"Lid moved."

"Naw.  Look.  It's just sittin' there.  Besides the heat's not even on."

The lid in question was sitting on a medium-sized aluminum pot, which, in turn, was sitting on a little portable gas burner in the center of our table.  Our table was on a simple-but-beautiful terrace overlooking the Saigon River.  

"Honest, I think I saw the lid move."

"Nope. You're seein' things--probably still jet-lagged.  I mean, what's it supposed to take, a day for every time zone change?  We changed 12 zones!  Believe me, that little pot is just sittin' there."

Like so many restaurants here in Ho Chi Minh City, the Tu Tri features dishes that are cooked right at your table.  We had come for the specialty of the house:  goat soup.

"The lid moved, I swear it."

"Well, maybe it was one of the kids, accidently kicking the table.  It sure can't be a little goat in there!"

We were sitting with Pastor Giam Nguyen  ("Yahm Nwin"), his wife Vi and his children Truyen and Phuong.  They are very cute--but also healthy and active--8 and 4 year olds.  Grinning, truly delightful... and just squirmy enough to prove they are real kids, rather than beautiful dolls.

"Whoops, whoa!  Look:  the lid moved! "

No denying it this time, the lid on the pot really did move.  It moved enough that a bit of green diaphanous flipper poked out.  Oh... that's what Pastor Giam meant when he asked if we liked "scream."  

There were shrimp in that pot.  Live shrimp.  We would call them crayfish or crawdads.  But whatever the name, they were in the pot, alive and, well, kicking!

Just then, the waiter came back and turned on the burner.  What happened next took me back many, many years.  The closest analogue was making popcorn at home in the days before popcorn poppers.  We would put a pot on the stove, add oil, salt and kernels of popping corn and then turn on the heat.  Pretty soon, the lid would start to bounce, as exploding kernels of corn hit it.  When the lid stopped bouncing, it was done.

Same thing with the "scream."  Pretty soon, the bouncing was over.  Shortly after that, Giam took off the lid, revealing that all the little green crayfish had turned orange and were fully cooked, ready to eat.  And, they were delicious!!

Alan Selig and I have been having a wonderful time with Pastor Giam and all the other leaders of the Baptist Churches of Vietnam.  In our conversations, our gastronomical adventures, our study of Mark's Gospel and our explorations of the challenges of ministry in Vietnamese congregations, we have been blessed to spend time with these delightful sisters and brothers.  They are gracious hosts and dedicated servants of Christ.  The grace and good humor with which they respond to life's challenges are contagious.  Lord willing, we will serve more effectively when we return, because we have been with them.

Thanks for helping to make these adventures possible!
Stan in Saigon