Culinary Adventures in a Tasty Land

We are not quite sure why we came to Chiagn Mai, except that this is where everyone comes. Its not the prettiest place in the world, but there are no shortages of things to do here. This weekend the town is celebrating its annual flower festival which, apparently, is quite a big deal. we haven't been able to figure out exactly what the flower festival is, except that in the local park its like a country fair, except instead of jam and the biggest pumpkin being judged here they have orchids and bonsai trees. And also floats. Made of flowers. These folks know how to make floats made of flowers. They are amazing.

But, this is a culinary tale, and I digress. Yesterday was an unintentional food day. Food defined the day and made it what it was. For some reason, we opted to have pizza for lunch and mexican food for dinner. You can do that here in Chiang Mai, though you pay a bit more for it. Both were actually kind of good, surprisingly. Later, though, things got a bit more...local. We met up with two friends we met in our mediation retreat and went out to the flower festival and, finding nothing but flowers there, my attentions quickly turned to the many food vendors at the event. I selected as my first taste, "Octopus Tentacle on a Stick". I have no idea what you might call this in thai, and haven't learned yet how to say, "What do you call this thing?" (but i am working on it, i assure you). But it was surely just an octopus tentacle, impaled on a stick and roasted over some coals. It was very good. Christine wouldn't try it.

Tastes two and three came later. Again, finding little at the flower festival but flowers and the occasional "octopus tentacle on a stick" we turned into a local bar, where we were quickly befriended by a very funny and very drunk thai man who called himself "aa". We enjoyed "aa"s company quite a bit, even though he spoke no english and we speak no thai (to speak of...) and so conversed mainly by clinking glasses every once in a while, gesturing vigurously in various ways, and laughing at him every time he fell over in his chair. I ordered their soup with prawns and we were treated by the owner to a full spread of the soup, these frito things, and a dish of vegetables with eggs mixed in it. All mystery foods to us. After a few bites I knew there was trouble coming when "aa" started waving his hand in front of his face vigorously and pointing at a red pepper perched expectantly on my spoon. The pain hit shortly after. Blistering to us is merely "hot" to the Thai. I don't know if you can call pain a taste, but I include it here because it is interesting from a culinary perspective. It turned out fine, though, because there is plenty of beer here in Thailand, and they serve it in big bottomless bottles, equivalent to about 3 of our regular bottles.

Taste 3 came when a vendor pulled up in his mobile hot case and "aa" jumped up excitedly and brought back to the table a plate of insects for us to enjoy. He was delighted with his purchase and, every time he would pop one of these things, which turned out to be a mix of moth pupae and fried crickets in his mouth, he would accompany his smiling chewing with a big thumbs up. As it turns out, Moth pupae are VERY tasty, but i never found out what they are called, so who knows if i will every have them again. Thanks "aa", for a once in a life time opportunity.

In honor of all of these flavors I've signed up for a one day cooking class tomorrow. While Christine relaxes in our quest house and eats bon bons I will be learning how to make curry, cook noodles and the like. That is what you do here in Chian Mai, you take classes.

Are time here grows short, though. On Wed we anticipate leaving for Laos. Below find a few photos from Portland that Christine meant to include with her post from last week. Snow in Portland! the whole time we were there!

-Ian