Sunday, July 31, 2005
A sight I never dreamed
Today I saw something I never thought I would. My pink umbrella hanging from the branch of a palm tree.
It's very rainy here today, the remnants of a typhoon from the Pacific. The Trieus dried the umbrella out for me! They are very kind hosts, making sure I am comfortable and well fed.
My homestay has been a fantastic experience. I really get to see how the Vietnamese live. The Trieus are very middle class, yet here that means no hot water, a small refrigirator and a small 2 burner stove to work with. (There is also a small stove just outside the house.) They have a washing machine but no dryer, you hang the clothes up to dry. Everybody over here drinks water from bottles or large coolers. In winter, there is no heating and temps get down into the 40s or even 30s, so people wear sweaters and coats and sleep under heavy blankets.
Food preparation can be very labor intensive. Take the preparation of one of my favorites, jackfruit.
Mrs. Trieu uses a big meat clever for food preparation. It scares me a little!. The Trieus have a small garden outside the city where they grow fruits such as bananas and jackfruit.
Jackfruit is called qua meet in Vietnamese. It grows on a palmlike tree. You have to climb the trunk and chop the large round fruits down. Jackfruit is a green, stubbly, basketball sized or larger fruit.
Mrs. Trieu chops the fruit in half, then into quarters. The inside is a plush landscape of large oval seeds and white fruit. Pieces are sectioned off and then the outer husk and seeds are removed. The fruit is fibery, and looks like pineapple. It's not really juicy, it's as if the water has been packed and sorted inside. The seeds can be cooked and eaten, they taste like sunflower seeds.
The process of extraction reminds me of poetry! There is an opening up. A revealation of what's inside. A carving away of husks and now unnecessary protective layers. Removal of seeds for future use. Finally, the sweet beautiful taste!
It's very rainy here today, the remnants of a typhoon from the Pacific. The Trieus dried the umbrella out for me! They are very kind hosts, making sure I am comfortable and well fed.
My homestay has been a fantastic experience. I really get to see how the Vietnamese live. The Trieus are very middle class, yet here that means no hot water, a small refrigirator and a small 2 burner stove to work with. (There is also a small stove just outside the house.) They have a washing machine but no dryer, you hang the clothes up to dry. Everybody over here drinks water from bottles or large coolers. In winter, there is no heating and temps get down into the 40s or even 30s, so people wear sweaters and coats and sleep under heavy blankets.
Food preparation can be very labor intensive. Take the preparation of one of my favorites, jackfruit.
Mrs. Trieu uses a big meat clever for food preparation. It scares me a little!. The Trieus have a small garden outside the city where they grow fruits such as bananas and jackfruit.
Jackfruit is called qua meet in Vietnamese. It grows on a palmlike tree. You have to climb the trunk and chop the large round fruits down. Jackfruit is a green, stubbly, basketball sized or larger fruit.
Mrs. Trieu chops the fruit in half, then into quarters. The inside is a plush landscape of large oval seeds and white fruit. Pieces are sectioned off and then the outer husk and seeds are removed. The fruit is fibery, and looks like pineapple. It's not really juicy, it's as if the water has been packed and sorted inside. The seeds can be cooked and eaten, they taste like sunflower seeds.
The process of extraction reminds me of poetry! There is an opening up. A revealation of what's inside. A carving away of husks and now unnecessary protective layers. Removal of seeds for future use. Finally, the sweet beautiful taste!
