Adventures in Cooking

This past weekend I tried my luck with the Vietnamese train system and huffed on down to Vinh to see my dear friend and fellow Fulbrighter Sofia. Sofia is the Jewish grandmother this nice Catholic girl from PA never had. She fed me all the comfort and love I needed in the form of homemade chicken soup and tofu salad. I ate better during a few meals with her than I have for nearly all of my 2 months (yes! 2 months! 1/5 of 10 months!) in Vietnam. Seriously.

I may never be able to cook like Sofia, but I was inspired enough by her--and embarrassed enough by my own kitchen ineptitude as compared to her--that I have made it a goal for my time in Vietnam to learn to cook.

(Goals in Vietnam: 1. Don’t get hit by a motorbike. 2. Change lives. 3. Learn to cook.)

I get the feeling that I’m something of a joke among the other teachers. With many of them, the language barrier keeps us from going too deep conversationally, so the one thing we know we can always talk about and understand is food. Our conversations usually go something like this:

Vietnamese teacher: Madeline, what did you make for dinner? Noodles again?
Me: Yes.
Vietnamese teacher: Oh. (Giggles at my incompetence as a female)

Last week Mrs. Thu, my boss here, told me that she thinks living in Vietnam on my own will be good for me because I will learn to cook, clean, and take care of myself. She says this will help me find a husband.

Apparently Mrs. Thu doesn't put much faith in my charming wit and youthful good looks.

But in all seriousness, I really just need to learn how to cook in order to take better care of myself. Sometimes I am amazed by my ability to fend for myself. The other day I bargained, in pseudo-Vietnamese, with 6 very aggressive men who drive Motorbike Taxis for the cheapest rate across town.

That same day I forgot to eat breakfast and bought a box of crackers for lunch....Things like this make me wonder how I ever got a Fulbright.

Enough is enough! I have just returned from the market, and I am ready for you, lunchtime. Beginning today, if you are a vegetable I will sauté you. If you are chicken I will boil you. If you are rice I will rice cooker you. I can do this.

I am strong (strong). I am invincible (invincible). I am Woman. Hear me roar.

(Or at least hear me curse--loudly--at the damn stovetop when I inevitably burn everything.)