She loved the canned chili that I used to make chili dogs, so I thought we should take our relationship to the next level- homemade chili. Not just any homemade chili, but one made from the “best chili recipe ever”- as declared by Google.

I found the recipe two weeks ago so we planned on cooking it one of these weekends. I decided that that weekend would be during her birthday. She wanted me to meet two of her best friends and thought that that day would be best. During the week, I’m often busy and too tired to entertain company.

Since it was her birthday, I wanted to get everything right. I woke up early that Saturday (10 AM) and got ready to meet her for lunch and go shopping for ingredients. She was already busy with friends and had to meet me later. That left me with the shopping.

First grocery store: Western Canned Goods Store, 1. Beef broth. None. Tomato paste. None. Diced tomatoes? None.

Go to second store.

Second grocery store: Trang Tien Plaza. Bread. Check. Buns. Check. Potatoes. Check. Roma tomatoes. Check. (Is that how you spell “potatoes”? Potatos. Yep, it’s right. There’s a red line on this version.) Onions. Check. Garlic. That’s at home. Check. Dark beer. Too expensive. Pass. Proceed to checkout.

Head home. Drop things off.

Third grocery store: Big C. Ground beef. Awww, this is going to be expensive. Check. Beef sirloin. My vocabulary isn’t that good, but this looks like it. Check. Hotdogs. One of these brands I don’t like. Three of one brand. Two… of the brand.. I think I don’t like… Check. Tomato paste… Nope. Diced tomatoes… Nope. Spices… Too expensive. I think I have some at home. I’m pretty sure we do. Pass. Beef broth… Beef broth… Nope. Dark beer. Will be too heavy if I buy a lot of stuff. Pass.

Go home to drop things off. Waiting for bus. Waiting for bus. Waiting for bus. Finally! Transfer to second bus. Waiting for bus. Waiting for bus. Waiting for bus. Get on a different bus that might go in the same direction. Damnit! It’s turning! …Wait, I know this street. Get off and wait for third bus. Short wait. Get on; head home.

Unexpected stop.

Fourth grocery store: Western Canned Goods Store, 2. Diced tomatoes. Too expensive. Pass. Tomato paste. Too expensive… I think. Pass. Beef broth… Nope.

Fifth grocery store: Citimart. Diced tomatoes. Expensive… but running out of time. Buy. Tomato paste. Expensive… but… Buy. Dark beer. Yikes!… Buy. Beef broth… Beef broth… Dangit! They don’t have it! Coca Cola. Buy. Fanta. Buy. Bargain with xe om to get a ride home.

Xe Om: 15,000 VND.

Me: 10,000..? Okay.

She’s already at the house- washing her hair. Not making that up. I start cutting onions, garlic, and tomatoes. The cooking is finally starting and I find almost all of the spices needed in the cupboard. However, no beef broth. I think that was a crucial ingredient… One thing I failed to do was compensate for it. I still added the 1/2 cup of brown sugar… Dang… The chili had a sweet taste to it, and I don’t mean cool. We managed to add in salt and other spices to counterbalance the sweetness. In the end it turned out “binh thoung”.

The guests arrive and the meal starts off quite. This is not how a chili dinner is supposed to sound. They were all very new to the experience, minus my girlfriend and roommate. I thought someone was going to hurl because it’s not exactly what Vietnamese people usually eat. They don’t like to mix their foods, and with chili… well, it is what it is. And if you think about it, to the untrained eye, it looks like something else. In the end, my girlfriend’s two best friends praised my dish washing and were able to finish their servings of chili with a polite smile. My Chinese friend gave it a try and said it was too different for him. My Vietnamese friend who eats a lot of Western food loved it. The roommate loved it. My best friend says, “It’s good. Not really spicy, though. It tastes a little bit like Thai food.” Hmm… not what I was going for.

In the end, I think the recipe is still good. If I had the right ingredients and side dishes- especially if I had Frito chips- it would’ve been a blast. I’ll have to try making it again, but only when I have all the ingredients. It did teach me one thing though, chili is too much of an ethnic American food to be served as an introductory meal to people that have had little exposure to American food. Next time, I’ll have to go with turkey, pizza, or burgers.

I rang in 2009 in Hanoi, Vietnam. Here’s how it went.

The streets were crowded; motorbikes everywhere. The closer we got to the lake, the more dense the crowd got. There’s 10 minutes to midnight and I’m exchanging text messages with friends to meet up before the countdown starts. There are so many people at the lake and I’m expecting, at least, a very big fireworks show. Along with the New Year’s Eve, there’s also a flower festival going on at the lake, and this is it’s first day. Many displays are set up like artwork along the street and people are posing for pictures. I try to meet up with my friends but it’s impossible to catch anyone in the crowd.

By now it’s 11:57 so my girlfriend and I move toward the lake to get a better view. Everyone seems to have the same idea. As we wait, we watch lanterns being lit and flying higher into the sky.

11:59. We’re all waiting and looking around for a sign of some announcer, countdown, or sign of fireworks.

I look at my phone. 12:00. Then I look at my girlfriend and everyone around, but they look as confused as me. Then I thought, “Well, this is Vietnam. Things do start a little late, here.”

12:07. Hmm… I’m really confused at this point. The couple next to us basically says, “Well… nothing’s happening. Time to go home.” And they left. Soon after, everyone had the same idea and the crowd started to disperse. My girlfriend in her infinite wisdom says, “Because of the inflation, Vietnam is too cheap to spend money on fireworks. You have to wait until Tet (Vietnamese New Year’s). Poor you.”

After a few more minutes of standing around, we start walking up the street to look at the flowers and finally meet up with my friends. The night ends with some food and drinks. No countdown, but good enough for me.

The below prices are from my favorite pho place to eat at in Ha Noi. It can be found at Pho Am Thuc, facing Tran Phu street.

Yikes.

Today started out as a bright, sunny, warm, and very humid day. Then, the rain came… and it didn’t stop.

It rained for 7 hours straight starting at 5PM, and I believe it is still raining- although, not as heavy as it was earlier.

I’ve seen other people tread through water here but I thought I would never allow myself to get caught out in that much rain. ‘Should have knocked on wood.

Tonight, while coming home after a birthday dinner and, afterwards, a cup of iced coffee with my girlfriend where we had an interesting conversation (saved for a future post), was a “whoa, that’s a lot of rain” moment.

Firstly, driving to the bus stop on the back of a motorbike was cold and wet. Even as I did my best to hide from the rain under a rain jacket, I still got soaked from the waist down. Then, my girlfriend- cute as ever- dropped me off a block away from the bus stop. It was hard to see with the downpour. Yeah, I got soaked walking my way back to the designated pickup point.

On the way home, some parts of the road had rain up to eighteen inches. Cars, motorbikes, and people were still trudging their way through.

The driving here is somewhat dangerous and risky, but even in the rain, the drivers still took chances with each other. In this case, it was a bad move for one motorbike who was hit by our bus. In an attempt to merge in front of the bus, the bike got hit, but I don’t think it was that bad because after the collision, the bus driver and ticket person got out to investigate but returned and drove off after one minute. However, this is usually what happens when an accident that isn’t “serious” occurs. I hate to think of it, but maybe death is the only case when the driver will actually stop and wait for police. As the bus continued on its route, I could see that the motorbike and passenger were trying to collect themselves and continue on their way as well. Sadly, this happens a lot in Viet Nam.

On the rest of the trip home, the water level reached two feet in some places and the bus kept going- albeit, slowly. As my stop approached, I did what the other passengers did- took off my shoes and socks, rolled up my pants, and got ready to hit the water.

At first, it wasn’t as bad as I thought. Then, I remembered about the sewage system. That gave me the jitters. All I could do was just keep going. How else was I going to get home?

On the university grounds, especially near my dormitory, the water came up to my knee-caps. Ugggghhhh… I finally made it home, and jumped in the shower for a long cleansing.

Wow. The International Relations staff wasn’t joking when they said that sometimes the locals refer to Ha Noi as “Ha Loi”. “Loi”, meaning “to wade through water”. Eh, what can you do but laugh it off? It makes for good stories at the office.

27 MAY 2008 UPDATE: Link to an earlier downpour to give you an example of the flooded streets.