Weekly update 3: In which David and Elizabeth achieve bò kho paradise

Last week was a little crazy because we got hit with the biggest storms I’ve ever seen. We’ve been calling it stormageddon, because of course. But I can’t really explain to you how crazy it was. Like, all of the roads flooded and motorbikes were getting abandoned and washed away and highways turned into rivers, and it was just complete bedlam. Also, I got stuck riding my motorbike in one of the storms and the rain was coming down so hard it was painful, and my rain jacket just wasn’t up to the task of keeping me dry :( The rain kinda derailed a lot of my plans for the week, and I ended up spending a lot of time watching Outlander in my bed. It was kind of like the hibernation I used to do in the winter in Europe and America, except this time it was caused by a monsoon and only lasted a week.

On Thursday the storms broke for long enough that I was able to attend an event hosted by Network Girls at Stoker Woodfired Grill. The wine and snacks were really nice, and Stoker felt like the kind of place that would be great for small events and parties. I probably wouldn’t go there on the regular, but it would be perfect for a special occasion. I’d never been to a Network Girls event before, but I’m so glad that I did because I had a great time catching up with some of the awesome ladies I know here (even though I ended up drinking far too much wine for a Thursday night).

I mentioned in my last weekly update that David and I had tried and failed to get some yummy breakfast bò kho last weekend. What I didn’t say was that this was the third weekend in a row that we had a failed bò kho attempt. Usually bò kho is the main thing I want to eat post-run, and I’d been craving it for like three weeks. Unfortunately, every time I went to one of the bò kho spots in my neighborhood, they had either stopped serving it or run out. So, dear readers, you should be able to imagine my immense joy at finally having a successful bò kho breakfast on Saturday. Here’s a photo:



Bò kho has to be in my top three favorite Vietnamese dishes. It’s basically a beef stew with carrots and onions and a baguette on the side. As with many dishes here, it comes with a huge pile of herbs, chillies and limes so you can adjust everything to your own taste. My mouth is literally watering while I write this, that’s how badly I want to eat bò kho every day of my life. Mmmmmmmm.

Later on Saturday, David and I headed over to Càfê RuNam to meet up with Missy and have a coffee (or five). Càfê RuNam is pretty ornate on the inside. I actually found it quite charming, although Zack thought it was a bit tacky. What followed was truly extravagant consumption of beverages and pastries, at least on my end. Pretty sure Missy and David ordered a reasonable number of things. Meanwhile, I ordered pretty much everything on the menu (whatever, I was really hungry after my morning run).

Next up: Weekly update 4 in which Elizabeth has anxiety dreams about her leftovers, and Travel update 1 in which Elizabeth and Zack go to Sri Lankaaahhhhhh! See y’all soon :)

Weekly Update 2: In which Elizabeth finally visits Gin House

I really set myself up for failure by calling this a “weekly” update… Clearly I’m already getting behind, so, sorry.  But that just means that I have two weekly updates to post in the next couple of days!

Last Friday a group of teachers from my school had a Big Night Out.  We went to Warda, a Lebanese restaurant on Mạc Thị Bưởi.  I would highly recommend it if you’re craving Middle Eastern food.  The mezze were really nice, especially the baba ganoush.  I’ve also heard that they have really nice shisha.  I’d go into more detail, but alas, I again forgot to take pictures because I was feasting exuberantly. 

After Warda, we went to Gin House (where I did remember to take pictures!).  I’ve been wanting to go here for a while.  Any of you who know me well know how much I, as a 90-year-old WASPy lady, love my gin.  Gin House definitely delivered.  They have a huge list of different house-infused gins.  I tried the rose and hibiscus one and the vanilla and orchid one.  Oh my heavens, y’all.  I think I found my new favorite bar. 

Saturday morning I got up early for my weekly long run.  I don’t have a lot that is noteworthy to say about this, but I do want to share some really lovely pictures I took!  Five miles into my run I got to the top of a bridge (bridges are the only “hills” to train on here) and stopped for some water, and to my right was this beautiful view.  Behind me was a giant divided highway, but in front of me was miles and miles of jungle and river.  Sometimes southern Vietnam is such a magical place.  Moments like that just catch you off guard.  Also, here is a picture of me looking like a sweaty monster.  You're welcome.

After my run I was in serious need of some food and some R&R (as you can see in that photo), so David and I walked down our alley to try out a new bò kho place I had run by earlier.  Unfortunately, that was closed, but right next door was a phở spot that we hadn’t tried before.  It was for sure the best phở I’ve gotten near my house – the broth was really flavorful and the beef was super nice.  Now, I’m not going to be like that Bon Appétit guy and try to tell you how to eat phở, but I’m personally a fan of loading up the herbs, pickled garlic and lime, with a few chilies to give it some kick, like this:

After some much-needed phở and cà phê đá, David and I headed to the salon in my building to get our hair washed, along with a 45-minute scalp massage.  If you ever come visit me out here, this is the first thing I am taking you to do.  Scalp massages are more or less the best thing in my life.

 Saturday night I had two birthday parties to attend, both with a costume theme (James Bond and heroes and villains).  I definitely had to stop off for some mì xào at my favorite alley spot for a pre-drinking dinner.  Mì xào is one of my favorite dishes.  It's basically noodles stir-fried with veggies (usually morning glory, carrot and green onion), either eggs or meat, and a super yummy sweet/salty sauce.  This lovely lady makes it just how I like it, with lots of greens and two eggs:

 Zack and I did a couples costume (naturally) for the heroes and villains party.  Zack was Rachel Roy aka Becky with the good hair and I was Rachael Ray aka a thick Sicilian woman who is a blessing.  Here are some pictures from the night:

Naturally I stayed out too late and, for some reason, took a video of myself on the back of my Grab bike (motorbike taxi service, kind of like Uber) explaining why I had taken a motorbike taxi instead of a real taxi.  What a way to end the week.  

Next up: Weekly Update 3: In which Elizabeth actually posts on time like a responsible human who keeps to her commitments.  See y'all soon!

Weekly Update 1: In which Elizabeth tries to be disciplined (sometimes)

Dear Internet,

In an effort to encourage myself to try new bars, restaurants and other activities here, I am going to attempt a weekly update. We will see how long this lasts since I have demonstrated many times over that I have little discipline when it comes to writing posts. Anyway, here goes.

On Saturday, David and I tried out a coffee shop that’s on a cute little wooden boat on the river in front of my house. Zack and I have been talking about going here FOREVER, so I felt pretty accomplished for actually making it happen.  It was super charming and super tasty, although the service was a bit slow, and we NEVER remember to ask for our smoothies without sweetened condensed milk.

I also checked out Indochine spa in district 1. I’d heard good things, so wanted to give it a try.  It's more expensive than most of the places I go, but I think it may have been worth the price due to both quality and cleanliness.  It was definitely more atmospheric than a lot of the spas I’ve been to here.  They were diffusing essential oils everywhere, so it smelled divine. They also brought me tea and a little dish of candied coconut and ginger after my session. All in all, very relaxing. I will definitely go back to try some different treatments.

On Saturday night, some of the awesome ladies from my school got together at a really charming Vietnamese place called Cục Gạch Quán. It’s in an old French colonial villa and the décor is really lovely (seriously, check out some of the pictures on the website). The food was super delicious as well. Like, we had an epic spread – we had spring rolls, two types of softshell crab, fish, tofu, and piles of fried rice and rau muống (morning glory, aka my favorite Vietnamese vegetable). I wish I’d taken pictures, but honestly I was just feasting too exuberantly to pause for a photo.  Sorry.

After our beautiful dinner at Cục Gạch Quán, we headed over to see my brother at Biacraft, the brewpub he manages in district 3. The beers there are SO nice, and I got to try their newest addition, the imperial bacon stout (which is every bit as ridiculous and delicious as it sounds). From there the night devolved a bit and I ended up at Rogue where I forgot how to set boundaries and send myself home at a reasonable hour. So. Sunday was necessarily a quiet day, although David and I did have my friend Matt over for wine, cheese, cookies and an epic train game session.

Whew, first weekly update accomplished!  Now let's see if I post in like a year about how I never did another one.

XO E

i made a blog post yaaay

Hey everyone.

First post, I'll try not to ramble too much. I've been living in Ho Chi Minh City for almost 2 months now and things are going great so far! Within 10 days of moving here I found a fantastic job managing a brewpub called Biacraft in D3 of Saigon. My official job title is actually "beer guru" but I prefer to think of myself as a "beer wizard." Basically, I work with the brewers of all the microbreweries around the city to get their beers on tap at our bar. We also stock imports from Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and California. My job involves sampling beer all day to make sure that everything tastes right. I'm also in charge of maintaining our beer walk-in and making sure we have enough stock of everything--something that can be difficult, given that most of the brewers here have been doing so for less than 2 yrs. And it's Vietnam, so some of the equipment is hard to come by and has to be made from scratch by people who may or may not know what they're doing. Since the craft beer scene is so new here, sometimes brewers have a contaminated/weird batch, so I am the last line of defense before the beer reaches customers. At this point in time, there are about 10 breweries and cideries in the city, with more popping up all the time. We currently have 8 Biacraft beers, ranging from summer ale to a double IPA and even an "Imperial Bacon Stout," which is every bit as ridiculously awesome as it sounds. I'm working with people from all over the world, and meeting even more people every day. Our bar has 30 taps and ~40 varieties of bottles, and everything is constantly changing so it's very exciting to be a part of this growing scene!

Life in HCMC is pretty sweet. It was challenging to get around at first, but I'm finally beginning to feel like a local. Zipping around town on my motorbike is still fun for me, even at peak traffic hours. And with almost 8 million motorbikes in the city at any given time, peak traffic hours can be pretty crazy. I have seen several gnarly accidents in which motorists were either A) not driving in the correct lane, B) going the wrong way down 1-way streets, or C) going like 100km/h through the city center. But most of these things still happen every day without accidents--it's common to see someone just casually run a red light in the middle of rush hour, not because they're in a hurry, but because they just don't care (there are no rules). I'm still living with Elizabeth, who has been a most gracious host, but I'm looking at apartments in the D1/D3 area (city center) so I can be close to my job but also close to all the goings-on in the city.

Things I love about Saigon

-the food is absolutely amazing. it’s so fun to walk around and try different street food all the time, and my stomach doesn’t (usually) hurt afterwards anymore.

-the way that traffic moves. there is no rhyme or reason, and barely anybody actually follows all the traffic laws (speed limits and red lights might as well be nonexistent to some people). and yet, everything just flows naturally. you just gotta go with it.

-Vietnamese people love drinking. a lot.

-the majority of the expats I have met are super nice and love to talk about travel. some of them can be real assholes, but that’s true of any demographic I suppose, and it’s not that common here, from my experience at least.

-did I mention the food? but really, even besides street food, there are so many different dishes and ways of preparing food that I’d never even thought of before. even though I’m not working in a kitchen anymore, I can still appreciate dank food so so so much.

I haven't ventured too far outside HCMC yet, only going to beach towns such as Mũi Né and Vũng Tàu (and a place called Monkey Island which is exactly what it sounds like). In October, though, I will be going on my first visa run to Cambodia. I'm planning to visit Phnom Penh and Siem Reap/Angkor Wat while I'm there, so it should be a pretty cool few days of traveling in another country.

I'm going to be much less diligent than Elizabeth about updating this blog so don't expect much for a while, but thanks for reading! If anything significant happens, maybe I'll update it. But for now I'm having the time of my life figuring out how to operate by myself on the other side of the world.

much love,

Tinnon

The start of a great tinventure

Dear Internet,

I would like to take a little trip down memory lane, back to December 28, 2014, when I made this very bold statement:

As I promised many of you, I am starting a blog about my time in Vietnam. I also promise that I will try my VERY best to update this one more than I did when I was living in Paris :)

I think I updated this blog exactly two times after that post because I am responsible and have my life together.

Since that time, I have traveled through Vietnam and to Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, India and Sri Lanka. I have run trail races and road races. I have learned how to ride a motorbike.  I have performed in three plays. I have taught students I cherish and students who drive me crazy (and students I cherish who drive me crazy). I have finished an M.Ed. I have learned a little Vietnamese and read a lot of books. And, looking back over the last 18 months, I really wish I’d been writing about all of this as it was happening.

(clockwise from top left: Dad and me in Saigon; Jess, Liam and me in Inle Lake (Myanmar); Kate and me practicing yoga in Kerala (India); me hiking in Cat Tien National Park (Vietnam); Allison, Jess, Perry and me at Mirissa Beach (Sri Lanka); Dad, Katie and me in Thailand)

(photos from Lysistrata, Rocky Horror Picture Show and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged)

I am inspired to rectify this sad state of affairs. Also, when I was home this summer Carrie demanded that I start writing my blog again. And, for those of you who haven’t been paying attention, DAVID TINNON MOVED TO VIETNAM!

So, I have rechristened this blog “Tinventures,” because, you know, we are Tinnons having adventures, and I hope to write about the fun and crazy things David and I do here in Vietnam, both together and apart. David even said he’d blog with me as long as I set it up for him. So, David, here is me setting it up. Let the Tinventures begin!

XO E