It's all about FOOD!!

Food in Cambodian are THE BEST!! I decided to have my blog surrounded with ALL the food that I have had, including frogs and fish! Thinking about them makes me hungry! I always want to learn cooking from them, but the host family cooks really early, and some dishes takes 4 to 6 hours to make.  One day, I will learn! :)

This was what we had for LUNCH!! We went to the market near by the AIP office, crazy traffic, but worth it! The chicken was so good, the soup was amazing, it was with fish, pineapple, basil, cilantro, green onions, squash, lotus stamps, and some other stuff in it.  It was sour and sweet, very fresh and very delicious; although I wish the fish were fresher.  On the left top corner was pork spare ribs with lots of ginger on top, I believe they steamed it.  It was tasty too! I LOVED IT!!!

We got our lunch from..... Here... Some people might consider this as street food, but I DO NOT!!

 DINNER!!!!!
Because we got off work early, I told Ohm (Po Po) that I would learn cooking from her.  But she has made many dishes already, before we even came back! But I found out their back kitchen of how they would cook!!! This is the SECRET!! CHORALS and WOODS!!!!

The stir-fries are very very similar to what we do.  Oil, garlic, corn starch, soy sauces.  But on the far right top soup is with pumpkin with chicken soup.  It was SO tasty!! Ohm said she has made it for at least 4 hours! In the middle, there is another soup, FISH soup! It tasted like Don Yum Kung soup, it is sour and salty.  I am loving the food that I am eating here, hopefully I can bring some implementation back to elevate my cooking style!

Field trip day food!! 
It is super authentic and yet, it comes with a price of diarrhea!! It was WORTH it!!

On the way to the field, we stopped all the sudden into a market.  The director, Sophal, asked "have you have breakfast yet?" I was shocked because I thought we need to go to work immediately! And so, all of us had breakfast, Sophal asked me if I eat pig heart and intestines, and I said, NO! So , he ordered this for me:

This dish has raw beef and beef-ball with Chinese noodles, which they called "Kwae Dui".  The soup was chicken based soup.  It was clear and I LOVED IT!!! However, inside the beef balls were not hot enough, and when I eat the beef, they were not cooked all the way because of soup is not hot enough.  But it was SO GOOD!!! Four of us only costs us $5 USD!!!

Then, we had a coconut fresh from the TREE!! There were a LOT of juices, sweet and yet a little bit bitter.  The meat inside of the coconut is tender and soft.  This is how life should be!!

LUNCH TIME!!!!
We went next to the river side, where the river runs throughout the country, sitting on the bamboo made floor, the breeze come out and the clear water sound, it is the best of the world!

We would get food first, then go eat.  Everything they had were BBQ, BBQ frogs, BBQ fish, BBQ chicken, BBQ snails, etc.. Before we even arrived, Sophal said we would have turtle.  :) These are what they sell:

These are what we have for LUNCH!!!

BBQ Cat fish, it was better than I thought.  BBQ chicken, and papaya.  Which was REALLY good!!! There are some side dishes that goes with the BBQ chicken and cat fish, to give it a kick, like fish sauce, sour green stuff, and lime salt.  It was very authentic! :) As for dessert, we had JACK FRUIT!!!

After coming back to the office, we had snack bough by our co-worker. It is called "Bat Kuk".  The fruits does not have a taste, but it comes with the salted fish and dried fish, and the fish and shrimp sauce with spices.  It is delicious! It reminds me of the taste of Philippines.

Remember, diarrhea is your friend here, you will have no regrets!! While we are waiting interview with the parents, I asked my director if there's any bathrooms.  He said, the school bathrooms are gross, so don't go! Then, he said, let me ask the neighborhood around.  So the first home we saw, he peeked and see if there's anyone at home.  Ohm was there, so he asked for me.  He turned to me and said "welcome, enjoy!" I walked in, and this is exactly what I needed.