I'm back on the Thai food train...

Two weeks ago I moved into a new apartment and it's absolutely lovely.  It's in a nice, quiet Thai neighbourhood - well far away from the noisy tourist night bazaar I was living by.  My landlord and his wife are pretty freakin amazing - he's Korean/American and she's Thai and in the last two weeks, I have come to regard them as friends. 

Food is always a main topic in Thailand as the food in Thailand is one of the country's main attractions.  Thai food for me recently has been really off-putting.  My school offers the teachers free lunch everyday and believe me when I say I wouldn't feed it to my imaginary dog.  Imagine soggy rice or overcooked noodles that are stuck together in giant blobs, soggy overcooked veggies in some kind of "sauce" that looks suspiciously like granule gravy, meat floating in a giant vat of soup/water that's boiling on top of a propane tank (I use the word "meat" loosely - it's mostly bone and fat, you're lucky if you get a tiny bite of something edible off the bone).  The food is vile and most of the time, I will force a few spoonfuls of rice down my gullet and head across the street to 7-11 between classes for a quick bag of Lays and a Snickers bar to tie me over until the end of the school day when I can find a farang (foreign) eatery and sink my teeth into a juicy cheeseburger.

I'm fine with eating farang food all of the time here.  Unlike other countries, international food in Thailand is just as delicious as their home fare.  The only problem is farang food costs about 5 times as much as Thai food. 


Sunday Walking Street food served at one of the temples. 
There are about 20 different types of food to choose from, ranging
from 10cent to $1.

 This is where my new landlord comes in.  Discussing the aforementioned at length, him and his wife are trying to introduce me to some new Thai food besides the "khao pad guy" I only know how to order (chicken fried rice!).  In the last few weeks, I have had some mighty tasty dishes and have probably saved myself about 1,000 baht ($30).  One of the best main meals is pork leg with rice - the pork is insanely tender and melt-in-your-mouth delicious.  But what I've really come to discover are Thai desserts!  I've been introduced to these amazing pastries - creamed filled doughy things (new definition I've created) that's a party in my mouth with every bite.  Even more delicious is something called Bayteuy (at least I think that's what it's called, I'm shit with learning Thai) - it's these balls of green jelly things that look like peas in a sweet and salty coconut soup - and it's really delicious!!  I had something similar the other day, a surprise wrapped up in a banana leaf, daringly bought from a street vendor....it was little mini cups of the green jelly thing with a thick sweet/salty coconut cream on top.  It was lovely!  I will start documenting new food adventures to add here and keep you posted on new food finds!

Here are a few from tonight (although they're not "new" food finds - I've had them before).  I headed out to the Sunday Walking Street market, where I love eating.  You can get samples of food for under $1, and being how it's so cheap, you can try a plethora of different things!  This was my tasty dinner this fine evening:



Chicken satay with peanut sauce
and cucumber relish





Chicken dumplings on a bed of
cabbage and soy sauce



Tasty, bite sized treats - front from left: Taro puff, flour sugar cookie, coconut pasty
from back: pineapple pie, coconut pie
Each piece is 2 baht, bite-sized and delicious!



I'll be sure to keep you informed on my new food adventures.  If my landlord's wife has anything to do with it, I'll be gaining those 40 pounds back that I've lost over the last 11 months...

Happy Tasty Trails!

:)