I took sides early on and now I'm having to recant my initial proclamation as a noodle enthusiast. I mean, I am, but not so much of Vietnamese noodles. The noodle soups are always almost, but I refuse to give up. I'm at home being sick today, so when I ventured out for food I was pretty pleased with my serendipitous find: a soup cart with snails, which I've never seen before and had literally just been reading about before dragging myself out into the sunshine.

The soup stalls are often push-carts that hold massive kettles of broth and individual noodle portions are dunked in long handled baskets to warm. This one held a very rich, spicy broth that turned everything it touched red, with cubes of pig's blood and fried soybean curds, and a strange loaf of grainy meat all bobbing around inside. A scoop of snails were added to individual bowls along with chili sauce and a spoonful of purple goo I assume to be taro or crab paste. Whenever I'm asked how I want things customized I always just motion for them to give it all to me. Might as well try everything. I got a baggy full of tong choy (water spinach) as a side.

This wants to be so good, but everything is slightly off my palate or maybe it's the sick talking. The snails, or maybe some other type of mollusk, taste funkier than usual and my fermented sausage baton is gritty. The tong choy is completely unseasoned as well, but it's delicious with the broth; I'm eating that like crazy.

Snailiens

The lumpy mass at the top of both photos is the grainy loaf of meat-and-something. It's not so good, but I've had worse versions in the cafeteria. I can't decide what goes into them because they don't seem like anything was used to bind and they've got a watery, fall-apart, not quite meat texture.

Blood cube. I bit another one for show-and-tell, for you. I keep doing this and keep trying new noodle soups because maybe this time I'll like it! That ugly looking thing floating in the middle is one of those homemade sausage batons that appear everywhere. I don't know what it's called, they usually taste kind of like those small tins of Vienna sausages. Same texture - finely ground, slightly spongey. Last time I had one of those was in an aluminum fishing boat in Kentucky.

I didn't mean for this to be so complainy because I really was amused and pleased with the whole thing, no matter the taste.