birthday and dinner

Happy birthday to my dear friend, Keith. I may be getting old, but you're always a bit older. ;) Last year I could not celebrate with him because he was in Viet Nam and I was in the States. This year I cannot join for a birthday celebration because, although we are in the same country, we are now living three hours apart. At least he knows I care.

The kids and I made our daily trek to the market again this evening to pick up some potatoes and onions. We still can't find chicken. I've found the live ones, but I can't bear to say "kill that one" or, god forbid, kill and pluck it myself. So we're on a vegetarian diet. (Big surprise, eh, Mom?)

For some reason, the food stalls used to scare me a bit. Not that the food would make me sick or some such thing. Really it is because of my very limited Vietnamese skills. I didn't know how to order or what to do at all, so I just avoided them. Today we got brave and ate at a little stand at the market. Audrey got a dish of bún chả (rice noodles with grilled meat), while Stuart and I both got phở gà (noodle soup with chicken). It was delicious; I didn't have to cook and, best of all, it cost ONE dollar. For all three of us. Ah, the joy of being in a small city.

In Hà Nội, I was happy when I could get a meal for the three of us for less than 100,000đ.
Here, I paid 16,000đ for more food than we could eat.