Red Snapper with Raspberry Dressing and I'm back!

11.3.10

Seattle Cheese Festival

5.26.10

Eat Right In Thailand-Part II

I think everyone should get an idea what Thai people eat over there from the Part-I by now. Not all Thai food is spicy and they have more than Pad-Thai and Tom Yum Koong! Ok, 1 star of spicy at a Thai restaurant doesn't harm to try right?

This part will be some food I ate in Bangkok and Chiangmai. In Chiangmai I tried to order their local food. They all taste yummy. I didn't appreciate street food and local food when I lived there. Living here in the United State makes me appreciate a Thai wisdom of food and how people come up with a way to cook things.

I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Started with an egg noodle/wonton soup or dry. You're able to find it here in the State and some people claimed that this is actually Chinese food not Thai food. I don't know exactly where it came from but they are everywhere in Thailand and even have franchise licenses called "Chai-See-Mee-Keaw"

This is the dry style: egg noodle, barbecue pork, wanton, and crispy pork skin.

and the soup style

The name of this dish has a story! In the past, people ride and commute on a boat and sell food on a boat. For sure that this dish was sold on a boat so people called it "Boat Noodle" or "Kuay Teaw Reau in Thai". The soup made from pork blood! well it has pork blood as a main ingredient. I know you are like "ew" right now but it tastes good! It might taste very foreign for some of you.

A well-known dish: Shrimp Pad-Thai. The funny thing is that in Thailand they don't really put pork or chicken in pad-thai. Mostly, they put shrimp!

This one is always sold with Pad-Thai. It's a oyster or mussel pancake. Eat with a sweet and spicy sauce.

I'm very surprised by a Thai wisdom. It's banana chips with barbecue powder! Since banana is more available there than potatoes, why would they want chips? Banana chips are the way to go. How clever!

Chicken Basil and fried egg with steamed rice. It's a popular dish because when you don't know what to order, you are more likely to order this one. Some Thai people call it "easy-way-out dish".

Old fashion Thai dessert. I took it from my cell so it's kind of blurry. We had this one at one of my friends' restaurant in Bangkok.

This photo was taken by my cell as well. It's sold at a 7-11 convenient store! Spicy pork with sticky rice buns. Clever!

Moving to Chiangmai..we started off at a vegetarian restaurant in downtown. It's a Tofu Larb. You can barely tell by its look that it's made from tofu.

Local Northern dish "Kao-Soy". Coconut based soup with egg noodle and crispy noodle.

"Ka-Nom-Gene" mushroom chunky soup with vermicelli.  Fermented cabbage, fresh green bean, and bean sprout are optional.

Local franchise coffee shop in town called "Wawee coffee". Coffee beans are locally grown. It tastes so fresh. Starbucks should watch out!

This one is also a Northern local dish called "Hoy-Jor" served with a sweet sauce. Look at the plating! it's so neat!

How cute! I LOVE how they plated the steamed rice.

This dish is more fusion: fried salmon and mango salad.

The key to this dish is a dipping sauce in the middle! It's very spicy. I'm not sure what it's made from. It's grilled vegetable and chilli (I think) and something else.

We also ordered this and I just wanted to try it out. It's grilled mushy eggplant with melted boiled eggs.

Finished up with Singha Thai Beer. It's a must!

Eat right in Thailand-Part I

Hi everyone. I've recently been to Thailand to visit my family during Thanksgiving. What I missed most is street food and homemade food!....and family and friends, of course.. Why do I miss street food the most? Well because it tastes super, is cheap, and you can't find it here. I must say, not only is the street food good, but the local restaurant and specialty restaurant food is good too. It was a wonderful trip and yes I ate A LOT.

I visited Bangkok (which is the capital city of Thailand), Sakon Nakhon (located in North East Thailand), and Chiang Mai (located in Northern Thailand. So, I don't have a turkey recipe to share, but I do have tons of pictures of Thai food that will make your mouth water.

Let's get started!
The first dish is in my hometown, Sakon Nakhon. The majority of the population here is Vietnamese. They immigrated to North East Thailand during the Vietnam war. So, this dish is actually Vietnamese food. It's called "Banh Quan". Basically, it's thin steamed rice wrapped with seasoned pork and green onion. It comes in different styles; beaten egg, whole egg, regular thin wrap, and with crispy rice. The key is the utensil. You need to have the kind of tool that makes for correct preparation. I've tried it here in Seattle but it doesn't taste as good (at least in my opinion), so this is one of the dishes I most craved.

When I arrived in my hometown, I went straight to a restaurant to have this!

That's how they do it! Pretty cool tool and it takes skill not to break the thin rice. I've tried to make it and it came out "unpresentable"

With beaten egg style

Now folding all 4 sides

Ta-da! We eat it with a Vietnamese baloney pork

This is the regular style. Topped with crispy shallots

They serve this dish too. It's crispy rice mixed with homemade seasoning, sour preserved pork, and peanuts. People here eat it with fresh green salad, basil, and mint. This dish can be found here at Asian or Laotian restaurants.

Ok. Let's move to a different restaurant for breakfast.

Fish rice porridge

Or this savory Vietnamese noodle soup. The noodle is pretty unique. It's not quite as thin as vermicelli and not quite as thick as spaghetti, and it's a little sticky.

This dish is one of my favorite dishes in my hometown. It's similar to an American breakfast. They pan-fried 2 eggs in that stainless pan. The eggs are perfect like melted cheese..along side of seasoned pork, green onion (same as the thin rice wrap stuffing), cucumber, and shredded carrot. You also eat it with this tiny grilled baguette. Yummo! The baguette is stuffed with the seasoned pork, preserved meet, and butter.

I think I will pause for now before I get hungry! We will continue with more food and pictures in part II. Please stay tuned!