It's almost time to leave. I'm really sad. I could use another 3 days here. I was really hoping that it would get really cold and the roads would freeze and I would get stuck here for a few more days, but no such luck. It's hovering just above freezing.
While I was looking through one of those tourist books in the hotel I came across an advertisement for a newly constructed Chinatown. This sounds fun to me, so Saturday night I drove out to Chinatown. I quickly learn that it is more like Vietnamtown. There are several restaurants, a few boutiques, and a large Asian market. There is an Asian market in Haltom City and I've always wanted to go, it's just in a real sketchy part of town and I've never been brave enough. This place is not sketchy at all so I decide to go in and wander around. As soon as I hit the door I was overcome with the smell of fish. It was pretty cool, though. It looked just like a Kroger only everything was Asian. They had lots of different kinds of candy laid out for the Tet. I picked up some sesame seed candy, tamarind candy, and dried mango with sugar, salt, and chili. I'm happy to report that the tamarind candy wasn't bad. It was like those gummy peaches you get at the mall, only tamarind flavor. The mango was awful. Salty dried fruit is never a good idea. I thought the sesame seed candy would have a caramel texture (it has peanuts and what I thought would be nougat), but it was gummy. The was a little weird, but it didn't taste bad. I also picked up a bottle of sesame oil and some green chopsticks.
While I was looking through one of those tourist books in the hotel I came across an advertisement for a newly constructed Chinatown. This sounds fun to me, so Saturday night I drove out to Chinatown. I quickly learn that it is more like Vietnamtown. There are several restaurants, a few boutiques, and a large Asian market. There is an Asian market in Haltom City and I've always wanted to go, it's just in a real sketchy part of town and I've never been brave enough. This place is not sketchy at all so I decide to go in and wander around. As soon as I hit the door I was overcome with the smell of fish. It was pretty cool, though. It looked just like a Kroger only everything was Asian. They had lots of different kinds of candy laid out for the Tet. I picked up some sesame seed candy, tamarind candy, and dried mango with sugar, salt, and chili. I'm happy to report that the tamarind candy wasn't bad. It was like those gummy peaches you get at the mall, only tamarind flavor. The mango was awful. Salty dried fruit is never a good idea. I thought the sesame seed candy would have a caramel texture (it has peanuts and what I thought would be nougat), but it was gummy. The was a little weird, but it didn't taste bad. I also picked up a bottle of sesame oil and some green chopsticks.
This was my view of the capitol on Sunday morning after breakfast. I took Cristian's advice and went to the Magnolia Cafe for pancakes. It was super crowded but the pancakes were definitely worth the wait. The cafe was super quirky and they had a super quirky gift store next door. After breakfast I just drove around and then walked a lot downtown.
For lunch on Sunday I went to Mekong River and had Pho. The only other time I've had Pho was in Keller at Green Bamboo. This Pho was a million times tastier than the Pho in Keller.
After lunch I went to a place called Bead It. There were four rooms of nothing but beads on the walls from floor to ceiling. You got your beads Central Market style - pick out what you want, put them in a bag, and price it. I think I tooled around in there for an hour. It was slightly overwhelming because there was SO MUCH stuff it was hard to narrow down what it is that I wanted. I ended up with this stuff. I have a vision in my head of what this necklace will look like and if I ever finish it, I'll post a picture.
On Sunday afternoon I was laying in bed reading when the house keeping lady kept knocking on my door. I got up to tell her that I didn't need anything and while I was talking to her I see this kid out of the corner of my eye and I think, "that kid looks a lot like Bishop." (he's a kid in our beginner trumpet class). I turn around to get a better look and sure enough it's Bishop. And he's just staring at me in disbelief that I'm in Austin, too. He's there with the whole family! So I'm talking with his mom about the odds that I would run into them and then she tells me that they are in the room right next door!!!!! I mean seriously. I come all this way to run away from my life and end up right next door to a student. Luckily, he's a nice kid and his family is nice so it's more funny than anything. Later that night my old college friend Jennifer and her new husband pick me up and take me to a place called Shady Grove. (I was told them on the way there about running into a student). We took our seat at the restaurant and hadn't been there a full minute yet when Bishop pops over to say hello! They had gone to the exact same restaurant!!!!! I just couldn't believe it. I told them we needed to talk before Spring Break. Shady Grove was fun. Jennifer and I had the tortilla crusted queso catfish. Sounds weird, but it was really good. After dinner we went to the Elephant Room and listened to a band called Chicken Strut. The first song we heard was Cantaloupe Woman. My personal favorite was a song named after the band. It was really great to catch up with Jennifer and meet her husband. Maybe I'll get a vacation home in Austin and be able to hang out with them more often!
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