more food

We leave Laos tomorrow to head to Vietnam. I will be sad to go, we've really enjoyed our time here, in large part due to the excellent food. Whenever anyone tells me they've been out to eat, I always ask them what they had. So I'd feel terrible not sharing this with you:

Top row:
1. Lao salad with minced chicken, lemongrass, mint and basil
2. part of our anniversary dinner: mixed veggies, more Lao salad, and black currant flavored sticky rice
3. fruit with ginger ice cream
4. country bread with onions, potatoes, creamy mustard sauce and duck served with side salad and wine (had this twice!)

Middle row:
1. Anniversary dinner of grilled chicken, minced pork and herbs, and lemon grass-grilled fish. Do you know what's in the middle? I didn't either. I thought it was a dipping sauce for the chicken, but I was horribly mistaken. I'd read about it, but didn't recognize the Lao delicacy of buffalo skin with chillies.
2. Mekong river fish stuffed with pork and herbs, grilled in a banana leaf
3. spring rolls and cocktails

Bottom row:
1. Belgian beer. Such a nice change from Kingfisher and BeerLao.
2. grilled buffalo with green onions and a plum/chili dipping sauce
3. jam doughnut and cappuccino (remember, we live in India. This was a HUGE treat!)