3 firsts with students

Ever since we came to Dalat, we've heard of three new foods that are local specialties: chả ram bắp, chả ram, and xắp xắp. We kept hearing about them and wanted to try them out, but never had the opportunities (even though they were just right there on the streets and we passed by them all the time). But opportunities do come in God's timing.

A few weeks ago, two students came to visit us and wanted to take us out for chả ram bắp (Grace explained this dish in her blog, and notice the correct spelling). But we had to refuse because Grace was not feeling well, so we missed the opportunity. And then just last week, one of those two students stopped by right before dinner time with a big bag of fresh hot off-the-wok chả ram bắp that she had bought to-go, with all the trimmings and sauce. That was very nice of her to remember and to bring it. We chowed it down in no time, in the comfort of home.

A few weeks back, I went with a bunch of students hiking up LangBiang mountain. On the way back, a student took us to what she called the best xắp xắp shop in town. That was my first time eating it even though I was tempted many times before that to just try it on the streets. While I was sitting there enjoying it, a couple of Vietnamese tourist ladies passed by, and one pointed at the words xắp xắp and asked the others what that meant. The other ladies shook their heads. I knew from their accent that they were from Saigon, so I wanted to help them out (or maybe just to show off). I yelled out "gỏi đu đủ" (papaya salad) and the ladies were happy and walked on. It's what the Dalat locals call papaya salad with beef jerky and hot sauce. I once asked a student why the name xắp xắp, and she said maybe it's the sound made by the scissors when the ladies cut the papaya into shreds.

As for chả ram, three students came a couple of months ago bringing them for us to try. They kept saying that it's a Dalat specialty and it's really good. At first, they brought some ready to be fried, and I fried them myself. But then after they found out that I didn't fry them correctly, they came again a second time and fried them for us, the right way. We ate them with vermicelli and it was delicious. It's similar to what's called chả giò in the south, but here, it's called chả ram. And in the north, it's called nem rán. And in English, it's called egg rolls. VN is a small country, but it's amazing how there's so much variation in the language. And Dalat is a city where you can find all the variations, and so the local accent sounds like a combination of all of them.

I could have tried these three dishes by myself a long time ago, but I later realized it was more special to wait for the right opportunities to come along and to enjoy them from the hands of the students or with them, especially when they initiate it.