Jelly Fish

Catherine writes: Learning to cook Khmer style has been great with a friend to show me the ropes. Two of my favourites Da's been teaching me are Amok - Cambodian fish curry in coconut cream and another: Fried fish with ginger and beans. However Asian market shopping is a far cry from Sainsbury's!
After market shopping for a couple of weeks I am ready to consider vegetarianism though after running through the non-meat/fish sources of protein around here I realise it's not really a great option. Don't get me wrong, I love the finished product but my stomach turned just like the fish which flipped it's way out of the display bowl onto the floor. This one is still wriggling after the shopkeeper hacks it's tail off and slices down it's length. (At least it's fresh I suppose). Is that another fish moving under that sarong? No it's just the sellers foot caked in blood and scales which she scrapes off each fish as she prepares it for the buyer. I hand over the cash being careful not to touch the lump of blood and pig's flesh on a note...must've gotten that one from the butcher! Well I made a point of learning how to ask for the fish to be fully prepared: "Can you make it beautiful for me please?".

"Shall we eat sweets" Da asks as we sit at a table beside the market. Large bowls filled with jelly-like substances confront me. Who knows what they contain? I can only describe them as frogspawn like in texture - some yellow, grey, dark green or black - which would you choose? The serving lady spoons the delightful mixtures into little plastic bags for take-away, but there is no time for procrastination for me as I dive into the unknown...only baby coconuts in consdensed milk - yummy! Can we come again tomorrow?

We have a found a house to rent!

We have found a house to rent.
It is the house we are staying in now, yes, Luc's house.
(see family photos link for pictures of it from last years trip)
Luc has bought a house which his father in law is in the process of renovating and extending.
Luc is currently in Europe working but Tharin (his wife) and family are scheduled to move out of their current rented house in the middle of March (very soon!).

We have looked around at numerous houses in numerous neighbourhoods and come to the conclusion that the best house we have seen is the one we are in, so we have decided to rent it for an initial two and a half months trial with the view to staying in it all year.

The new house is not ready yet so it looks like Tharin and Da (the home help) will be staying with us till the end of March. It will be great to have them around that bit longer to get to know them better and to soften the transition to equipping and running a home in Cambodia. It will ne odd but nice to have them as our guests!

Little did I imagine that when I started chatting to Luc in Singapore airport last July yhat I would end up renting his kiddie proofed and electrically sound house.......It makes you wonder.

This week we've been staying at home (Luc's house) until after lunch and then going for a potter about afterwards when its abit cooler. In the mornings Tim's been handwashing and playing with Forrest whilst I've (Catherine) been going to the food market with the house help "Da" and learning how to cook proper Khmer food. She's been pulling out all the stops, we cooked curry from scratch including pounding the lemongrass and spices for half an hour! Forrest is eating rice and meat better than ever. We had our first sweet sticky rice last night as a gift from our friend we met in Taize - it came packaged in a bamboo stem, yummy! Eden has mainly been rolling around in his cot/tent, sucking his toes, eating mashed banana and generally being very yummy too. Forrest has been learning to wave at the monks as they pass by, and he's very assertive at telling the khmers to go away when they poke and prod him in the market! We saw a real ox drawn cart and several horse and traps in town - now you don't get those in Phnom Penh!'