My first real Vietnamese food, and from the street - fingers crossed. It’s only taken me a week and a half. Together, this cost me under $2USD.

The bánh mì is filled with mystery meat paste, orange slices of pork belly, daikon radish?, cucumber, hot sass, and something that looks like head cheese.

I don’t remember how to say bao in Vietnamese, but inside there looks to be a hunk of meat pie (meat loaf) and quail eggs. Both are super good. This bao is huge, bigger than a softball.

 Mom, any ideas?

My goal for this week is to go to one of the local restaurants with no english on the menus and order a bowl of something. I don't think I'm ready for one of the sidewalk kitchens just yet. I have to photograph this to better explain:  besides the street carts, there are regular dining areas on the sidewalks that are designated by kindergarten style plastic chairs and stools. You can go and enjoy a drink or the daily special, but HOW. Beyond the language barrier, the common courtesies escape me and like an aspie I don't know how to behave. Do you just sit down and get served or do you have to ask? Pay up-front or when you leave? Dine-and-dash is a most fitting option...

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Since I've only worked in a patisserie setting I haven't had access to the kinds of snacking a full kitchen can produce. Kitchen snacks consumed to-date: yogurt, milk apple, longan, watermelon, cantaloupe, mango, brandied-cherry danish, shrimp and squid pizza, ham pizza, ha gau/siu mai, hột vịt lộn, clams, snails, some other furry looking bivalve. The other day, the hot kitchen was preparing shrimp and langoustines and people came running.