THAILicious!

Thailand is a carnivorous country. i generally toss myself in the herbivore category. but the fragrant smoke of grilled or roasted pork, chicken, beef, corn and loads of seafood fills the thick air of bangkok and about the country, a constant bbq, and makes me salivate! i love seafood, but quickly overloaded as it was a bit before i learned to specify vegetables only in thai (i take complete responsibility). however, it is not so common to find an authentic thai veggie dish, unless you are in a tourist area. street food is tastier and cheaper anyway.

i slowly began eating meat. when in thailand...! i thought chicken might be the least offensive to my palate and digestive tract to begin with, so one day at a particular street food stand, i pointed to the noodles, then the chicken. "chicken" the vendor said in...English! excited, i said, "with vegetables?" and she nodded and repeated in understanding. so i continued, "great. no chicken. only vegetables." again, she nodded and repeated in understanding. it is always a bit of a mystery ordering food due to the language gap. even when i attempt to say something in thai, my pronunciation is so poor, they don't have a clue what i am talking about. anyway, keep trying.

so, excited to enjoy my vegetable noodle dish of some sort, i sought cooler temperatures at a table shaded beneath an umbrella. after clearing the ice water in front of me as safe to drink, i chugged it. then my dish arrived. hungry and ready to dive in, it was a flavorful steaming noodle soup with greens, onions, and...apparently "no chicken" meant pork...and various other innards, unidentifiable to me. but 2 particularly yucky pieces were shaped like a beak with amphibian skin. hmmm. i did my best to eat the actual meat so as not to offend, but everytime i so much as touched the innards, i felt a gag coming on. in any case, i highly enjoyed the broth and veggies.

but thai food is a treat to the palate. sticky rice with coconut milk and mango or banana. the curries are incredible...all of them (red, green, yellow, mussuman (sp?)...the sweetness of coconut milk taming the fiery chillis singeing the taste buds. the iced teas and coffee hurt the teeth, each cup diluted with 2 heaping teaspoons of sugar and sweetened condensed milk, but the cold is cooling in the heat of the day and the caffeine wards off my dependent withdrawal headaches. but the fruit, both the exotic and familiar, are succulent and delicious - mangoes, rambutans, lychees, bananas, star fruit, i cannot even identify all of them, and the refreshing shakes they create are oh so good. mmmmmmmmm.