December 7th - Cookery School

This morning we are walking over to train street to have breakfast before going to our cooking class. 

The Train Street in Hanoi, Vietnam, has a fascinating history dating back to the colonial era when the French constructed the railway system in 1902. It was originally built to deliver essential supplies and materials across the region.

During the war, the area faced frequent bombings so makeshift shelters were constructed along the railway tracks to provide protection from these attacks. 

Over time, businesses emerged along the railway, and homes were built in close proximity to the tracks. 

Today, the Hanoi Train Street has transformed into a unique tourist attraction, where tourists flock here to experience watching trains pass through the narrow alleyways, mere inches from homes and cafes. It is lined with coffee shop after coffee shop. 

There have been occasional closures of the train street due to safety concerns. Authorities have even threatened closing the train street to tourists for good. As long as you sit to the side of the wall and obey the cafe owner, it is safe to visit. Just use common sense and don’t get too close or get distracted with your phone trying to get the shot because that is how many people have gotten hurt.

The people inside were videoing us videoing them 🤣

Coconut coffee

Our scrambled egg “omelette” by the tracks. 

After eating, Juniper discovered a bird feather in it. When you see the market photos down below you’ll understand how easily that could happen. 

The track is used by many locals carrying goods to sell and motorbikes as well. 

The story goes, the lower the seat, the better the food. It means that authentic, delicious, local Vietnamese food is often found at small, humble street stalls or eateries where people sit on tiny plastic stools on the sidewalk, getting close to the ground, signifying authenticity and local flavor over fancy settings. It's a cultural nod to humble, traditional dining where simple, well-made dishes like Phở, Bún Chả, or Bún Đậu are the real deal, not found in upscale restaurants. But, it sure is hard for us Americans to get up from those tiny stools. 

The Vietnamese, however, are accustomed to squatting all day long. 

More bamboo for sale 

We arrived at the restaurant where we will take our class this morning. After deciding what three dishes we want to prepare, we went to the local market to pickup some ingredients for the dishes and got some insight into the local life here in Hanoi. We get to take a little break when we return to the restaurant while the staff washes and preps the ingredients. The guide was amazing at explaining what the ingredients were and what we needed to do. 

On the top is dried chicken, under it is dried pork and to the right, dried beef. 

Bamboo for cooking

Making tofu

Live fish, can’t get much fresher than that

Chicken, quail and duck eggs

The most interesting produce 

Pork sausage

Our sous chef and guide buying meat for our class today. Her name is Daisy. 

Goes without saying what this is 

Buying rice paper sheets for the spring rolls 

The market is already crowded but the people pull up on their motorbikes and never get off. Just tell the vendor what they want, pay and go. 

The fruits of our labor this morning. 

The chef is Dragon. He didn’t speak English. 

Decorations for the plate 

Demonstrating how to fill and roll the spring rolls. I think the expression on her face is because she’s watching me make a mess of mine. 

Aren’t they lovely 

We also prepared stir fried lemongrass chicken with pepper. 

And Vietnamese pancakes. 

Daisy was absolutely delightful and had the softest, melodic voice. At the market when she would explain what something was, she would ask, yes? Then say, let’s go. 

The setup for rolling the Japanese pancakes we made. 

She cut the pancakes, filled with pork, bean sprouts, green onion, carrots and radish into strips which we then placed on a rice paper with cucumber, lettuce, carrots, herbs and pineapple. 

Juniper has layered all the ingredients on her dried rice paper sheet and is ready to roll it up. 

Finished roll

The food was incredibly delicious even if we did make it ourselves. 🤣 But look at the amount of food for two people. We didn’t even make a dent in it. 

Dessert was egg coffee, a mixture of espresso, sweetened condensed milk and egg yolk whipped. It makes a mousse like layer on top of the coffee. 

And coconut coffee, strong, dark-roast coffee (brewed with a phin filter or espresso), sweetened condensed milk, and coconut cream or milk. For an iced version, ice is blended with the coconut cream and condensed milk. Perfectly toasted coconut flakes are a common garnish. Both are amazing!

We had the best time at the cooking class, learned new techniques and have some new recipes to use! 

After lunch we wandered over to the custom stamp maker and ordered some stamps. 

I got one that says “sojourner” in Vietnamese and a boot. I did a screenshot of what I wanted and sent it to her and the man made them. Juniper bought 5. 

It was amazing watching him work. 

Many hours later, we stopped for one more coconut ice cream. 

Juniper had researched where to get the best and as we came around the corner, there was Häagen-Daz. She said there it is. I said no, you did not bring me over here for that. 🤣 Of course she didn’t but it was across the street from the local place, so we sat eating our amazing cone while looking at HD across the plaza. 

Kody, the haze is a severe air pollution crisis caused by high levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) trapped by winter weather (fog, inversions, light winds) and major emissions from vehicles, industry (cement), construction, and waste burning, leading to dangerous "red/purple" skies, reduced visibility, and respiratory issues. There are massive emissions from millions of motorbikes and cars. 

Vietnam uses more cement per capita than any country outside China, and almost double that of the United States. Cement factories, batching plants and construction sites generate both carbon emissions and harmful PM2.

That little island in the middle of Hanoi's central lake (Hoan Kiem Lake) holds the iconic Turtle Tower (Thap Rua), a small, historic pagoda-like tower central to the legend of the "Returned Sword" and a major symbol of Hanoi's history and culture, located right in the heart of the Old Quarter.

See all the little plastic stools 

The traditional hat. 

Buttons buttons and more buttons. 

Taking a break for a refreshing soda water

Our final treat of the day and one of the few remaining things on our list of to-do’s, sharing an avocado ice cream. It was very nice and not so sweet, also topped with amazing toasted coconut. 

We walked back to our hotel to pack up everything for the flight to Thailand tomorrow. The hotel is providing a shuttle at 11:30 so we will have a little time in the morning to do anything else we can fit in. We have a massage scheduled for 9 pm tonight so as soon as we are packed up we head downstairs for our taxi. Apparently the taxi can’t get here so one of the employees is taking us on his way home from work.  

Where do I begin to document this massage experience? One of a kind? Most revealing ever? Can I stand it for an hour and a half? Did you just sit on my legs? Is that your foot by my ear? Will that song never end? 

We were taken into a room in the hotel thinking we were going to a spa. It was a regular room with two king sized beds. A good thing we are family or it could have been very awkward when we were asked to strip down to our altogethers with no robes. It is the first time I’ve ever had a massage where the masseuse straddled me on the bed running her elbow up and down my spine, and using the heel of her foot at one point. Then came the whacking. There was one song on an endless loop and it wasn’t even good spa-like music. I had to tell her three times that my toe is broken before she finally got it. I was never so happy as when she said the massage is finished and couldn’t wait to get back to our hotel. 

Yes that is me on the motorbike and Juniper’s on the one behind me. Apparently, they still couldn’t get a taxi so two of the employees took us back on their scooters. Never thought I would be doing that. And we lived to tell the tale.

From Our Fears and Sins Release Us

“Famines, diseases, and wars. Oh my!” Sometimes my mental list of fears sounds like a scene out of The Wizard of Oz. But let’s be real; there’s so much to be scared of: oppressive authority, broken relationships, miscarriages, natural disasters, difficult family dynamics, sickness, and death, motorbike rides in Ha Noi—and the list goes on. You may find it odd to think about fearful things during Advent, but fear and death are a part of the reason Jesus entered our time and world.

Do you know what one of the most-repeated commands in Scripture is? “Do not be afraid.” This command is repeated so often it tells us something about our human nature. We’re prone to fear. When the curse of sin entered the world, so did fear. It casts a shadow on every aspect of our humanity. The security of eternal life and perfect love in God’s presence became uncertain. Being in fear’s grip is exhausting and makes false prophets of us as we entertain endless what-ifs. CS Lewis said, "No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear." Thankfully, fear will not have the last word.

If we looked up all the Bible passages that said, “Do not be afraid,” we would find that they’re often linked to God’s presence and salvation. Fear and sin can only be banished by the presence of God. So God came. He dwelled among us for a time, just as the prophets foretold. And He made a way for God’s Spirit to dwell in us so that His perfect love could forever chase away our sorrows, sins, and fears. He has given us new hearts and a spirit of “power, love, and sound judgment” (2 Timothy 1:7) so that we might have new life and have it abundantly (John 10:10).

The holidays can be difficult for many of us. Here is good news of great joy! God isn’t irritated by our need for comfort and refuge. He’s eager to fill those needs for us in Himself. He is for us, and His presence drives away our sins and fears like light scattering the darkness. Don’t be afraid; He has promised that nothing can separate us from His love in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:31–39).