An Epic Feast

That is how I would describe my recent trip to Thailand.  A smorgasbord of culinary delight over the course of seven days and nights.  The food at every place lived up to all of my culinary expectations and more.  (Admittedly, given that dishes average 50 cents or so, I may be inclined to be less critical.  But I think the food really is quite good.)

I also got the chance to try out quite a few new fruits and vegetables, which is always a delight.

One of the fruits I tried - can anyone identify it?

Because our trip had us hopscotching from Bangkok to Ubon to Chiang Mai, I figured I would just consolidate my food pictures into one MEGA post.  Here we go...

For my parent's very first meal in Bangkok, we went to a restaurant that was basically this woman's living room and front yard:

Spicy morning glory

Spicy banana peppers with basil and pork

Chicken tom yum soup with coconut milk

We tried out khao tom at a very famous shop in Ubon:  

Khao tom is a Thai style congee.  This restaurant made it using brown rice and barley, along with small cubes of taro root.

Duck with duck's blood - this was my favorite dish that night

Yellow curry with shrimp

Spiky (mystery) vegetables stir fried with pork skin - my second favorite dish of the night

Tom kha soup

We had an epic meal at a Vietnamese restaurant in Ubon, consisting of:

spicy banana flower salad

fixin's to make your own spring roll

assortment of fresh herbs and baby lettuce

dill tomato pork soup, served over fresh sprouts and greens

Chive and pork sausage spring rolls

On our last day in Ubon, we stopped at the vegan lunch buffet.  I love the food and drinks at this place.  Everything is organic, nothing is processed and everything is really, freaking tasty.  Their little shop, selling all kinds of foods and soaps and lotions, was also a big hit.

Lots of curry options: pumpkin, lotus root, banana flower, morning glory, jackfruit, eggplant, silk melon, etc.

Noodle bar

My plate - all you can pile on for 20 baht, or 68 cents!

In Chiang Mai, we went to a vegetarian restaurant and sampled a variety of fresh curries and smoothies.  It was really healthy!

No white rice here - packed with fiber and nutrients

Tomato, carrots, peanuts, soy tempeh and potato massaman curry

kaeng som, a northern Thai type of curry with no coconut milk

A is for aubergine.  Amazing stir fried eggplants.

Tofu and mushrooms stir fried with basil

For one of our lunches in Chiang Mai, we sampled khao soi, a very popular dish in northern Thailand that has Burmese and Chinese influences.  It is a curry soup dish of egg noodles topped with tofu or a meat of choice, shallots, lime and pickled vegetables.

a famous khao soi shop in Chiang Mai - reputed to be the first

Vegetarian khao soi with pickled accompaniment

We tried a Burmese restaurant on one of our last nights in Chiang Mai, which blew my mind.  I have never had Burmese food.  Have you?  Have you ever had pennywort?  How about a tea leaf salad?  How about tamarind, much less tamarind leaf?!  My friends, there is an entire world out there that we have not even begun to contemplate...

pork curry

tamarind leaf salad

tea leaf salad with tomato and unidentified crunchy bits

tomato salad

pennywort salad

Chicken and potato curry, shan rice

My last meal in Thailand was at an Indian restaurant in Chiang Mai.  I made myself a sampler plate out of all of the different curries that we ordered:

Clockwise from top left: pumpkin and ginger, yellow daal, eggplant and onion, chickpeas, garlic naan