Vietnam

Vietnam

Since we visited Cambodia last week, I decided to visit its neighbor Vietnam today. While there have been some negative relations between my country and Vietnam in the past, it is a place that is special to me. The first friend I made at my new high school was a girl from Vietnam. She had lived in the states for 2 years when I met her, and she was 2 years older than me. She didn't talk about her home country much, and I could tell that she missed it. She had older brothers and sisters who were married with children who stayed in Vietnam, and only she and her little brother came to the states with her parents. I remember one of my new classmates asking if I was having my friend teach me to speak Vietnamese, and they were quite puzzled as to why I was hanging out with her when I told them no. Apparently it never occurred to them that we would talk to each other like normal teenage girls. The culture that she came from also meant that she was one of two kids in my school who understood what I was dealing with at home. My mother had cancer, and the majority of my classmates did not understand why I was taking care of her. When I needed to vent about all the stuff I was dealing with, most people gave me a blank look and told me I should just tell my mom no. They didn't understand that she couldn't do those things, and if I didn't do them, nothing was going to get done. Tam looked at me one day, and told me that I needed a job. She was trying to learn English, attending high school, taking care of her little brother (her parents worked 2 or 3 minimum wage jobs each), and she had a part time job to help support her family. Tam graduated the year before me, and I missed her dearly my senior year.

So, a few facts about my friend's homeland. Vietnam is a long, narrow country just south of China. Just over half of the population is under 30, and the majority of the population is still rural. Over the centuries, they have taken aspects of neighboring cultures, and adapted them for their own culture. 

In researching Vietnam, I also learned that they have an extensive ice industry. It's a throwback to French colonial rule. Apparently the French wanted a readily available supply of ice in the tropical climate, and they made factories that still produce ice today. This ties in to my research on tea because many videos showed people being served iced green tea (possibly matcha, otherwise there is a lot of green dye in the tea). They do have a novel way of serving it, though. They scoop a bunch of ice into a clear plastic bag, dump the tea in, stick a straw in the middle of it, then twist the bag around the straw before applying tape all around to hold it closed. Nice, easy, portable. It's still cold here, so I wasn't in the mood for something icy cold. I decided to try a novelty tea that is popular in Asia, but hasn't made it anywhere outside of large cities in the US. I was a bit skeptical when I saw this tea, but then I thought of my sister...

Yes, dear sister, I'm making this tea for you. Why, you ask? Because you always say things always taste better with cheese. Yes, you read that right. CHEESE! Who knows, maybe this will be the tea that she ends up liking. While doing research on how to make this, I found out that there are 2 different styles. There is the sweet style where you use cream cheese, cream, sugar, salt, and maybe some sweetened condensed milk. The videos of people trying to figure out the recipe are funny. After the first attempt they are usually cringing and adding way more sugar. Most people seem to be pursuing this option, it makes me think of dumping cheesecake filling over green tea. It would be a faster way of making a green tea cheesecake.

The cheese salt green tea (as it is called), that was sampled in Vietnam was of the savory variety. After a bit of digging, I found someone making that variety, so here is my attempt. While the woman in the video had a tub of liquid cheese (I don't remember if that was the exact verbiage, but she needed a ladle to get it out of the tub it came in), I opted to use spreadable cheese because it is soft, and I didn't have any cheese that was liquid when cold. (Although I guess I could use cottage cheese since I know how much my sister loves recipes with cottage cheese).

I brewed some green tea, and set to work. While many people opt to serve this cold, I read that it can be served warm, and it's still cold here, so I will be drinking mine warm
. 

I started out with a wedge of spreadable cheese and a tablespoon of heavy whipping cream. After applying the mixer for a bit, I decided it needed a little more liquid. I debated adding some milk, but opted for another tablespoon of cream because I thought it would help it float better (and it was still conveniently sitting next to the bowl). 

This is what I ended up with. There were still some small blobs of cheese that hadn't mixed in, but I decided it had had enough mixing. Plus the heat of the tea would help soften it up a bit. 

Yes, I'm drinking warm tea with a straw. Some people like to use a straw to taste the different layers, while others like to drink straight from the cup to get a little bit of both. I'll also add that it had cooled off a bit while I was making the topping. In addition to putting my cheese mixture on top of the tea, I also gave it a sprinkle of salt. So, how does it taste?

The man in the video took a swig from the straw, and tasted green tea. Then he moved the straw up to the fluff on top and described it as tasting like cheese whiz. I tried the same. The bottom does have a green tea flavor, and the stuff on top tastes like cheese. As you can see, there was some mixing of the layers, so it all has a vague cheese flavor. It wasn't as odd as I originally thought it was going to be. We don't often think of tea as a savory beverage. This is also the first time I ever contemplated a cheese flavored beverage. I can't say that I plan on fixing my tea like this all the time (or that I would ever spend hours in line to buy it), but I'm glad that I tried it.