The Wonders of Thailand
Here's one story from my trip to Thailand that happened right before we left. The story's a bit long, but it's one of the things I remember best from the trip.
Before we left for Thailand, we were told that we HAD TO TRY a thai dessert made from mango, stick rice and coconut milk from one of our friends who's a foodie, and so we put that as one of our top priorities. The first time we found some was while we were walking down Khao San road (which, if I were christian I'd describe as a den of sin and debauchery) and got a small dish, and lo, it was good. Like really f-ing good, and so for practically the rest of our journey we only had eyes for that sweet sultry dessert.
On our last night there we still hadn't found it again, and so Glen went out a-hunting and a-gathering through the huuuuge fruit market (only for locals, really) that was behind our hotel. He found out the name for it in Thai and kept repeating it to anyone who would listen to him, and finally he was ushered to an old Thai lady sitting in her booth, surrounded by piles and piles of stacked mangoes and absorbed with the local TV she was watching. She looked at Glen, told him to wait, and then she left. Meanwhile Glen enjoyed the TV. About 15 minutes passed, and then she finally came back holding a bag and tells Glen it's 150 bhat ($5?), which is pretty expensive given you can have a full meal for $5 easy. But he pays, walks away, and then she goes, "Oh wait... you forgot your mangoes," and whabam! drops another bag full of 8 mangoes on the counter. The other one was just the rice. Ahh... Obviously he's bringing home dessert to a family of 6. Right.
Here begins the epic journey of the mango and sticky rice dessert. We give two of the mangoes to the kitchen staff (who at them with machetes!) and then we start in on the rest of it... but it's just too much! So we smuggle it on the plane, successfully! And we eat it all throughout our flight, but it's still too much, like the never ending gobstopper from Willy Wonka, and so we decide to try getting it into Japan. Thoughts go through our mind, such as "Would they REALLY throw us in jail for a little mango and sweet, sweet rice?" and "Could we bribe them by giving them some of our orange delight?" but all goes well and the bag of sweetness enters Japan! At which time it was turing a bit ferment-y and so we had a bit more, and finally admitted defeat and threw the rest of it away.
Thai people are really generous and my god, mango and sticky rice is truly delicious.
Before we left for Thailand, we were told that we HAD TO TRY a thai dessert made from mango, stick rice and coconut milk from one of our friends who's a foodie, and so we put that as one of our top priorities. The first time we found some was while we were walking down Khao San road (which, if I were christian I'd describe as a den of sin and debauchery) and got a small dish, and lo, it was good. Like really f-ing good, and so for practically the rest of our journey we only had eyes for that sweet sultry dessert.
On our last night there we still hadn't found it again, and so Glen went out a-hunting and a-gathering through the huuuuge fruit market (only for locals, really) that was behind our hotel. He found out the name for it in Thai and kept repeating it to anyone who would listen to him, and finally he was ushered to an old Thai lady sitting in her booth, surrounded by piles and piles of stacked mangoes and absorbed with the local TV she was watching. She looked at Glen, told him to wait, and then she left. Meanwhile Glen enjoyed the TV. About 15 minutes passed, and then she finally came back holding a bag and tells Glen it's 150 bhat ($5?), which is pretty expensive given you can have a full meal for $5 easy. But he pays, walks away, and then she goes, "Oh wait... you forgot your mangoes," and whabam! drops another bag full of 8 mangoes on the counter. The other one was just the rice. Ahh... Obviously he's bringing home dessert to a family of 6. Right.
Here begins the epic journey of the mango and sticky rice dessert. We give two of the mangoes to the kitchen staff (who at them with machetes!) and then we start in on the rest of it... but it's just too much! So we smuggle it on the plane, successfully! And we eat it all throughout our flight, but it's still too much, like the never ending gobstopper from Willy Wonka, and so we decide to try getting it into Japan. Thoughts go through our mind, such as "Would they REALLY throw us in jail for a little mango and sweet, sweet rice?" and "Could we bribe them by giving them some of our orange delight?" but all goes well and the bag of sweetness enters Japan! At which time it was turing a bit ferment-y and so we had a bit more, and finally admitted defeat and threw the rest of it away.
Thai people are really generous and my god, mango and sticky rice is truly delicious.