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Vilanculos, Mozambique. We just returned from our dhow safari to Bazaruto archipelago, exhausted, and was invited by a local to his home. It was 10pm. Pitch black. Beautiful stars in the sky. We ate outside the thatch home he was building by himself. We ate matapa--a stew made mostly of coconut, cassava leaves and peanuts served over rice and a side of dried salted fish toasted over an open fire. So delicious! We just needed to make sure to keep our feet off the floor because of the scorpions.

Ginger and beef rice porridge. It's Vietnamese. The heat will warm and clear you up.

Viet World Kitchen--it's the gateway to eating exotic Southeast Asian cuisine.

Late night tacos during sleepovers with my cool aunties. We had real tacos--a taste of Mexico, unlike the greasy "tacos" they had in the public school. It was my first introduction to Mexican food, and had it not been for them, I may never had had real ones. I wish I had several tacos now; I'm studying in South Africa, and authentic Mexican is non-existent. Tacos are always the first food items I miss when outside of California.