Continuing with some of the outstanding food available here in the north of the country. Khao soi [ ข้าวซอย ] is a Burmese-influenced dish served widely in northern Thailand. One of my favorites for its smooth, yet robust flavor.
Northern Thai khao soi is closer to the present day Burmese 'on ne khauk swe', being a soup-like dish made with deep-fried crispy egg noodles, chicken in a curry-like sauce containing coconut milk and served with pickled cabbage, shallots, bean sprouts, cilantro, lime, and ground chillies. The curry is somewhat similar to that of yellow or massaman curry but of a thinner consistency. It is popular as a dish eaten by nearly everyone around Chiang Mai and in northern Thailand, allthough relatively unknown outside of this area.
March is just around the corner, and as the temperatures continue to climb, a refreshing way to beat the heat is with Som Tam.
Som Tam, is a famous dish from Isaan, popular all over Thailand and also known as 'Green Papaya Salad'.
I have encountered, and enjoyed, Som Tam in very posh restaurants and as a staple fare of street food. It is always exciting, refreshing, and absolutely delicious, with as many minor variations as there are Thai cooks. Of course I personally enjoy eating spicy dishes. One minor complaint is when the flavor from the amount of chiles used so dominates this classic dish that the other ingredients cannot be discerned.
Basic ingredients: chillies garlic small dried shrimp unripe papaya long beans tamarind concentrate lime juice fish sauce palm sugar, cherry tomatoes, unsalted roasted peanuts cucumber garnish
Most Mormons and Seventh-day Adventists won't touch it, yet many coffee aficionados can't go a day without it. I belong to the latter group. When I lived in a high mountain valley in Mexico I used to buy my coffee beans from a local grower, always on the day that they were roasted. They were still warm and aromatic when they arrived in my kitchen. Now that I live in Thailand, a friend sends me monthly parcels of a delicious coffee grown and harvested in Vietnam, and which satisfies my taste buds more than the locally grown Thai coffee.
And in case you were wondering, September 29th is recognized as National Coffee Day in the U.S.
"Sultan Murad IV, a ruler of the Ottoman Empire [12th century], would not have been a fan of Starbucks. Under his rule, the consumption of coffee was a capital offense.
Though Murad IV banned tobacco, alcohol and coffee, some say he consumed all three and his death was the result of alcohol poisoning. The sultan was so intent on eradicating coffee that he would disguise himself as a commoner and stalk the streets of Istanbul with a hundred-pound broadsword. Unfortunate coffee drinkers were decapitated as they sipped.
Murad IV's successor was more lenient. The punishment for a first offense was a light cudgeling. Caught with coffee a second time, the perpetrator was sewn into a leather bag and tossed in the river. ...."
"I believe humans get a lot done, not because we're smart, but because we have thumbs so we can make coffee." ~Flash Rosenberg
Will readily admit that I have been a coffee addict for 60 of my 77 years. Absolutely cannot imagine passing a day without my caffeine fix.
One of the greatest joys during my 11 years of living im Mexico was that I lived next to, and traveled through, a small coffee plantation while walking to my universty classes every day. The fragrance of the white coffee blossoms was divine, and light aroma of the coffee berries [cherries] as they ripened remains one of life's finest moments.
"Coffee is the best thing to douse the sunrise with." .
While visiting The Gutenberg Project a few days ago, I encountered the works of a favorite Greek/Roman historian, Cassius Dio. Since the price was right, of couse I downloaded all six volumes. Encountered a charming gastronomic tale regarding the Emperor Claudius and his not so charming wife Agripinna.
"Claudius was preparing to put an end to his wife Agrippina’s power, to cause his son Britannicus to assume iuvenes, and to declare him heir to the throne. Agrippina, learning of this, became alarmed and made haste to forestall anything of the sort by poisoning Claudius. But since, owing to the great quantity of wine he was forever drinking and his general habits of life—such as all emperors as a rule adopt for their protection—he could not easily be harmed, she sent for a famous dealer in poisons, a woman named Lucusta who had recently been convicted on this very charge; and preparing with her aid a poison whose effect was sure, she put it in one of the vegetables called mushrooms. Then she herself ate of the others, but made her husband eat of the one which contained the poison, for it was the largest and finest of them. And so the victim of the plot was carried from the banquet apparently quite overcome by strong drink, a thing that had happened many times before, but during the night the poison took effect and he passed away, without having been able to say or hear a word. It was the thirteenth of October, and he had lived sixty-three years, two months, and thirteen days, having been emperor thirteen years, eight months, and twenty days.
The emperor received the state burial and all the other honors that had been accorded to Augustus. Agrippina and her son Nero pretended to grieve for the man whom they had killed and elevated to heaven him whom they had carried out on a litter from the banquet.
Nero has left us a remark not unworthy of record. He declared mushrooms to be the food of the gods, since Claudius by means of the mushroom had become a god."
The author, Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus, from his Roman History.
Taste Test by Lisa Katayama - a very special site with unusual taste treats. And I certainly agree with her evaluation of Passion Fruit, and awaiting her evaluation of 'Durian', the most exotic of all fruits....
"Passion fruit has quickly made its way up to the top of my favorite-fruits-to-eat-raw list. Inside the semi-hard yellow shell is a swarm of gooey seeds reminiscent of tadpole eggs; the best way to eat it is to cut it in half and spoon out the insides. When ripe, it's incredibly sweet and tropical and refreshing. I wish somebody would hand me a giant jar of it so I could devour it like apple sauce."
"There are many horrible jobs in this life. Emergency room janitor. Sow inseminator. Earwax collector. Sarah Palin's grammar checker. Glenn Beck's fluffer. Republican. New Jersey.
But when I sit back, sip my scotch and scan the newswires for sundry effluvia indicative of our culture's joyful hellbound deathspin, the realization soon dawns that I can think of few gigs more nightmare-inducingly, soul-deadeningly horrible than being an executive for garbage food megacorp.
That is to say, a VP for McDonald's, Taco Bell, Burger King or their ilk, someone who sits around all day trying to discover new ways to manipulate, coerce, poison, and otherwise flagrantly kill millions of humans worldwide by convincing them to eat mass-produced, industrial feedlot, chemical-blasted garbage you should not feed to your dog unless you totally hate him and want him to get heart disease and die.
Hell, even the oil titans right now raping Canada can claim to be supplying a commodity that runs the engines of the world. Even Wall Street ogres can claim to be partaking of a time-honored tradition of gutting the U.S. Treasury at the expense of the ignorant masses. But head of marketing for, say, Kentucky Fried Chicken? Oh, you poor soul. Hell hath a special room for you.
Who are you, really, Mr. KFC executive? Who are you who just gave your approval to a rather shocking new KFC food item, who said "Oh holy hell, yes! Look at these great test-marketing numbers! Fuck it, let's go against every shred of human decency, common sense, and even the First Lady's humble plea to get us to please quit making the country so stupidly obese and sick, and sell a truly disgusting creation."
Do you know what I'm talking about yet? Have you seen it? Apparently, for many months, people who run the snarky junk food blogs on the Interwebs heard rumors that KFC was testing this item, and thought it might be a joke, a viral gimmick. Or if not that, then something that certainly would never make it to market, given how it looks like some sort of frat-boy prank, like the drones at KFC's test kitchens got completely hammered one night and had a bet as to who could come up with the most repulsive menu item imaginable.
Behold, the KFC Double Down sandwich. It is, if you really want to know, two slabs of fried chicken intersliced with two pieces of bacon, two slabs of cheese, and the Colonel's "special sauce." It comes in the form of a sandwich, with the fried chicken where the bread used to be." . . . .
Academy Award nomination, in the documentary category, is "Food, Inc." which shows the questionable, at times shocking, and unsustainable food practices of U.S. "factory farming". The food on the table, from produce to meat, is now the product of the mega corporations.
Jamie Oliver is in the U.S. to start a revolution. The impassioned chef, TV personality and best-selling author is determined to take on the high statistics of obesity, heart disease and diabetes in this country, where the nation's children are the first generation not expected to live as long as their parents. Oliver is inviting viewers to take a stand and change the way America eats, in their home kitchens, schools and workplaces, with the thought-provoking new series, "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution". And yet take notice of the radio broadcaster's comments at about 1:00 - typical and depressing.
Jamie walks into a first grade classroom, up to a table display that is draped with a sheet. As he pulls the sheet up to reveal piles of fruits and vegetables underneath, and you hear the sounds of surprise from the students. It is as if he had collected things from an alien planet to for his 'show and tell'.
Oliver tests the waters with the first graders by seeing how well they know their fruits and vegetables.
"Who knows what this is?" Oliver asks, holding up a bunch of tomatoes. None of the students seem to know. One boy gets up and close in examining these strange and unknown red things. When he mentions that they are the main ingredient of catsup they seem suprised, since they ALL know that that is.....
It has always amazed me how Anthony Bourdain can capture the vitality and gastronomic delights of any place he visits. And as a well known, but slightly irreverant, chef and author of several cookbooks, he understands the pride and value that the people of any location place on food.
Anthony and his 'No Reservations' travel channel crew visited Thailand about a year ago in order to capture the magic, wonder and beauty of this incredible country - and the excellent cuisine consumed from roadside to restaurant. As well as the daily chaos, and occasional bit of political mayhem. Unfortunately this visit concentrated on the central and southern areas and he never got around to sampling the delicious northern part of the country, and what may well be the sticky rice capital of the world.
