Busy Street Shots

On my way home from lunch today, I took a few funshots that captured the busy moments of Hanoi in preparation of Tet (Lunar New Year). It's incredible but the streets are getting so crowded these days that you need to "double" the travelling time! Sitting in the car makes me feel so stressed, let alone driving! So I decided to take some pictures to occupy my time...

Top left: A repair shop; Top right: The Hanoi Bus;
Bottom Left: A man with loads on his motorbike; Bottom right: Crowded roads

Top left: Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum; Top right: An entertainment club
Bottom left: Truch Bac Lake; Bottom right: Newly opened Korean hair salon

Top left: Plants for sale!; Top right: Stalls in the middle of the road
Bottom left: Bringing the purchase home! Bottom right: Jackfruit, anyone?

Top left: The flower mart near my house; Top right: See the flowers?
Bottom left: Another flower mart; Bottom right: Live bargaining in progress

One Dish Meal for Dinner

I cooked a one dish meal for dinner yesterday and there were several "obstacles" before the meal was served.

Obstacle 1: I ran out of gas and my limited Vietnamese did not allow me to call the gas company.

Obstacle 2: I was engrossed in the Men's Singles Championship Finals of the Australia Open and needed to whip up something real fast so that I can get glued to the TV again.

Obstacle 3: I didn't want to do too much washing as I was down with a slight cold yesterday. Ok, usually M will offer to do the dishes on Sunday but the quality of his washing is well... debatable...

So I decided to dump a mixture of rice, potatoes, marinated chicken and mixed vegetables into the rice cooker before hurrying back to watch the tie break between Novak Djokovic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The end result was a "pseudo" rice stew that was quite palatable coz M finished the entire plate that I dished for him. He knew about the gas situation and was a little amazed that I could cook without the stove. I felt proud to have impressed him over nothing. :p I mean, tell this to the experienced mothers and they would be like, "Huh? Impressed? I can cook using the rice cooker with my eyes closed!"

Anyway, I took a picture of my rice stew just for the fun of it. Minimal washing, short preparation time and rather good end results.. What more can I ask for? :)

CNY Shopping Spoils

I went on a shopping spree with my friends, S and L, last Friday. We had lunch at Paris Deli before heading off for a one hour whirlwind spree to buy some local new year foodstuffs for our families. Here are some pictures of my conquests:

1. Gift Bags
2. Ang Baos
3. Dried Coconut Strips
4. Dried Fruits
5. Peanuts
6. Coffee
7. Lotus Seeds
8. Dresses for Little Girls
9. Hats for a Botak Boy
Definitely an eventful trip. Really looking forward to the Chinese New Year!

Maria Sharapova Rocks!

I was glued to the TV for 2 hrs this morning watching the Australia Open "Glam Slam" aka the Ladies' Singles Championship Match between Maria Sharapova (Russia) and Ana Ivanovic (Serbia).

Maria displayed a stunning performance as she won two sets in a row and gained the championship title. After aching from Roger Federer's loss yesterday, I am glad that my female tennis idol won the well-deserved title. She was clearly the better player in the game today, being in full control of the match.

Maria Sharapova ROCKS!
(Picture taken from the Australia Open website)

P.S. I realised today that Maria is 1.8m tall (I always thought she was around 1.7m). Gasps.. Do you need this height to play tennis well?

Hooked on Tennis!

I am recently hooked on watching the Australian Open. Have never been a tennis fan until I watched one match by Roger Federer and it was truly an eye opener for me. He seemed to be displaying a form of art with every serve and stroke, and his precision was amazing. Seeing him in full control of each match made me wonder how his opponent must be feeling facing him. He's definitely not Top Seed for nothing. Guess one perk of being jobless is you get to watch countless TV programs without feeling guilty. Haha..

I am now officially a Roger Federer fan, until another sports star grabs my attention. :)

Go, Fedex, Go!

P.S. If you are somewhat interested in tennis after reading my entry, you can go to http://www.australianopen.com for more information on the matches.

Season BBQ - Perfect in Cold Hanoi

A group of us decided to try out a newly opened restaurant called Season BBQ last Thursday, after we heard it from L, who gave it a very good review.

The place was relatively easy to find as it was near Hanoi Towers. When I went into the restaurant, I found the ambience very nice, with a little Japanese influence on the interior decor. We had a private room to ourselves on the third floor and an allocated waiter to help us with the grilling and serving. Perfect for guests who would like to chit-chat and enjoy BBQ food at the same time as you do not need to scramble around with the tongs and hot plate!

Quite a welcoming feel into the restaurant...

We ordered quite a number of dishes: mushrooms, vegetables, fish, beef rolls, chicken, duck, squid, tiger prawns, fried rice and porridge. A vegetable salad was served to each of us as appetiser, probably to whet our appetite so that we will order more. :p The servings were not huge but sufficient for the 8 of us. L jokingly commented that K and I had the worse seats because we were very near the grill plate and most likely to be choked with fumes. Well, she was right! But I had fun watching the waiter barbeque though, especially when the sizzling flame leapt up!

Top left: The salad bowl; Top right: Grilled taro, zucchini and brinjal
Bottom left: The mushroom selection; Bottom right: The end products

Top left: Grilled duck; Top right: BIG prawns
Bottom left: Squids and prawns; Bottom right: Grilled Sanma fish

The servings were not huge but sufficient for the 8 of us. I would say the food was nice but a tad greasy. I was expecting the teppanyaki style of grilling where little oil was added but the waiter (mucht to my disappointed) poured quite a significant amount of oil when cooking each dish. The porridge was a little bland but I guess after an overdose of oil, it was refreshing.

The dessert (it was complimentary due to the new opening of the restaurant) was two small scoops of ice cream. I ordered the ginger flavour and shared with K, who ordered the matcha one. Both were nice but I found the ginger ice cream more unique. Yummy...


I guess BBQ is really not my cup of tea but as I was telling M, meat lovers who don't mind extra oil would probably think it's a good place. The price came up to around VND 940,000 for 8 persons but meat lovers can expect to spend more.

P.S. I have labelled this blog entry "Vietnamese Food" as I wasn't sure how to classify BBQ. It's not really Korean style since there is no kimchi and not Japanese as it is definitely not teppanyaki. So Vietnamese it shall be. :)

Season BBQ
54 Ly Thuong Kiet
Hanoi
Website: http://www.seasonbbq.vn/ (still under construction as of today)
Tel: 9367629

The Weather is like a Woman in Hanoi

There's a saying in Hanoi that goes "The weather is like a woman. You never know when it will change." I have come to agree with this statement.

From a high 26 degrees celsius on Sunday, the temperature has fallen to a low 15 degrees today. I had to bring out my light winter jacket (normally I will wear a cardigan) as it was really freezing! Didn't help that it was drizzling slightly too. Brrrgh!

I called my mum yesterday and was glad to know that my little brother is coping well in the Home Team Academy. He's serving his NS with the Police Force right now and I miss seeing him online. Usually we will try to chat everyday. He has been smsing me a lot though which I think is sweet, considering he is not allowed to bring his hp charger into his bunk. Not sure how long his battery will last!

Missing my family in Singapore now... :(

Milky Fruit

Doesn't this remind you of the pong pong fruit we see in Singapore?


They are green, palm-sized and filled with white sap. But this fruit (called "vu sua" in Vietnamese) is quite commonly found in Hanoi and fast becoming one of my favourite local fruits. I bought a few yesterday as I had a craving for them and 1 kilo costs about VND 35,000 (around SGD 3). It's not cheap but well, everything is expensive now in Hanoi. Inflation is incredible here. Last year, the same fruit costs only VND 20,000/ kg. Now... I feel the pinch in my pocket. :p

To eat it, first, you cut it open across the top like this..

And use a spoon to scoop the "flesh" within...

Almost like a jelly cup...

But more yummy... (see the black seeds inside? They are not edible.)

Given the steeper price, this indulgence cannot come too often. Self-restraint is necessary.

Maid in Vietnam

I am not sure whether I am considered lucky or unfortunate. There is some strange arrangement that we inherited from the previous house owner which resulted in me having two domestic helpers at my house in Hanoi. When my friends hear about this, they often rave in envy. I guess I would too, if I heard it from someone else. But honestly, I am tired of this arrangement. There are times when I just want to ask them to leave and let me have some peace and privacy.

This is what has been happening so far... I get along quite well with the younger helper and I think the older helper is jealous! So much so that she has been exaggerating her job role in the house and trying to get my husband's attention, like getting my driver to talk to my husband about some $ matters when she has told me about it the day before! I am quite amused (and vaguely annoyed) by the little games she's playing and have seriously thought about asking her to leave. The only thing that's holding me back is knowing she is the sole breadwinner of her family and it will not be easy for her to find another job since she doesn't speak English well. Of course, she's not without her merits. She does her job fairly well though I think it's because she has nothing much to do here.

M, in his usual cynical manner, jokingly commented that I can try out my people management skills on them and I was like duh!

I am quite certain that when I return to Singapore, I will not hire a maid unless a kid comes along the way and I cannot cope. I am now tired of maids in Vietnam. Looking forward to tomorrow when it's her off day and I won't see her. I feel so pathetic...