water buffalo anyone?

the villagers of thanh hai wanted an american meal so we tried our best to recreate hamburgers, ketchup, mashed potatoes, salad, coca cola, and cauliflower?? oh well. it made for an interesting story... we couldnt find beef at market so we decided on a huge water-buffalo tenderloin, which was amazing to watch these tiny old women with massive meat cleavers pummel this cut of meat into ground chuck!!

sorry guys but we're gonna need a tenderloin


the ladies chop-chop-chopping away


helping prepare for the sumptuous repast


the final product... ta da... it worked. it was funny to see the petite viet namese women politely try to eat these HUGE water buffalo burgers sandwiched between good ol' white bread dripping with liquidy ketchup.

an interesting observation: normally we would break for lunch and be treated to grand home-cooked viet namese meals and stuff ourselves to the gills with dish after dish of delicious food. then we would return to work for the rest of the afternoon, no problem. after our "american" meal there was this pervasive bloatedness that could be seen on everyones face as we lethargically staggered back to the job site. it just seems to show how our different cultures approach eating and life in general. the viet namese have a saying you only eat until youre 90% full, a good adage to live by in my opinion.