A new eating out experience! Delicious and nutritious!

8-11-2013 (Aug 11).  Today after touring another museum here in Ho Chi Minh City Leanna and Hollis had lunch together with our three tour guides, three students who went with us to the museum and kept us company as we kept them company.  Our lunch was a Vietnamese Pancake and it was a surprise I will tell you.  On the way from the Museum to the pancake restaurant one of the women had called ahead to order the pancakes which I thought was rather unusual.  Then to keep the conversation going with Tram I described making my pancakes back in Los Angeles:  a mix of white and whole wheat flour, eggs, milk, baking powder and baking soda, some brown sugar, molasses and so forth.  She listed the ingredients out loud as I did my recitation but without a recognition of my pancakes and in a few minutes I found out why.

We took a table after we arrived at the restaurant which is in two of the student's neighborhood about 1 mile from the campus, ordered lemonade and green tea and chatted while waiting on our pancake order.  After a while, probably 15 minutes or more, the server brought two heaping platters of leafy greens such as romaine lettuce and other lettuces, cilantro, basil, mint and other greens and I thought what the hey, greens on pancakes but I decided to wait and watch.  In a few more minutes three very large pancakes were served to us --- but they were different.  They looked like giant omelettes with ham, prawns, bamboo sprouts, shredded carrots and other tasty morsels.  The pancakes were almost paper thin and were eaten by making a bed of green leaves, putting a chunk of pancake on the bed, adding other spices such as the cilantro,mint and then rolling them up like giant green egg roll.  Then there was fish sauce to dip your pancake in--- and chili peppers to add to your fish sauce if you wanted --- and it was time to dip and eat. IT WAS A FEAST!  We all ate till we were stuffed and happy and then grabbed a taxi back to the campus so these old folks could go get some rest.