Home Cooked Meal for a Buck Twenty-five

Since I've arrived in Ho Chi Minh, I have been eating out at least twice a day. I take care of breakfast in the room since we don't have too much time in the mornings.

It usually consists of cereal and milk. Sometimes I add in a fruit if I want to make it REAL fancy, haha.
On my 2nd day here, I  also bought a cereal bowl and silver spoon for about $2 to make my stay here feel a little bit more homier.

Nothing feels more official in terms of settling into a new place than getting dishes and furniture. In fact, when I arrived in my room, I noticed that there was no desk. I asked for a desk and they (SEAMEO- name of the school we are working for) brought up a desk right away.

In the words of my lovely suite mate Michelle, "Ask and you shall receive".

It's now our 3rd week here and I've tried a lot of different eats from snails to Vietnamese pancakes. But I have to admit, you can only eat out so many times before you start missing a nice home cooked meal.

It was probably towards the beginning of the 2nd week that I  started to crave mama Kimpop's home cooking!

And thats what led me to the Canteen located on the 3rd floor of our school building. Basically, it's a cafeteria that serves the students and the workers of SEAMEO. I've walked by it countless times and seen the kiddies inhaling a bowl of noodles or rice covered in some marinated meat.

Some days it smells like something magical is cooking in the kitchen, some days not. But it's a family owned place and most of what is cooked and served looks like something your Vietnamese mama would cook for lunch or dinner.

Last Wednesday, I had taken a nap before my afternoon intensive course and when I awoke, there was very little time before I had to be downstairs to teach for 3 hours.
I figured that now would be a great time to check out what the Canteen had to offer.
None of us had eaten there at this point and so I was excited to find out.

When I got downstairs, they were cleaning up but luckily they still had food and served me right away. I got a plate of rice, veggies, and meat with a bowl of soup. They even gave me a piece of fruit for dessert! I was pleasantly surprised by the meal and how good it was. When it came time to pay for the meal, I was expecting to pay at least $2-4 since that seems to be the going rate for a meal here in Ho Chi but to my surprise, the owner asked for $1.25 or 25,000 dong!

I couldn't believe how cheap it was to eat a nice home cooked meal right in my school building. S
ince then, I've returned 2 more times. Once for lunch and then for dinner.... in the same day. Haha.
I predict that there will be a couple of more canteen meals in the near future!

Last night's dinner @ the Canteen.

White rice with pan fried tofu in lemon grass, 

some cucumbers and tomatoes and a vegetable soup.

Piece of dragon fruit for dessert!