under 5's in Sydney

After becoming frustrated while searching online for activities for my children (who are both under 5) I decided I'd compile my own list. The first section are places I've visited with my kids but I am going to include recommendations from other people that I have not yet tried.

We used to live in Elizabeth Bay but, as many of you know, we live near Manly so I have included mostly activities on the Northern Beaches but have also included some Eastern Suburbs locations.

Can you add to the list?

Free

Art Gallery of NSW (additional costs for travelling exhib's)
North Head Discovery Centre, North Head
Museum of Contemporary Art, Circular Quay
Brett Whiteley Gallery, Surry Hills (for very well behaved children) - I'd plan a visit to the Bourke st Bakery too!
Kids at the (Opera) House - school holiday creative play program
Mount Annan Botanical Gardens - take your bikes or scooters, a ball, a frisbee. There's a cafe but you might prefer to take your own picnic.


Parks & Playgrounds

Hyde Park, Sydney
Royal Botanical Gardens, Sydney
Lavender Bay & Watt Park
Manly Vale Community Garden (no toilets)
Brightmore Reserve, Neutral Bay (great kids' bike path)
Manly Corso (a small playground)
Tania Park, Balgowlah
Manly Dam (take your swimmers)
Mort Bay Park, Balmain
Woolgoolga Reserve, North Balgowlah

Parks with cafes

Rushcutters Bay Park
Lagoon Park, Queenscliff (take-away coffee around the corner)
North Harbour Reserve, Balgowlah
Beare Park, Elizabeth Bay
Clifton Gardens, Mosman
Dee Why Beach Park (Bacino cafe around the corner)
Centennial Park
Clontarf Reserve
Balmoral Beach (good coffee from Bather's Pavilion or Bottom of the Harbour) 

A Day Out 

Cockatoo Island
Katandra Bushland Sanctuary, Mona Vale
Flint & Steel Bay, West Head 
Muogamarra Nature Reserve (check online, only open 6 weekends a year)
Three Sisters, Blue Mountains 
Royal National Park

Walks (parts of these walks are good depending on your child's interest in walking & competency)

Circular Quay past Opera House to the Domain
Spit to Manly walk. All or part of this walk
North Head (great views to the city)
Spit Bridge Reserve past the Mosman Rowing Club (bring your scooter)
Fairlight Beach to Manly
Manly Beach Esplanade
Balls Head Reserve, Waverton
Waverton Peninsula Reserve
Parsley Bay
Bondi to Bronte
St Ives Wildflower Garden
Berry's Island Reserve, Wollstonecraft 

Beaches

Reef Beach on the Spit to Manly walk
Clontarf Reserve (with cafe)
Little Manly (with cafe)
Bronte Beach (with cafe)
Fairlight Beach
North Curl Curl
Nielson Park (with cafe)
Parsley Bay
Balmoral (with cafes)
Camp Cove (with cafe)

Kid Friendly Cafes

Bar Coluzzi, Darlinghurst (free babyccinos)
Forty Beans - North Harbour Reserve
Infinity Sourdough, Manly
Bellagio, Bronte (great paved outdoor area with kids toys)
Gypsy, Potts Point (previously Toby's Estate - now roasts own beans)
Room 10, Lankelly Lane, Potts Point
Awaba Cafe, Mosman
The Source Espresso, Mosman
Bottom of the Harbour, Balmoral
Shot Cafe, Middle Head, Mosman

Entry Fee/Cost Involved

Kids at the (Opera) House

Taronga Zoo
Ferry: Manly to Circular Quay
Dandy Lions at the Royal Botanical Gardens (with a changing program this is well worth the $15 per family & parking)
Powerhouse Museum

Others to look out for:

Sydney Youth Orchestra
Your local library. Libraries regularly have preschool and baby reading sessions.

Friends' Recommendations:

Australian National Maritime Museum: you can catch the ferry from Circular Quay
Tumbalong (water) Park, Darling Harbour
Sydney Park, St Peters
Clovelly Beach

this week's meal plan

It's a pretty straightforward week for dinners. We have a preschool information evening on Wednesday and everyone is bringing a plate so I'm going to make my trusty carrot cake.

I've made Thursdays dinner today so I can reheat it after work on Thursday evening. My secret ingredient for bolognaise is a good lug of wine which evaporates while it simmers. I also add plenty of veggies. The Vietnamese eggplant dish comes from our visit to the Red Bridge Cooking School in Hội An, Vietnam. I found a little surprise in an onion today... grubs.

What are you eating this week? Do you plan your meals ahead of time or do you grab ingredients on your way home?

Monday - Vietnamese eggplant in clay pot
Tuesday - Pizza night at our local (& really yummy) gourmet pizza restaurant. Two for $20 on Mondays & Tuesdays.
Wednesday - Preschool information evening: nibblies.
Thursday - Meat with four veg aka bolognaise with zucchini, carrot, tomato & onion.
Friday - Omelette with fresh eggs.

Vietnamese eggplant in clay pot - serves four

Ingredients
2 teaspoons peanut oil
1 clove garlic - finely chopped
2 tomatoes - quartered, inner section and seeds removed
1 lemongrass stalk - finely chopped (keep stalk)
1 spring onion - cut into 3cm lengths
2 Asian (long & thin) eggplants, cut not 4cm long & 1cm wide pieces
1 red chilli - cut into thin strips
1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce*
1 teaspoon sugar
1 pinch turmeric
1 punch of pepper
Basil

Method
Put medium sized clay pot** on heat, add oil and stir in garlic until fragrant.
Add tomato and lemongrass to the pot (not lemongrass stalk).
Add 2 tablespoons water and stir.
Allow mixture to simmer for approx 2 minutes.
Add fish sauce & sugar - mix well.

Add eggplant and pour in a cup of water.
Add another 1/2 teaspoon fish sauce and sugar - mix well.
Add turmeric, pepper & lemongrass stalk.
Allow mixture to simmer for approx 5 minutes (until the eggplant is tender).
Add the spring onion lengths and simmer for a further 2 minutes coating the spring onions with the juices so they caramelise.

Garnish with basil, coriander and chilli.

Serve hot with steamed rice.

* I had run out of fish sauce so I dissolved a teaspoon of shrimp paste in a 1/3 cup of hot water.
** I used a heavy bottomed frying pan.

and we call this child 'protection'?

Prioritising child abuse cases & deciding which one is worst. Is there any wonder that child abuse remains largely under and unreported?

In the meantime society's children grow up unprotected and unheard.

Read this article written for the Sydney Morning Herald by Lisa Pryor.

orange coconut cake

A dear family friend made this a couple of years ago when she visited. I asked for the recipe and I remembered it this morning while trying to decide what to bake for afternoon High Tea with school friends.

I hadn't made the icing before and I only had dessicated coconut and couldn't justify a trip to the shops. I didn't soak the dessicated coconut. It was light, fluffy and delicious!

I may just have to make another to take to school for work.

Orange Coconut Cake

Soak 1 cup shredded coconut in 1 cup milk - at least an hour. I usually do it overnight!! (in the fridge).

Cream 125g butter, 1 cup sugar & the grated rind of 1 orange.

Add 2 eggs, 1 at a time, stirring well.
A
Stir in 1 1/2 cups SR flour & the milk/coconut mixture - alternately, a bit at a time.

Pour into a greased & floured cake tin. Bake in moderate oven ( 180 degrees) 40 minutes or until golden. Stand 5 mins. then turn out.

Icing : 1 1/2 cups icing sugar combined with 1 teaspoon soft butter & enough orange juice to mix to a smooth paste.

the Jurassic period

As I've mentioned B has hit the dinosaur phase!

We were filling out the preschool questionnaire at the beginning of the year. "The communication between home and preschool is important and we'd like to get to know your child."

I asked B to help his parents fill out the form.

Questionnaire: What does your child enjoy?

B: Dinosaurs.

Questionnaire: What makes your child laugh?

B: Dinosaurs.

Me: Maybe they need something else B, more information.

B: (thinks) Dinosaur Train.

Me: hmmm.

Questionnaire: Who are the important people in your child's life? 

B: Tiny, Buddy... (Dinosaur Train)

Me: Mummy, Daddy and P?

B: oh yeah. 

The first thing B says when he comes into our room of a morning is something along the lines of "Mummy, did you know that T-Rex is the largest dinosaur in the Cretaceous forest?"

Whilst I am no expert on dinosaurs I do know a thing or two about learning. This is the time to harness B's passion. We're there's passion there's plenty of opportunity to learn. Fortunately, thanks to the Internet, there's no limit to the amount of information presented in an age-appropriate manner for B to learn from but people learn best from 'doing' things - hands on experience.

Here are some ideas.
Taronga Zoo  (only this summer)
Australian Museum - Carla's Dino Dig has finished for 2012 but the museum has a permanent display of dinosaurs and fossils.

Out of Sydney: 
Reptile Park - Gosford
National Dinosaur Museum - Canberra
Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum - Bathurst
Lake Mungo National Park
Ulladulla Fossil Sites

Online resources:
Queensland Museum
ABC Dinosaurs

For the screen:
Walking with Dinosaurs Series (PG)
Dinosaur Train (available on itunes)
Dino Dan (DVD) I bought mine at JB Hifi.

There are many fossil sites across Sydney - in brickwork sites and along the coastline where development hasn't taken over. You only need to search for them online and take some time to visit the sites in person.

Every op-shop I've visited lately has had at least 5 dinosaur books so I've had to be particularly choosy. They must be in good nick (or easily repairable - always my op-shop rule), informative (not 'dumbed down' for kids) and visually appealing. If they contain activities - even better!

I found a near-new book on 'How to Draw Dinosaurs' so we've been sketching them this morning. You can learn so much from what the dinosaur was like just by looking at the dinosaurs' form. I know this forty minutes or so we spent drawing has given B the confidence to draw dinosaurs more freely and confidently without asking for my help.

We'd better go... I think I can hear B digging up 'fossils' in the backyard!

five spice duck with peaches & cous cous

I may (or may not have) paid too much for a packet of 'five aroma powder' ($2.50 AUD) in Hoi An in Vietnam. Now I'll be hunting down this little packet of spice in Sydney. It's the perfect marinade for duck. With that in mind I created this recipe tonight for our dinner.

Five Spice Duck with Peaches and Cous Cous
serves two adults and two children

Ingredients

2 duck breasts
5 spice mix
1 onion, sliced
2 large tasty peaches, cut into quarters
1 tablespoon honey
juice of 1 lemon
pinch salt
Vietnamese mint, to garnish

Preheat oven to 180ºc.

Rub the duck breasts with the five spice mix. Set aside while you prepare the remaining ingredients.

Place the duck in an oven proof baking dish (or frying pan) fat side down. On a medium heat place your ducks breasts until browned and crispy. Add sliced onion, honey, lemon juice, salt and peaches then place straight into the hot oven for 10 minutes.*

Allow the duck to rest for 5 minutes and then slice into 1cm thick slices. Serve with with cous cous and steamed veggies.

* I suspect I overcooked the duck (pictured) so I have adjusted the time.

happy birthday sweetie pie

I had a very close-knit group of girlfriends at school. On birthdays we'd make a cake for the person celebrating. It was a special tradition and one that celebrated how we'd been brought up - that a homemade gift is so much more special than a bought one.

On my fifteenth birthday my best friend made me a lemon meringue pie. I hadn't seen a lemon meringue pie let alone eaten one. (I talk about what we ate as kids here). Needless to say I loved it but I have never attempted to make one so for our daughter's second birthday I did. It takes a while (lots of waiting for elements to cool) but very worth it. In retrospect it really is an adult dessert as the citrus is tangy but that's the way I like it (and it meant we adults had more than our fair share!)

Margaret Fulton has a lime meringue pie recipe in her book, Baking, but I substituted lime juice with this recipe instead.

Margaret Fulton's Lemon (and Lime) Meringue Pie
Serves 8

INGREDIENTS

Pastry
90g butter, softened
1/3 cup (75g) caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 egg
3/4 cup (110g) SR Flour
3/4 cup (110g) plain flour

Filling
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar
2 tablespoons plain flour
grated rind and juice of two lemons (or limes or a combination of both)

Meringue
3 egg whites
pinch cream of tartar (or hakuna matata as we call it here!)
1/4 cup (55g) caster sugar

METHOD
To make the pastry, cream the butter with the sugar and vanilla. Add the egg and beat welll. Stir in the sifted flours, turn out onto a floured board and knead lightly. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 200ºc. Grease a 20-23cm pie dish.

Roll out the pastry on a floured surface and use to line the prepared pie dish. Pinch the edges decoratively and prick the base well with a fork. (I would say my edges looked 'rustic.)

Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 180ºc and bake for a further 5-10 minutes or until the crust is golden. Cool.

To make the filling, mix he egg yolks, sugar, flour and lemon rind in the top of a double saucepan and gradually stir in the lemon juice and water. Cook, stirring constantly, over boiling water until the mixture is smooth and thick. Cool, then pour into the cooked pie shell.

To make the meringue, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar until thick. Gradually add the sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating until the mixture is thick and glossy and the sugar is dissolved. Spread over the filling in the pie shell, sealing it completely with the meringue. Bake in a 180ºc oven for 8-10 minutes or until the meringue is golden. Serve cold.

Next year she'll request a cake that looks like something so I'd better be prepared!

happy birthday buddy!

We celebrated the children's birthdays in December. Our extended family has six birthdays in the month in total but luckily I only had to make cakes for my two!

As a budding prehistoric enthusiast B has a sweet spot for the Dinosaur Train series so I decided I'd make him a 'Buddy' cake for his 4th birthday.

Dinosaur (not fairy) bread

There are just so many blogs and websites sporting incredible dinosaur creations so I drew on a few for inspiration and added my own touch. These fondant Dinosaur Train cupcakes look great but they also looked like a lot of work for each cupcake.

This link gave me a good start for something I was after. Buddy is orange with blue and yellow diamonds down his spine. I found this journal entry and it was just the plan I needed to get creating. After all I am not a cake decorator and I've never really made a cake that had to look like something before!

I started by making two simple butter cakes with a few bowls of butter frosting which I coloured with food colouring and cocoa for the chocolate frosting. I cut out shapes just like the blue dinosaur and glued it together with icing. I added tic tacs for teeth, smarties dabbed with a speck of icing for eyeballs and pineapple chunks cut into diamonds then decorated with blue icing for Buddy's back.

I just loved the way Buddy became 3D. I really enjoyed this project!

When I finished I STILL had bowlfuls of icing left over and a mountain of cake pieces so I fashioned a volcano which was more for looks! Tacky, I know!!

B's comment (after I told him it was Buddy because he couldn't 'guess') was "I guess Buddy does lie down sometimes." He's never laid down on Dinosaur Train. *sigh*

thank you, dear readers

Thank you, dear readers, for your ongoing readership. I thought I may lose a few of you as I recounted our journey through Vietnam but it appears that my posts have generated interest. I had hoped that, even if you aren't planning a trip to Vietnam, they may provide some insight into the country, its cuisine and its people. I had also hoped that my posts were varied enough.

It's only about eight weeks since we embarked on our trip and six weeks since our return but it seems as though we've slipped back in to the daily routines, the overwhelming domestic duties and an underwhelming sense of the mundane.

Conversely we've bonded more closely as a family unit and our weekly meal plan has been enriched by the many culinary experiences we had in Vietnam. Our children no longer make 'cubby houses' in the lounge with any number of cushions and blankets. Instead they form the Cu Chi Tunnels. Of course!

In other news I have returned to work in the school where I taught before I went on maternity leave when my son was born four years ago. I am ready now (in previous years when I could have returned I wasn't ready). Teaching is an all-consuming job. Any of you with teachers friends and relatives will know this. I have returned one day a week as a teacher librarian and I am teaching across the grades - Kindergarten, Year Four and Year Five.

So many physical changes have occurred at my school - new buildings, a new staff room, the changing of classrooms etc,. and most of the staff I taught with have moved on and been promoted at other schools. Many of the teachers who've stayed have gained executive positions and those who prefer to 'just' teach are doing just that! It's a very dynamic school and an exceptional example of a government school. I'm prouder than ever to be a public school teacher and a public school advocate. With the new Australian National Curriculum comes changes, new pressures (on teachers and students) and incredible opportunities.

I believe that the role of teaching and learning is to prepare our students for the world ahead of them. While we can't predict what the world will be like we can equip our students with the tools and skills to think, to question, to explore the world that has been before them, to form views and to experience the many dimensions of life with joy.

Many of my Year Five students are the darlings I had in Kindergarten before I went on leave. A few of the girls came bounding up to me on my first day and wrapped their arms around me like they had four years ago. Teaching is, if nothing else, an incredible privilege.

It is fascinating to see how these children have grown and really, in essence, they haven't changed at all. They are just bigger versions of their younger selves.

So, my posts may teeter off a little as I establish new routines but I will be sharing a few things with you from the weeks since December.

Thank you, again, for spending time here. I hope I continue to provide a little something of interest in the coming posts. Wishing you all the very best that 2013 can offer!

Miss May Blossom

day thirteen: 28 dec Hà Nôi to Sydney

What a trip! We managed to fit in so much and make enough time to relax and reflect on our holiday too - the people we met, the places of significance and the bonding of the family that happens when you travel together. 

Our final morning in Hà Nôi was merely enough time to pack our suitcases and hunt down a French patisserie we'd spotted from our cab the night before. Anh Hòa was a couple of blocks walk from the Golden Silk Boutique Hotel where we were staying and inside its doors were baguettes long and short, amazing cakes and mouth-watering pastries. We ordered a couple of pastries for morning tea and a couple of baguettes 'for the road' before heading across the street to a cafe J had noticed. 

 

Out on the street we ordered "Vietnamese coffee" which, I must tell you, is strong, dark and incredibly sweet. We asked for milk and it wasn't until the last mouthful that I understood where the sweetness had come from. When we ordered 'milk' we were asking for sweetened condensed milk. The coffee and pastries were still very pleasant and we were made to feel very welcome by the host,
N.M.Tri and his family.

Sticky-taped to a wall adjacent to Cafe 183A was this 'American dollar bill' which we assumed was another form of 'war propaganda.' N.M. explained that the cafe was popular with cyclists and it was a bike pump - not bomb pump as we'd thought. We remarked how easily, at times, you can make assumptions.

Within a day we were home again, in suburban Sydney. You know what it's like when you've had an amazing experience and you return to your routine life and you feel as though you've changed but nothing around you has?

The kids managed to get about four hours sleep on the overnight plane ride home. I had half an hour and J didn't sleep a wink. Jet lag caught up to us rapidly and we all slid into our own beds for a three hour sleep. Feeling somewhat revived I headed to our local Harris Farm markets to source some fresh ingredients for a Vietnamese chicken soup. Can you imagine my disappointment when there was no Vietnamese mint - and none in any of the supermarkets I tried over the following few days?!

I had to remind myself of our incredible country - a relatively high rate of employment; a good economy; access to world class education and health care; a melting pot of cultural diversity; some of the freshest, cleanest food in the world and of such a variety thanks to all our global influences, including Vietnam.

This was my lasting memory of Vietnam......

Anh Hòa bakery

Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi, 
Vietnam +84 93 650 52 99


Cafe 
183A Phung Hung,
Hoan Kiem Dist, Ha Noi

day twelve: dec 27 Hà Nôi

The streets of Hà Nôi were adorned with these banners. The North Vietnamese were commemorating forty years since the end of a ten-day American bombing campaign over Christmas in the city. We spoke with locals about the anniversary and whilst it resonated as an important date on the calendar there wasn't a thirst for revenge. People just seemed to think that acknowledgement of the date was important and that, as they say, "life goes on."

It was strange to think that these banners, that celebrated the end of the American (and Australian) invasion of Vietnam could be viewed as propaganda too and, as they say, "there's always two sides to a story."

This morning we took a walk along the lake to 'Book Street' (Ba Trieu) and visited a 3D trick exhibition. The street is also lined withbook stores where we had fun perusing English and, mostly Vietnamese, books.

 

Sun Handicrafts was a discovery we made while walking to lunch. Fabric necklaces (200VD = $8AUD) hats, scarves, women's clothes and fabric buttons are all made onsite. I was particularly taken by the handmade quilts - single, double and pram sized - but I knew we couldn't fit them in our case on the trip home.

 

We headed to Xôi Yên for lunch which had a great view of the street. They served a few variations of a rice dish and I settled on Gà luôc. Against all instinct rubbish is thrown on the floor during a meal and so your feet are surrounded by used paper napkins and pieces of gristle.

Gà luôc

Sticky rice (savoury) with grated beans (possibly butter beans), crunchy fried garlic, shredded chicken pieces, served with cucumber pickle on the side.

Cucumber pickle

According to many websites we simply had to visit Ca Cha La Vong for dinner. Ca Cha La Vong has a cult following, probably due to its inclusion in the Lonely Planet guidebook. We arrived at Ca Cha La Vong just on 6:30pm and were seated immediately. Moments later the restaurant was full and within an instant we were served the dish that has made Ca Cha La Vong famous and given the restaurant its named because it is the only dish you can eat there. Fried fish.

What makes Vietnamese food taste so fresh are the stacks of fresh herbs and greens. This dish needs more of them. Although tasty, I found it very oily, but the greens did give the dish a slight 'I don't feel like I just drank oil' feel afterwards. Accompaniments also included roasted peanuts, chilli/garlic oil and steamed rice. The beer we ordered also helped to cut through the grease.

At the end of the meal we asked for the bill which came to 360,000VD ($18AUD) which was far than we were expecting, more than we were carrying on us and too much for a meal for two. J literally tried five nearby ATM's before he was able to withdraw cash while we waited for his return.

We finished the night with dessert at Green Tangerine with our very own chocolate truffle fritters perfumed with tamarind and the red fruit flower sauce! Fortunately, for me, that wasn't the end of my night because I was lucky enough that J offered to take the children back to bed at the hotel.

Meanwhile I SUPER indulged in a package at SF Salon and Spa which had been recommended by our hotel while their own spa was under renovation. The coconut pre-sun package included 3.5 hours of blissful attentiveness.

"Freshly-grated coconut is used to smooth and moisturize the skin with a gentle exfoliation, leaving it in perfect condition to receive the sun. A great start to your holiday! For all skin types, this treatment is also a perfect preparation for a Body massage and also ideal combined with a facial care.
– Steam Bath or Sauna or Jacuzzi
– Massage Therapy with Coconut Oil
– Coconut Exfoliation
– Facial Care by Coconut and Cucumber
(Offer free coconut juice)"

Are you enticed? Believe me, this was the very best final night on a brilliant trip. The package set me back abut $60AUD but a package like this here would cost hundreds. My skin was left feeling rejuvenated and silky soft and I slept like a (well rested) baby!

Xôi Yên
35b, Nguyen Huu Huan Street, Hoan Kiem Ward, Hà Nôi City Province
(04) 3934 1950

Sun Handicrafts
46 Hang Be, Hoan Kiem, Hà Nôi

Ca Cha La Vong
14 Pho Cha Ca Old Quarter
Phone 04 3825 3929
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/vietnam/hanoi/restaurants/seafood/cha-ca-vong

Green Tangerine
48 Hang Be Street, Hoan Kiem District, Hà Nôi, Vietnam.
Tel : +84 4 3825 1286 Fax :+84 3828 9167.
Email: enquiry@greentangerinehanoi.com
http://greentangerinehanoi.com/

SF Salon and Spa
16 Hàng Buồm, Hoan Kiem District Hà Nôi, 
Vietnam‎+84 4 3926 2032
http://sfcompany.net/

day eleven: dec 26 Hà Nôi

On the morning of our eleventh day we took a tour of Bat Trang - a pottery-making village. We now have a real appreciation for hand-painted pottery. Once, I would have been dubious if I'd seen identical pieces and they'd been described as hand-painted but the artists at the studios create beautiful designs - over and over and over. One studio we visited made thousands of teapots each day. Each one had to be sponged so it didn't dry out too quickly, and crack. Bat Trang artists make (and sell) everything from crockery to coffins to vases as tall as a tall person.

We stopped for lunch not far from the Museum of Ethnology and tried, something I wouldn't have naturally attributed to Vietnamese cuisine, Bít Têt. The meal was served on a steaming hot plate - steak, meat balls, potato chips, onions, tomato and an egg. It was the perfect meal in the cool, drizzly weather. Here's a great visual menu (and written, if you can read Vietnamese).

What an amazing teaching tool the Museum of Ethnology is. The gardens of the museum have been transformed into a display of various forms of housing in traditional Vietnam. They include the use of original materials, design and layout suiting the purpose of the tribes of people who would have inhabited the houses and the environment in which they lived. The kids particularly loved running around this display and climbing the pole ladders attached to houses perched on stilts.

Bánh mỳ bít tết

54 Hoàng Quốc Việt, Cổ Nhuế, Cầu Giấy

Hanoi, Vietnam
Vietnam Museum of Ethnology
Nguyen Van Huyen Road, Cau Giay Street, Hanoi, Vietnam
Telephone : (+84-4) 37562193 - Fax: (+84-4) 38360351
http://www.vme.org.vn/aboutus_history.asp

day ten: dec 25 Hà Nôi

Our children drew the curtains and let the sunlight in. It was seven in the morning and today Christmas wasn't about waking early for presents or checking to see if Santa had been. This was Christmas in Hà Nôi.

A buffet hotel breakfast in a gezellig dining room was followed with a walk through the old quarter. This morning I was on a mission to find the man who could make a two-dimensional logo into a timber stamp. We found him near Ma May street and the children had their own stamps personalised for a mere (80,000VD) $4 Australian dollars each. The logo was left with the gentleman who promised a 6pm collection time (with a heftier price tag - $25AUD.)

B's tyrannosaurus rex. 

 P's chook.

After ten days travelling through Vietnam and mostly eating in street stalls we decided on some Western Christmas fare for lunch. Having read about the Green Tangerine and realising we'd have to be prepared for an increase in the lunch bill by tenfold, we had high expectations.

Green Tangerine serves Vietnamese food with a salute to the french influence on the country. We were not disappointed in the slightest. Our children were given a kids menu (with three choices for main) and we decided on the three course banquet. You can choose two of three courses (entree, main or dessert) for 198000 VD or all three for 275000VD each.

Duck in crumble mixed with currants and apples and cooked in cinnamon and cognac.

 Sliced beef cooked in oven with two types of chutney: 

red pepper and pineapple in curry, served with homemade pastas and Gouda.

Sliced duck fillet in thyme, forest mushrooms sauce with eggplant puree in white wine.

  Pyramid creme brulee with lemongrass served with iced yoghurt mixed with raspberry.

Frozen green tangerine in yoghurt and Cointreau

The Californian couple next to us couldn't stop boasting about their dessert: chocolate truffle fritters perfumed with tamarind and the red fruit flower sauce. So much so that we had to go back for dessert on our last night in Hà Nôi! I was very interested to taste the dessert for myself. The cake was crispy on the outside and the sweetened tamarind oozed out through the chocolate. You just had to *pop* it in your mouth! The dessert wasn't overly sweet at all but it made a great combination that I would never have thought of.

Lunch was followed by a stroll through the streets.

Funeral shops on the aptly named Hang Man street.

So, we covered French cuisine at lunch and it was time, again, to branch out in Vietnam. Namaste Hà Nôi served some of the best Indian I've ever eaten. Possibly the best. The restaurant is simply furnished with images of Hindu dieties which fascinated our children.

The poor waitress was grilled by B and he quickly realised she, too, didn't know why Ganesha looked like an elephant. Fortunately some other guests came to the waitresses aide and explained. The rest of the full dining room listened with interest.

Our entire feast cost us $25AUD.

Butter chicken, fish masala, garlic naan, mango lassi, coconut rice, steamed rice. 

Green Tangerine
48 Hang Be Street, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi, Vietnam.
Tel : +84 4 3825 1286 Fax :+84 3828 9167.
Email: enquiry@greentangerinehanoi.com
http://greentangerinehanoi.com/

Namaste Hà Nôi
47 Lo Su str. Hoan Kiem District. Hanoi.
Telephone: 84.4.3935 2400/ 84.4.3935 2401 Mobile: 0903266997
Email: Gobi@namastehanoi.com
http://www.namastehanoi.com/