Well guys, I promised that my next entry would be food-focused and I'm not gonna let you down. It's great, after I got over my initial squeemish-ness I've been eating everything in sight. There are so many kinds of different food here, it would take me 100 years to try them all. So, by no means are my eating experiences to be taken as exhaustive. Here we go...........

Last week, the first meal I photographed was this fried rice omlette thing,
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pretty gross, I've learned to keep away from things that sound too quasi-normal.
Then, luckily, there was a 'food fest' going on near the airport. Here's some photos from that (forgive me if I don't explain everything, but I really don't know what alot of things are)
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This is kinda icky, but I guess Thai people like to eat baby chickens because they feel that it will give them strength........View image

A few days later, I was at a different fest, and I had some great stewed bbq pork with rice and chilli. As hot as you can take it!
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Later, I had some dragon fruit seed pancakes, yum!
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Now that I've gotten you in the mood to talk about food, I'll give you my general impressions;
Thais take their food seriously, there is alot of pride here in cooking and in ingredients. Anyday, at any time, you can find a market with spanking fresh produce, meats, spices and even livestock (for those who want it REALLY fresh).

For those of you who don't know much about the Thai style of cooking, imagine Chineese food without the heaviness and MSG, then add a ton of chilli, fish sauce, cilantro, lemongrass and coconut milk. (that description doesn't come close to doing it justice, but it gives you an idea)

Thais love to have salads and soups as snacks or starters. Salads often incorporate meat or seafood along with noodles, cilantro, onions and of course, lots of chillis. Soups can be veggie or meat, usually with thin noodles, and spongy (rubbery) balls made of fish or pork. You can find these 'noodle stands' everywhere at any time and a bowl would cost you about $0.50. Thais also eat some of their curries as soups, but we'll get to curries again later.

Other snacky things; food vendors are great for a snack any time of day. Other than noodle soups, there are all kinds of sausages and meats grilling, more of the vague-rubber-meat-ball-things, dried cuttle fish on a stick, steamed wontons, hard-boiled eggs, fresh cut fruit and juices, the list doesn't end.

On the subject of fruit, I had first heard about durian fruit from my Thai friend in Chicago, Tim. He told me about this fruit in Thailand that is so stinky, they don't allow it on the bus. There are even signs on the doors of hotels with the durian and a slash through it, indicating that 'no durians allowed'.

So I had to try it.
I bought some at a night market and it was cut and wrapped in saran-wrap. Then I put it in a bag and tied it shut, I was planning on eating it in the morning.
I'm telling you, they weren't kidding. My whole room reaked of the stuff.
The smell: Like a super-ripe mango in heat, fruity and musky, weird at first but not awful, definately strong!
I was thinking that if I slept in the room with it all night, I would get used to the smell. Nope.
The next morning it was do or die. I had already told some Thai friends that I had bought some durian and they couldn't wait to see me eat it. (I'm so glad I can amuse people!)
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Here I go.......View image
I didn't know what to expect........ View image
Thai people love it!... View image
In the end, I got used to the smell (which you don't notice after you start eating) and I liked it! View image
The consistancy is like a stringy avacado, so creamy and only a little sweet. I could totally eat more.

Thais also make a full range of desserts; cakes, eclairs, sorbets, and crushed ice with fruits and corn syrup. I've found it interesting that Thais need to balance their food between sweet and salty. Commonly, you'll get a fresh fruit juice with salt in it, weird at first, but I dig it.

And then today, I took a Thai cooking class. We learned to cook 6 different dishes, starting with a red curry. We made the curry paste ourselves, hard work, all that morter and pestle-ing. It was really good, and I made it! (anyone who has tasted my cooking can appreciate this) See....... View image
Then we made some garnish for a fish dish, a ground pork salad with glass noodles and the northern favorite, Chiang Mai curry...View image
Here I am in full cookin' glory View image

So that does it for the Thai food edition of Kate Wandering. Thanks for tuning in and I'll leave you with this thought; People of the world may have our differences, but there is one thing that binds us, doughnuts. View image