DAY 16 - HOI AN

Day of final fittings at the tailor shops, enjoying our favorite foods & flavors, gentle boat ride on the river, and final strolls around the pretty lantern city. We leave tomorrow for Phu Quoc, Island.

Vietnamese people: absolutely adorable! Friendly, giggly, cute, thoughtful, kind, gentle, and un-rushed. They make fun of our rushed lifestyles in a way that is true and not offensive. Even when they are to-the-point with an observation, it's delivered in a way that is funny & cute.

Thank YOU Baby Mustard;
Nguyet and family for the best meals we've enjoyed in Vietnam thus far! The freshness, flavors, textures; balances of sweet, bitter, spicy, sour, and salt are so lovingly created by this beautiful family, it's food magic! Baby Mustard is the best example of 'farm-to-table' dining. There is love in the land & food grown by this family, and as we sat in the restaurant, it was fun to watch a family member walk out into the garden, from the kitchen, to collect the blend of flavors that will forever make our mouths water, at the thought.

POINT-OF-INTEREST: this cute 26 yr. old, owner of Baby Mustard, graduated from university 3 years ago. In 3 years she created and built Baby Mystard into a Cooking School, Restaurant, and family & restaurant supporting garden. The garden is able to sustain 20 people with food for 6 months, if needed. Her business has given her mother and grandmother light-labour jobs that they enjoy in the Restaurant,

and given them the ability to build their own home. Prior to Baby Mustard, the grandmother and mother were working, hard labour, on the farming gardens. Baby Mustard now supports the husbands too. All the family are so cute, in the kitchen or garden, creating beautiful food with magical flavours or walking the baby in the garden, working harmoniously together.