Starting 2026! Looking forward to your continued support this year too! (Cooking with Vietnamese ingredients)

The record of my life in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, which I completely slacked off on last year. Once again, this year I'll be jotting down all sorts of things I've noticed within a three-meter square around me. Thank you in advance for reading. Last year, my husband's company was in a whirlwind with moving offices and holding an opening reception and all sorts of things, and we stayed busy right up until the very last moment of the year. As is our custom, we each shared our personal "Top 10 News" of the year with one another while listening to the Kohaku Uta Gassen on the radio, and we saw in the new year safe and sound. In Ho Chi Minh City, fireworks go off at the stroke of the New Year, so we just listened to the booming sounds and went to bed. That's what New Year's Eve looks like for an elderly married couple, lol. Around the middle of last December, the Vietnamese government suddenly issued a notice saying that for the New Year holidays, January 1st through 4th would be a consecutive holiday period, a break. It's a country where things get decided abruptly, so it's a case of "oh, is that so~," but for those running a company, it's quite a hassle. Apparently there's a rule that if you work on a public holiday, wages (holiday allowance) are 300%, and there are rules about whether that applies only to government officials, or extends to the private sector, or even to foreign companies... so I really feel that establishing and running a corporation overseas is tough. Amid all that, there wasn't much of a year-end feeling in Ho Chi Minh City? (Maybe because I don't go out?) I just calmly get through each day. 【December 2025 Price Information】 ・Making homemade bacon... 1 kg of pork = 110k VND (about 660 yen) ・Clams... 1 kg = 60k VND (about 360 yen)

Vietnam is the world's No. 1 producer of pepper! The quality ranges from cheap to premium, but compared to Japan it's considerably cheaper, so I keep a variety on hand sorted by region. This time, I coarsely ground the pepper I bought in Da Nang and used it for homemade bacon. I seared the pork—which had been salt-cured for three days—coated jet-black in pepper. Last year I realized how easy homemade bacon is: I can adjust the saltiness, add tons of the pepper I love, and I don't even need preservatives. Convinced that homemade is the only way to go, I've been making it more and more often. 【2025 Vietnamese Food-Related Notes】 ・From the deliciousness of the pork and pepper... homemade bacon ・For yakisoba noodles... Chay's noodles are lighter than wheat and great—now a staple in our home ・Making natto from soybeans... I'm not quite satisfied yet, but I keep at it ・From the variety of fruit... making jam and stewed sweetened fruit is delicious~ 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　It's possible because fruit is cheap and abundant 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　(small apples, mulberries, passion fruit) I'll keep recording things at my own pace this year too. Thank you very much, and I look forward to your continued support. Relocation Life Ranking