it’s the little things

We moved.  We said goodbye to our 1-room studio apartment and hello to our 3-floor house in Long Bien.  At 5 km away from Hanoi, it’s close to what we know and love, but far enough away to enjoy a different daily pace.  

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Bonus. It means we get to drive across the beloved Long Bien Bridge a LOT. This bridge is unique and I love crossing that 2 km span every single time.  The driving surface is raggedy and rustic, pebbled with holes and bumps, and the other drivers on the bridge are on their cell phones, basking in the breeze from the river below or just taking in the scenery. The braver tourists jam the lanes, their cameras and mouths agape, and the locals take photos while balancing on the center train line. I love it. It makes me feel alive.

But this isn’t about the beloved bridge.  It’s about food.  MY food.

How grateful I am for some recent little discoveries about food. And I wanted to share. Because maybe you’ll have a discovery that will make a difference.

I’ve always wrestled with autoimmune issues and have been using food to negotiate how my body feels and to heal, with great results. It’s easy to accomplish this in the US. But here in Hanoi it’s harder to do. So I have days (weeks) with flares and down time, which I have accepted as the price I pay to live here. But guess what? Now with a kitchen that has an oven and a gasp conduction cook top, I can cook. Compliant ingredients were the next step.

I’m sharing my recent finds.  

• I’ve discovered a source for beef marrow-filled bones. With free delivery. Huzza. Bone broth. Roasted marrow. With Himalayan pink salt. My personal nirvana. We also found some good, local pork shoulders, Doug’s favorite. Because…OVEN!

• I found the AfroMiniMart [closet] that sells pure cassava and plantain flours, with no additives. Double squeal. Tortillas. Crackers. Breaded anything and everything. Seriously, I can’t tell you how thrilling it is to add these ingredients to my pantry.

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• Next. Coconut milk yogurt. This is a daily staple, when possible. I bought a simple yogurt maker (identical to my TIOLI acquired maker on Lopez) that makes perfect yogurt with the vegan cultures carried over from the USA. After many different market visits, we found pure coconut milk with no additives. Success.

• I can get plenty of pure coconut oil here. For variety, we found real olive oil at the “gourmet” store. It’s good but definitely comes with a gourmet price. The stock continually changes and I wonder how some of the product found it’s way there. Like Costco’s Kirkland brand. How did it get there?

• Dates. Another gourmet item. You know how much I love to sauté dates and add sea salt. MMMNNNnnnnnn. 

• One more staple is this gorgeous honey. Honey and dates are my 2 sugar sources. For some reason, the markets are flooded with pasteurized honey. Raw honey is tricky to locate. This one is wonderful.

It may seem like I’m complaining about being here. Nope. I love it here. But I also love feeling good. So why am I telling you this? If you’ve ever felt under the weather for a long time, then it changes and suddenly it feels like the clouds have lifted, the sky is blue, angels are singing–then you know how fantastic it can be. Daily life takes a lot of energy. I like to be present. Doing things. Not stumbling around, tired, feeling crappy. Finding these little things makes an enormous difference and lets my body rest and heal. So that I have more leeway to sample ALL the other interesting food here in Asia.

Here’s hoping you discover little things that make equally large differences. That is my holiday wish for you!