Visit to Phaung Trang, Re-union with Former Student, May 28

 Today was a bit grey and windy. We did a good mile or so walk along both the beach and the bay to start our day. Then we drove to the waterfront in San Diego and walked along in front of the Marine Museum and down toward the Midway. We did not go onto any of the ships as we have done them before, but it was a pleasant, if windy, walk.

San Diego Waterfront

    Then we drove out to Convoy Street to go to Phuang Trang Vietnamese Restaurant where we have eaten before as it is so good. We got Beef 7 Ways meant for 2 people. It was delicious. It started with thinly sliced beef that you cook at your table in vinegar. Then, you soak a rice paper sheet and put in pieces of lettuce, daikon, carrot, cucumber, mint, and celantro. Then, you add the beef and roll it up. (We were not very good rollers) Yum. Another course consisted of more thinly sliced beef. This time you cook it in butter and onions and then add it rice paper wraps similarly. More beef arrived looking like sausages, but were sometimes more rolled beef around spring onion. One was a soft meatloaf which was put on a shrimp cracker. And, there was also soup! It was all extremely delicious with layers of flavors - all for $27.00. We could not possibly finish it all, but did a pretty good job of it.

Some of the food at our Phuang Trang lunch

    In the late afternoon, we went to the Lafayette Hotel to meet Cindy and Amber Garrison. Amber, a former CPS student,  is doing her Ph.D. in Chinese Medicine here and Cindy is here visiting with her. It was lovely to see them both. Amber stayed for a little while and then had to leave.

Amber and Cindy

We went with Cindy to a lovely pub, the Red Fox which was built around 1560 in Surrey, England. It was disassembled and brought to San Diego in 1926 for cinema actress Marion Davies. She had it reassembled as part of her beach home. In the 50s, her house was sold and the Red Fox was disassembled once again and put into storage. It was later reassembled and became part of the Lafayette Hotel

In the Red Fox Pub