Mea Culpa to the World Capital of Tres Chic Caffeine

First of all, I’ve simply GOT to stop posting stray tidbits on my life here in this g-forsaken rice paddy (well o.k. actually an Asian city of 6 million people along with 4 million motorbikes, but still…) exclusively to my Facebook chums, and plop them here instead.  I mean, it’s been TWO weeks since I managed to peck anything here for my loyal TL pals.  TWO WEEKS!  And arguably I have more dear eyeballs here than my (deliberately) paltry 80-ish (that’s eyeballs, not friends) on Facebook.

Sorry TLers.  But for the little quips, the day-to-day happenings here in Saigon, it just seems quicker to plop a pic and a bit of blather on my personal Facebook page.

But no more.

I hereby declare that TravelnLass shall hereafter no longer be some pure, iconic, glisteningly virgin repository reserved only for long, loquacious tomes of polished and perfected prose.  But rather:  a cheap trash-heap for any and all stray thoughts, notions, delusions that spring to mind as I whiz through the nutso, death-wish traffic on the back of a motorbike and/or slurp a bowl of phố gà before hunkering down to scribble yet another lesson plan.

Towit:  Today’s arguably worthless collection of mots consists of…

Just a quick pic of my latest “well, duh!” Asian revelation (and accompanying mea culpa confession to my beloved home-port of Seattle, the premier capital of all things tres chic caffeine.)

My coffee flavor of choice? “Saigon phin”
(turns out “phin” means “filter” – duh-uh!)

Dare I admit?  I’ve been committing the ultimate Seattle foodie blasphemy for nearly 8 months now.  Yes, that’s right – leastwise here in my bitty kitchen -I’ve been lazily mixing pedestrian “3-in-1” foil packets of Vietnamese coffee with boiled water each morning, as I dash off to teach the tender young minds of Vietnamese kids the nuances of why we say “bought” instead of “buyed” and “ate” rather than “eated”.  Yes, yes “3-in-1”, that’s the ugly triumvirate of: sugar + artificial creamer + dubiously coffee-bean-worthy uh, “coffee”.  Indeed, the latter more like the watered-down 9:10 mix of street-crack – but a mere ghost of “Fair Trade” 100% aribica coffee beans.

The truth is, I was never what you’d call a connoisseur of “the bean” even after 25+ years living in Seattle-cum-Starbucksland (though… I could always spot the velvety goodness of a cuppa “House Blend” upon first sip – I mean, who couldn’t? )

Nonetheless, I have absolutely NO EXCUSE for habitually sipping – what I dare say is like a combo of packaged ground lentils mixed with a smidge of coffee – for so long.  Thus today I finally came to my senses and dropped 22,000 dong (the equivalent of a single greenback plus change) for the quintessential little metal single coffee strainer gizmo that sits on each glass of delicious espresso served in the steets here in Saigon.

Yep.  Pretty pathetic, I know.

And the result?  I dare say nothing short of NIRVANA!  Goodess but I’d forgotten how good freshly-brewed caffeine can be.  Spiked with a good gob of sugar and poured over ice – we’re talkin’ the ultimate in delectable, homemade “cà phê đá“!