Dear Friends, Family and other notable companions on this journey through Life.
Some words on food might be in order at this point in my journey. For the most part I eat traditional fare such as pizza, sandwiches, oatmeal for breakfast and the omnipresent coffee. I have seriously cut back on beer since it is a source of dehydration, and have substituted water, that ageless miracle drug. Occasionally, I get a craving for something well prepared and very traditional, such as a pasta meal at a very elegant and (for Cambodia) expensive meal. I decided last Friday to go to La Luna, which is near the fashionable part of the city, and indulge. I ordered a Tuna Tartar for an appetizer. It was delicious and I was intrigued by the style of dish. I am familiar with Steak Tartar and have recently enjoyed that dish with Vyto after a couple of our golf games at a bar which has a decidedly political, nationalistic flair, but a very good culinary tradition and incredibly good beer. Since tuna does not carry the same degree of a notion of spoilage that beef does I felt safer with this. It was a good choice. I had also ordered a “classical” (as it said in the menu) martini with olives. This is a departure since I have not drunk a martini in over 30 years but it was very good and slightly sweet. Maybe too much vermouth but only my friend, Tony Barrett, might find that a disparagement.
An absolutely great addition and unordered, but no doubt standard fare was a side dish of anchovies and slivers of garlic in probably natural oil. It was “to die for”. Now I know that not everyone likes or even allows anchovies to be in the same time zone as themselves, but for those of you who remember a restaurant on East 79th Street called Alexander’s, you will also remember their famous salad with three or four anchovies laid out across the top. Their salad dressing was the famous part but the anchovies are what kept me coming back.
Next the main dish was an ordinary Spaghetti Bolognese, which was very good. I enjoyed a house wine, Rosa Red that was a merlot. I figured I should have a carafe since I wasn’t sure if one glass would be enough. One glass wouldn’t have been but a carafe was a little too much. By the end of this course I was full and asked for the check. The waitress informed me that I still had a complimentary digestiva coming and I could choose between a “Black Gold” which is made from the select licorice vines of Calabria, or a lemon liqueur made from some other flora from another part of Italy. I opted for the Black Gold and it was outstanding. I will try to find out more about it since it was so good.
Grand total for everything was a brutal $32. This is incredibly rich for Cambodia but it did allow me to have a reality check on the good things in life. I probably won’t go back there unless it is for a very special event but in the meanwhile it will serve as a reminder that I should learn how to cook and do more at home. My only comparable dish was some bugle pasta shells with a package of ground pork and a can of garlic tomato sauce. I only did this because the ground pork had been in my freezer for maybe a month and a half and I was getting a little worried about it. I cooked it all up and then served myself straight out of the pot, no doubt causing dismay to my elegant sisters who I don’t think ever ate anything out of the pot in their lives. But a good friend, Ron Siegel, had made an art form of this eating strategy and it saved untold hours of cleaning, etc.
In keeping more with the traditions of Cambodia, I should describe the standard fare of the natives here. Vegetables play a very large role in their meals. Meat is a general common accompaniment but the stock or soup is generally well filled with veggies. Much of their cuisine I understand flows directly from China and their influences are based on availability and supply. One ingredient that is disappearing from the Mekong and the other major rivers in Cambodia and eventually elsewhere along the route of the mighty Mekong is the eel. I see it now and then in the markets but so far I have not had an urge to grab hold and test it. Another option I see in the markets, the more western type, is choices among the eggs. Chicken eggs are sold by the dozen but duck eggs are usually in packages of four. I have tried the duck eggs a couple of times and while I can’t say with any certainty that I can tell the difference, it does seem as though I like the duck eggs better. As long as there is not an embryo contained inside I am happy.
Last item of worthy mention. I have enjoyed several times a carrot (In Khmei, Kar ot) soup. It is delicious and with a lemon juice drink, the highlight of a day.
That is it for now. I rather doubt that my times and travels will expose me to much variance in the culinary world and if it does I won’t be able to tell you the recipes. But I have enjoyed a few meals with a charcoal burner at the table, which has varied between a soup in which we kept pouring in vegetables and another time in which we cooked strips of beef. Every occasion was good, but repeatedly interrupted by signals to “chin-chin” or “Sirrup” or some call to toast one another – me with my beer and the fellows with their wine, which makes you strong. It says so on the bottle.
Take care, all of my dear friends and loved ones. Eat well and enjoy. Life is not bad at all. Your wandering pilgrim, Richard, Paco, and maybe Xavier Delapreé, whose name I am considering stealing. He is a computer guy who free lances here in Phnom Penh and I like his name a lot. I don’t know anything about his computer skills.
