in privacy. 

Entrance

Random section of the complex

Driving my OCD self crazy

Inside the madness

The view from the top of one of the sections of the mad building

I quite like these stairs, gave a real feeling of climbing up! One foot higher than the other with each step, you know? 

Part of the floor of the dining / event / ballroom area

Video of said dining / event / ballroom area

Inside of the Ant Room

Sitting area below the Bee House

Other view of the ballroom thing

And at the end of our visit it started to drizzle. So with a cap BIKSS had just bought and my shawl protecting our heads respectively we headed out to where we thought the mani pedi place would be. 

Along the way we saw some beautiful flowers and yes, this is rare for me because there are no pretty wild flowers in where I live. 

Still no mani-pedi place, so with the rain coming down heavier, we decided to hide in a little coffeeshop. People are so laid back here! After getting us our drinks, the person who ran the store hopped across the tiny lane and came bounding back with her Chinese Chess partner. They sat two tables down from us to continue their game. 

My cold apple tea came with a cold mini tea and BIKSS' hot coffee came with a hot mini tea. 

While we were chilling out this little fella came and manipulated BIKSS into giving it belly rubs.

After the rain stopped we walked to another nearby church that we found on the map along the way. This wasn't part of the plan, but since there was a church nearby, Miss On-A-Mission over here decided we would head towards it. Found a shop selling essentially what was a pizza bun along the way, so BIKSS bought one to try. It wasn't terribly cheesy or tomato-ey or pizza-ey but it was interesting. 

Here's a collage of the Thanh Tam Church. Far as I can tell they carry on the work of the Daughters of Charity, founded by St Louise de Marillac and St Vincent de Paul.

We were lucky that the church was open, I think in preparation for evening Mass, so we managed to take a look inside. 

Overlooking the koi pond was a tiny Divine Mercy statue. I thot that was so adorable. They also had a mini Holy Family statue beside the outdoor fireplace!

Besides the intentionally built statues and grottos, there also seemed to be a fair number of haphazardly placed statues - bits and pieces which perhaps didn't have a home, and they didn't know where to put them, so "let's just put it here". That's the feeling I got anyway lol. 

At this point we were ready to head back to the general vicinity of our hotel. Which would take us past the final church - The Dalat Cathedral aka Chicken Church. There's a rooster at the top of the bell tower, supposedly as it's the French mascot (the Gallic Rooster) and presumably put there since the church was founded by French priests and missionaries. The more I read about this the more confused I get. So I'm going to just let you figure it out on your own ok?  

The top middle pic is a statue of Jesus carrying a lamb. It literally stands in the middle of the road facing the church. It was kinda strange. Also strange is what looks like a Buddhist / Taoist incense pot in front of St Joseph. I mean, Catholics don't burn incense sticks... so why the pot? 

Left - There was a very peaceful square with benches in front of Our Lady of Fatima. 

Middle - The inside of the church - Rosary devotion before evening Mass

Right - The hibiscus is the size of my hand. The plants were twice as tall as me. I had never seen such huge hibiscus plants / flowers before in my life. I guess we don't get the big ones at home. 

Not one to abandon the mani-pedi quest, BIKSS (and, by default, I) ventured down this very slopey lane in search of another shop that popped up on the map. It was a dead end. We had to climb back up. It was a tough climb. The drizzle didn't help. ARGH! These maps were useless! 

Eventually we found one! Hurray! It was called Sorry Beauty. Well, I'm sure that's not what it reads in Vietnamese but it was hilarious to me that in English it's probably not a name you want for a business. 

By the end of all that walking and searching and bad google-map-intel I was ready to have dinner at a proper sit-down restaurant, and brought recognisable food preferably by wait staff who spoke ENGLISH. So I suggested we go to a "salmon" restaurant that wasn't too far away, under 10 mins by cab. BIKSS was fine with that. 

Top Left to Right : 

Salmon sashimi, 

Grilled salmon Russian style - which is apparently mayo and cheese and onions with black pepper. 

It's also very conveniently cut up for you when it's served :)

Bottom Left to right : 

Salmon sashimi dipped in lemon juice and wrapped in some leaf that was served alongside

Salmon spring rolls dipped in chilli sauce

Stir fried broccoli and carrots - my tummy could finally recognise the food I was eating again!

 

The restaurant occupies a 4 story building

Our meal cost one million! 

The place is called Eros Ca Hoin- where Ca is fish and Ca Hoi is salmon. So EROS must be the name of the restaurant. Strange indeed! Their wifi password had something to do with Love. It's possible they picked the 'wrong' type of love to name their restaurant after. ;) Or maybe they're just lusty for salmon. 

Phew! That was a post packed with pics... I'm going to rest now because day 3 isn't quite over... stay tuned for more.... 

Meanwhile, chips! 

Dalat Day 3 - Street Brekkie, Train Station and Afternoon Tea for Lunch

Day 3 was sunny, and this time I remembered to put sunblock on the back of my neck ;)

We decided to walk to the train station which was 2 km from our hotel. Easy peasy. 

The walk there included a pit stop at an underground mall, which was sorely disappointing. One level of arcade games, one level of food and clothing shops, and that was about it. A tiny place really. The main attraction of that location was Lam Vien Square ABOVE the mall. 

(There were horses grazing beside a drain, or whatever you call that bit of water leading to the lake.)

It's a popular location for wedding photos, insta pics, and in the evenings (and presumably on cooler days) people can be seen dotting the entire square, just picnicking or hanging out. We weren't impressed. So it was good that we didn't have to go out of our way to see it.

And the sign in the bathroom - made me laugh.

"As you are a modern and civilized person, please keep the rest room clean!" Nailed it!

On to the train station! Along the way we saw a lady selling battered and fried bananas and sweet potato slices. Why not! It was actually very good and I wish we had gotten two of each instead of just one for trying.

Eventually we made it to the station. 

Only one train runs now, from Dalat to the plantation-filled town of Trai Mat. It goes 5 times a day, and one travel guide says that whether it runs depends on whether anyone buys a ticket. Min of 3 passengers before it'll make the trip, I'm told. We had intened to ride to Trai Mat, but we decided not to in the end, because it was going to be a 1.5-hour wait for the next train. And we didn't want to waste the time hanging around a station with NOTHING to do. Besides, there really wasn't anything to see in Trai Mat, except another temple and we weren't too keen on that. Plus it would have meant missing our afternoon tea. And tea trumps temple!

We had hoped to have breakfast at the Train Cafe - it was supposed to be a cafe in one of the train cars. But when we got there the lady said it was just drinks, no food. We decided against it. There was another cart selling food but it was all just Banh Mi and Pho and we weren't in the mood for the regular stuff.

Well that was about it at the train station then. A bit meh really. There were a bunch of stray dogs (there were stray dogs everywhere really) that were cute and interesting. This one looked like it was literally put together with pieces from a bunch of different dogs. I mean, how cute is that! 

Next we decided to just head to our afternoon tea place for lunch. When I rang the day before they said they were open for tea from 11am to 5pm. Okaaaaay then. We took a cab cos it was pretty far away, and along the way managed to see the topiaries in the middle of the circus near where the night market happens. I mean, it's always dark when we walk over to the market... so this was a great time for photos.

And finally we were there. Julius too. Have you met Julius? He's my holiday monkey! 

(Yes, he's the Paul Frank money.)

Tea was in the coffee house of a resort near that first church we went to on day 1. Turns out we walked by the resort without knowing it as we were leaving the church, and BIKSS even pointed out the huge agave plants as we went by. 

While it was a beautiful development, we were glad that we weren't staying there on our vacation. It takes a golf buggy to bring you anywhere cos the chalets are so deep in and isolated from everything! 

    

Top - outdoor seating

Bottom left - where we sat

Bottom right - one of the chalets we passed by on the way out

The view of the city from our lunch table -

The view of our lunch - 

(Scones FTW!)

...and of course, cucumber sandwiches, salmon sandwiches, pate filled choux pastry, a very delicious almond cream eclair, and too-sweet chocolate mousse and cream in a glass, among other sugary treats. 

And while it didn't look like it was going to be enough for us, trust me, by the end of that I didn't want to eat anymore.

We sat and chatted a while, before heading off to our next tourist attraction! Stay tuned for the next post! 

Have some chips on a stick!