Mr. Somphone's Ducks

Mr. Sompone is the father of my household. He has a wife, an 84 year old mother-in-law, 5 children, one son-in-law, one foreigner (me), 3 dogs and approximately 40 chickens and ducks living at his home. In the afternoon he enters the duck and chicken pen to feed his birds a mixture of noodles and food remains. Mr. Somphone scoops some of the food onto a small sheet of rusty steel and the rest is dropped into tire feeders.

Later in the afternoon Mr. Somphone's children ask if I like duck. They claim duck is more delicious than chicken and that we will have duck for supper. Then I'm asked to accompany Mrs. Thongbang (Mr. Somphone's wife) to the market and presume we will buy duck at the nearby evening market. We stop at various stalls to buy fruit, detergent, greens of some sort and bulk roasted pumpkin seeds and candies to sell at their little store, but we do not purchase duck.

Upon arriving home, I discover a duck has been butchered and is waiting for the hot water for feather removal. My younger sisters show me a bowl of fresh blood and ask if I eat blood. "Well, umm . . . I've never eaten it before." As supper preparations continue, I sit and watch my sister and her boyfriend remove the feathers and cut up the duck into small pieces for cooking. Grandmother motions for me to join her and we sit in silence watching the family prepare the evening meal.

Finally we are summoned to the table to eat. Some of us sit around the table, while others sit on the couches and chairs around the coffee table. I sample the duck and it is "saep" (delicious). Then I watch as others dip up a spoonful of the blood dish from a shared bowl. While watching I reassure myself that it can't be that bad. The blood dish contains fresh mint, chili peppers, garlic, lime, peanuts, fresh duck blood and possibly various other ingredients.

Spoonful one contains a mouthful of chili peppers and leaves my eyes watering.
In spoonful two I discover the peanuts;
And with spoonful three I try to reassure my hosts that is "saep".

If you don't think about it being blood, it is truly tasty.