Thanksgiving in Phnom Penh

I am supposed to be in Hong Kong today. Ideally spending Thanksgiving with my Step-Mom; not like Hong Kong celebrates Thanksgiving though. But nope, I decided to extend my stay, and I was by myself in Phnom Penh (PP). PP actually has a wide range of restaurants, from Indian, Malaysian, Italian, French, American, etc. I tried to find an American restaurant that was serving a Turkey dinner, that night, and walked into a place called Freebird (really). With the amount of ex-pats in PP, there were bound to be some Americans celebrating here. Yes, there were some Americans, but nope, no turkey.

So what did I decide to order? Eggs Benedict. It sounded good on the menu, and I love it (usually). But what's the one thing that can really mess up eggs Benedict? The Hollandaise sauce. This is tricky enough to get right in the US, so I don't know why I risked it in PP. It was pretty terrible. The sauce had too much lemon in it...I had to scrape it off the muffin. They kept the poached eggs separate from the Hollandaise sauce and the muffins, but the eggs were too undercooked, so the meal was just one big slimy plate. Excellent bacon though. That was the only saving grace.

Disappointed with my meal, and also not being able to chat it up with anyone at the Freebird, I went to the Foreginer's Correspondance Club (FCC), this western resturant that had great food (sandwiches, salads, pizza), but US prices (sandwich = $7). I had gone there for lunch the day before, and spotted a dessert I really wanted to try-- a rich chocolate tart made of hazelnuts, figs, and chocolate chips, served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and candied oranges. After such a bad Thanksgiving meal, I deserved it. Plus, I wasn't ready to go home yet.

I plopped down on a bar stool along the edge of the balcony, overlooking the riverside. That's the good thing about FCC, it's in a great location with a nice, relaxing atmosphere. There were two guys sitting a couple chairs away and they noticed the dessert I ordered. We started to chat and it turned out they were from the US too, one from Boston and one from Carson City. They didin't realize what day it was until I said Happy Thanksgiving. We spent most of the night talking about SE Asia travels (they had been to Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam) and just the sheer awesomeness of taking a long break to travel. It made me feel good about extending my trip :) They were good company. Glad I didn't have to spend my entire Thanksgiving meal alone.