Coffee and frangipani

Here photographed in Cambodia, and everywhere else I've been in South-East Asia.

I'm now in Laos where the flower is proudly emblazoned everywhere as a national symbol - and where the coffee is completely delicious.

Heart of palm

More homecooking in Saigon - fresh heart of palm, with water spinach and rice.

I was already a fan of canned heart of palm, but this was a whole other creature. Much firmer though not tough, a little fibrous, and with a rich, subtly sweet, slightly coconutty taste. Truly delicious.

Now I'm looking forward to trying South American style fresh heart of palm for comparison's sake...someday.

Chinese parsley

Just one of 12 different herbs served to us in a heaping pile with our banh canh breakfast in Tay Ninh province, the western edge of Vietnam. Sitting on an unusual, delicious opaque rice paper wrapper.