Friday, February 10, 2006

Fried Snail with Lemon Grass

We wanted to add a few things, now that we have completed the activities of the evening. We found a restaurant, called the Bohdi tree, in the same alley as the California Burrito. The Bohdi tree, as we understood from our guidebook, is known for its' vegetarian selections. When we were seated, we were impressed with the prices, and the selection. We noticed some very interesting selections in the vegetarian menu, like braised ham, baked squid, and fried snails with Lemon Grass. Each of these entrees were less than a dollar. To be safe, I ordered a vegetarian burrito, and Larissa ordered macaroni and cheese, but we also got the fried snails. We had to see what a vegetarian snail looked like.
We chuckled as they brought out the macaroni and cheese.

It was your regular pasta with tomato sauce, but I guess the slice of cheese on top qualified it as macaroni and cheese. My burrito looked fine, but wasn't all that tasty. The snails looked disturbingly similar to snails, just without heads.

I asked the waitress if they were for sure vegetarian. She said yes, but I don't think she understood the question. Then Larissa tried asking what they were made out of, the waitress answered our repeated questioning with "made from vegetables."
Larissa tried one first. I think she ate its' tail. She said it was too spicy, and tasted too much of lemon grass. Then I took a shot at it.

I thought it had the right amount of spice, but the texture was a lot like you would expect a snail's to be like.
I finished about half the plate. The snails didn't taste good, but they didn't taste bad either. I have know idea how they made the little guys. I am not entirely convinced that they weren't actually snails.

On an unrelated note, some of you have been requesting pictures of us in our new clothes. We would be happy to post some, but it might be more of a hassle then it is worth. You see, part of the service of getting tailored clothes in Hoi An, is that they fold them incredibly neatly, and seal each item in its' own plastic wrapper. Neither of us are very good at folding, so we are afraid of doing anything with the clothes, the suits in particular. We do have a picture of Larissa in her suit, taken during the first fitting. We'll try and post it soon. Also, if you look to the picture (in the post previous to this one) of Larissa standing in the midst of traffic, you will see that she is in a new pair of pants. That's the best we can do for now.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, I just woke up and was feeling a bit hungry until I sat down and looked at the pictures of your food...I am pretty sure that those snails are snails...maybe they were raised vegetarian snails :) !! Haha I have to say I would much rather look at your pictures in the market or under water of beautiful fish! No worries on doing pictures in your suits, we can get alot of pics at your graduation. Love ya lots..maybe find a different restaurant.

Robert said...

Holy Cow! I can't even believe how many places you have been.

Anonymous said...

I agree with MomZ. I think when they say "Vegetarian Snails," what they mean is that those snails have been fed only vegetarian food before they were mercilessly dropped in the vat of boiling water and prepared for your plate. Even if they were made out of vegetables, they went through WAY too much work to produce something that produces nausea and vomitting in me! Next time I'll just drink a bottle of Epicac!