Sao Lao

After a visit to the university book store and not finding the text book that I needed, I headed back to Leiden Centraal train station. I walked pass a Church that I had been admiring for quite sometime but never had a chance to get a closer look at the structure. I was in a hurry and didn’t have time to check out the inside of the Church since it was almost closing time.

Later, after a few minutes of fast walking I noticed a new Thai restaurant that I have never seen before. I only know of one Thai restaurant in the area about one block from the Faculty of Arts. The name of the restaurant is Sisaket and it reminded me of the name of Wat Sisaket in Laos. I checked out the menu and was happy to know that they let you do take out. Maybe I will check out the food with some of my classmates at the end of the school year or sooner.

On March 19th, I received a green light for the second phase of my Thesis. It was a cause for a celebration. After having a pancake for dinner the night before I wanted to have seafood for dinner this time. I haven’t been to Hotel New York Restaurant since August of 2006 so I decided to go there for an early dinner. I ordered half a dozen Dutch oysters for starter and then a seafood platter for the main course. The waiter gave me an olive sauce with fried shallots so I gave it a try for the first time with a couple of oysters. It was not a waste of an experiment.

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On March 18th, after spending the day at the university and turning in my final version of Thesis proposal I asked Johan to take me to my favorite Dutch pancake house. I wanted something to sooth my soul while waiting for the green light the next morning for the second phase of the Thesis writing process.

When I got to the pancake house I was surprised to be an addition to the house. They have converted a barn that was used as a playground for the children into a new wing of the restaurant. The walkway was turned into a lounge with a sunroof. I saw a note on the door way for hosting High Tea. This pancake house is well known for its old charms and authentic look and feel of the place. I didn’t mind the modern room but I don’t know if other customers would feel the same. Since it was a few days before Easter, the place was decorated in Easter theme.

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It is quite a mess at Leiden Centraal station with construction going on. But it is always nice to walk out of the train station and smell the crispy Vietnamese egg rolls across the street. I will sure miss the egg roll stand if it’s not there anymore.

Last Wednesday, I picked up five Vietnamese egg rolls  while I was on my way to school for lunch. Since I didn’t eat any breakfast I was a bit hungry and thought an extra egg roll will keep me full until dinner time. My eyes were bigger than my stomach and by the fourth one I was too full already. I shouldn’t eat too much of these or else I will get really fat.

I was having a craving for ping peek kai and spicy salad after looking at food photos from Laos so I bought some chicken wings and made myself a batch of BBQ chicken wings, Lao style of course. Since I had no one to share my food with it took me three meals just to finish the BBQ chicken wings (four pieces per meal). I didn’t have much green papaya left so I mixed the shredded green papaya with cooked brown rice vermicelli and made som tam to go with the chicken wings. I will make this again when the weather is warmer so I can buy one of those ready to use charcoal grill box and cook the chicken outside. Let’s hope I don’t burn anything down like the last time.

During the first week of my battle with the flu I didn’t have much appetite or energy to cook. I tried to make some food that I know is good for me like chicken soup or rice soup with eggs. After staying in bed for several days I decided to eat something with more flavor. I got myself out of bed and bought me a roasted chicken from the local chicken stand and made two cups of steamed brown rice to go with it. Then I took out a small package of Laocook Homemade Jeow Bong to add more life to the meal. It was quite delicious and put a big smile on my face.

I was having a craving for laap moo or pork minced salad awhile back so I tried to make it on my own. I called Aunt Kian and Aunt Phone in Vientiane and asked how they make their laap moo and then went with it. It was quite delicious and would have been better with pork skin and perhaps pork liver and heart and other parts of the animal that most people in Laos would add to the laap. I can’t wait till I am back in Laos so I can have a really good laap moo for dinner.

Last Sunday I was still too sick to be walking around Rotterdam. I wanted to send money to Laos so Johan took me to the Money Gram agent at Rotterdam Centraal station. This is the second time that I used the service of Money Gram because it is easier than going to Western Union. I normally use the service of Western Union at the post office but the worker there has to enter all the information each time. Western Union has a new policy in place for several months now that you can only pick up the money in Laos in Lao currency. You can’t sent money online either, not from the Netherlands anyway to Laos.

With Money Gram, you can take out the money in either Kip or Dollar. They would charge you one dollar to have the money in US currency. This time Aunt Kian went half and half, taking half in Kip and half in Dollar amount. Some Money Gram agents in Vientiane even open till 23:00 hour on Sunday. That is 11:00 PM.

Since I had a few minutes before the Chinese grocery store closed I decided to make a quick stop and bought ingredients for making Lao bamboo shoots soup. Having post a picture at Laovoices.com of bamboo soup, I was having a craving for it. Afterward I took Johan to my favorite Dim Sum and Noodle restaurant for dinner.

I shared the 8 pices dim sum with Johan. For the individual dim sum, he ordered something with meat and mushroom while I went for squid in spicy sauce.

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I finally had a chance to buy four egg rolls from a lady with her stand across the street from Leiden Centraal train station. I have been walking by Song’s Vietnamese Loempia or spring roll all these years but have never made a stop because I can make it myself. I haven’t make these crispy and delicious spring rolls for more than a year because I am trying to lose weight and also didn’t have much time and energy to make a big batch for just one person.

According to wikepidia, in the Netherlands, it is spelled loempia which is the old Indonesian spelling for lumpia and has also become the generic name for “spring roll” in Dutch.

Song seems like a very nice lady. She smiles a great deal and speaks with a soft and gentle voice. I was standing there and examining the various versions of spring rolls and had my eyes fixed on Vietnamese version. Song then spoke English to me by saying “90 cents” which is also listed on the plate. I then tried my best Dutch and ordered four of them. She then told me the price in Euro (3.60) and then asked me in Dutch if I wanted sweet sauce or hot sauce. Of course I said “hot sauce please” and paid for my food.

I then walked to the Faculty of Social Science building and ate the delicious spring rolls in the lobby area which is in front of the cafeteria. That was the best school lunch I ever had over here. I will definitely make more stop in the near future.

Since my relatives back in Vientiane were celebrating Chinese New Year, I didn’t want to feel left out and joined the celebration by having my own little party. I went to the local Chinese grocery store and stocked up on a few things. I then made som tam or tum maak houng, however you want to call it for lunch, with water spinach and brown rice vermicelli on the side.

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