The owner of the apartment building I'm staying in volunteered to drive my friends and I to lunch over the mountain and down into a seaside village.
It was a very pretty drive up out of town into the county side
Once down on the other side of the mountain we stopped at a local seaside restaurant to eat.
Inside there were tanks of live seafood to select from. We did the tour and then let Dan order...
We had quite the meal:
morning glory veggies and chili peppers
small clams in a garlic & lemongrass chili sauce
small clams in a lemongrass and basil sauce
whole fish fried with sweet chili sauce
fried rice
salt and pepper calamari
all eaten in little bowls with various seasoning sauces
oh and the fish head was also made into a dish with rice and other veggie -- somewhat of a fish-head-congee
as dan said "if you are not already full, this will fill in any empty bits"
After returning to the apartment for a nap (long one!) no one really was hungry for dinner. Shirley put together some fresh fruit plates and
invited me to join her and Bob, so we had that for dinner. I felt like a little dessert afterwards and went out on my own to find a cafe with some ice cream --
only about 2 blocks away. Ended up with a small scoop of passionfruit ice cream for 22K dong -- less than $1.
Back in my apartment a little later I also snacked on a cookie or two that I'd brought from Hawaii :-)
Will eat again tomorrow morning!