The Dolly Chronicles Part One: Dollies in Vietnam

(This post was originally written in February 2004)
When last we left The Dollies they were wearing HUGE unsightly hats and driving off to the strains of Louis Armstrong, somewhere in Savannah,Georgia. We meet up again in the southern coast of Vietnam. We take you now to a tour already in progress...We left early from Saigon (Ashley had been there 6 days by herself and was ready to get out of the heat) - 7:15 in the morning to catch a 5 hour bus to Phan Thiet, where we met up with Matt (Allen) and Alice (Byers) and their biking trip, already in progress. When we got on the bus there were only two seats left, and one was in the middle of the very last row.

Joy.

Rapture.

But the guy who Courtney ended up sitting next to was very nice and ended up switching with Ashley so that the Dollies could sit next to each other and gaze out at the lovely Vietnam landscape (moped crashes, trash in the street, abandoned houses, random roadside rest stops without any walls, rice paddies, the normal stuff).

Arrived in Phan Thiet at about 1pm and promptly signed up for a massage. Had lunch and laid out by the pool, got the massage and met up with Matt and Alice. The Vietnamese Tour Guide and Drivers were really happy to see us and meet Courtney and they ended up taking us to dinner at this local place. Had pretty good food, but don't really remember what it was as there appeared a giant bottle of Johnny Walker Red Label on the table as soon as we were seated. The guides had brought it. They poured food into our bowls and booze into our glasses and we tried our best to make conversation
despite the extremely loud singing emanating from a horrible woman in a black evening gown who kept asking her band to turn up the volume.

The next day, we got up, snuck out and commandeered some bicycles to ride out to Mui Ne beach. arrived and immediately settled ourselves into the sand with some cold Tiger Beers. Swam in the South China Sea. Got sunburnt. Went home smelling like the ambient air (which in Phant Thiet means smelling like nuoc mam - fish sauce).

Got up the NEXT day and had a leisurely breakfast. Decided to skip the "local trolley by the cow" also known as the "beef trolley." Picture a hay ride, but no hay, and a cow instead of a horse. And also, its on the beach. We had signed up for a tourist minibus to Nha Trang ($5 a person) that was supposed to pick us up at 1pm. At 2:15, our bus pulled away and we were headed north. 500 honks, 300 potholes, and one restroom break (squat pot) later, we arrived tired and famished in Nha Trang. We decided to take the train the rest of the way to the central coast. At $20 a person for an overnight on a soft sleeper, it beat the $6 13-hour bus ride that was our
alternative.

So we came to Hoi An on the overnight train (Reunification Express) on a sleeper berth that had FILTHY mattresses (luckily, they came around and gave us sheets - Courtney also brought her own sheet and Ashley had two sarongs... - we were in the cabin with two random vietnamese men - one of whom was a TOTAL SNORRY McSNORE PANTS!) we left at 9pm and got in at about 9am this morning. looking our best. this was after declining the complimentary breakfast that was passed out at around 6:30am - a cold pickled chicken salad of some sort...the other interesting component was the bathroom. Squat pots are challenging enough when they AREN'T moving...

So that was interesting...getting off the train, we sort of bonded with 3 Australians who were also going to Hoi An ['cause the train actually let us off at Da Nang), so we split a taxi to a hotel that ended up costing us about $3 apiece for 30 km! he ended up taking us to a pretty nice hotel where we're staying for $15 a night :) not bad, eh? and email here isn't expensive, and you know we are junkies...

So that is the update on our travels...I think we're headed to hue tomorrow for two days, then we'll fly back to Saigon (for $60 a piece, MUCH faster (and safer...) than bus or train).

Oh, and also, we woke up at 6 this morning on the train 'cause the intercom was BLASTING vietnamese music. this continued until 9, when we got off of the train. very funny...especially once we figured out how to turn it off, but it continued to get louder and louder from the other cars...they were bound and determined that we were ALL going to enjoy it.

So anyhow, here we are with a few days to spare and hopefully getting lots of bizarre clothing made for us. Maybe we'll see some pagodas or something too.

But they really ARE the best chocolate chip cookies.

I know that everyone has a favorite chocolate chip cookie. Or at least, FAVORS chocolate chip cookies. In fact, every time I ask my husband for suggestions on what to bake (one has to keep one's cake dome occupied, after all) he generally defaults to this beloved specimen. Of course, he prefers for his to be in the frozen, uncooked form. I swear, he is happiest just gnawing on frozen chunks of dough straight from the freezer. Easy enough.

But I like the dough warmed up...as in, theoretically baked and fresh from the oven, but still really gooey and delicious. Yah, you know what I mean. Just-shy-of-salmonella-ville, that's me. Now, I am pretty happy with the standard back-of-the-yellow-bag recipe. Always works fine by me and quick to mix up, especially since I usually have the ingredients lying around the house (if I haven't eaten all of the chocolate chips straight out of the bag). In fact, this is the recipe I 'passed on' to my younger sister when she wanted to know how to make my "famous" chocolate chip cookies...she wasn't ever actually going to bake anyway.

However, I have found a new recipe. One that involves a few pros and a few cons, to be sure. On the con side, it involves browning butter - a delicious smelling process that results in extra dirty dishes. It also involves the separating of a yolk from a white, and a series of 30 second stirs, followed by 3 minute 'rests' as you let the sugar really integrate with the butter and eggs. On the pro side, it only makes about 16 cookies, but they are REALLY big cookies (you have to make them big to get that proper ration of chewy center and crispy edges). The ther pro is that it makes the most deliciously, caramel-y, butter-y chocolate chip cookies I have ever had. They are great the next day, but they are positively RELIGIOUS just straight out of the oven. Even for my husband, the frozen dough lover. Though he seems to prefer his flavored with Bromide, since he decided the let his rest for a moment on the hot tub chemical container...

So, the next time you want to try a ew cookie, but want the familiarity of an old favorite...give this a try. You probably won;t make the complete conversion to this slightly more labor intensive cookie, but isn't it worth mixing it up every now and then?

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
(straight from Cook's Illustrated - my FAVORITE food magazine, by the way)

Ingredients:
1 ¾ cups flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
14 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon table salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 to 1 ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Pre-heat the oven to 375F. Line two large (18- by 12-inch) baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.

Whisk flour and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.

Heat 10 tablespoons of the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat until melted, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking, swirling pan constantly until butter is dark golden brown and has nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and, using heatproof spatula, transfer browned butter to large heatproof bowl. Stir remaining 4 tablespoons butter into hot butter until completely melted.

Add the granulated sugar, brown sugar, salt, and vanilla to the bowl with butter and whisk until fully incorporated. Add egg and yolk and whisk until mixture is smooth with no sugar lumps remaining, about 30 seconds. Let mixture stand 3 minutes, and then whisk for 30 seconds. Repeat process of resting and whisking 2 more times until mixture is thick, smooth, and shiny. Using rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir in flour mixture until just combined, about 1 minute. Stir in chocolate chips, giving dough final stir to ensure no flour pockets remain.

Divide dough into 16 portions, each about 3 tablespoons (or use a #24 cookie scoop). Arrange 8 balls, two inches apart on prepared baking sheets. (Smaller baking sheets can be used, but will require 3 batches.)

Bake cookies 1 tray at a time until cookies are golden brown and still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Transfer the baking sheet to wire rack; cool cookies completely before serving.