Dinner at Sovannary's

Left to right: Sarah, me, Danielle, Lorissa

So when I left for Cambodia, I thought that I would get a house helper to prepare meals for me, because that's what all the Westerners seem to do. (Western groceries are expensive, Khmer groceries are hard to cook with if you're inexperienced, and getting food cooked for you can be really cheap. Plus it helps the local economy.) However, house helpers can get complicated. They want a full-time job, and might expect you to pay their medical bills, buy them a new moto when theirs breaks down, etc. Some are also dishonest and take money if you carelessly leave it lying around. Sarah and I still might hire a girl she met to clean our house a few hours a week, since she's really desperate for a job in order to continue paying for college.

For meals, though, we followed a friend's advice and headed to Slek Chheur, a small restaurant a few doors down from us. It's run by the lovely Sovannary, a former Logos cook who can make anything, from pad thai to potato soup, taste amazing. So, for $1.50 a night each, Sarah and I have been enjoying her delicious meals every weeknight, on a monthly menu rotation. Lorissa and Danielle do the same thing, and it's so nice to hang out with them and chat with Sovannary. (Plus she's installing wi fi and adding a ping-pong table and a DVD player!)

Suzanne joined us for the first time last night, sampling the marvelous banana smoothies (Cambodia's superior bananas => superior banana smoothies), and took our picture for us. She's excellent about documentation!