By admin | February 12, 2007
Look at them ants
This was a really tasty home cooked meal. Seriously. Gaeng pak waan sai kai mod daeng [à¹à¸à¸‡à¸œà¸±à¸à¸«à¸§à¸²à¸™à¹ƒà¸ªà¹ˆà¹„ข่มดà¹à¸”ง], or in English, a vegetable soup with red ant eggs. Ant eggs are used in a couple of Isaan dishes, but they are seasonal. Another common way to serve them is in an omelet. You can click on the photos for some closeup views of the ant eggs, but it’s interesting to note how developed some of them are. You can actually make out the ant form.
As for the taste, it’s quite good. The ant eggs have a pleasant, but not very strong taste and sort of burst in your mouth, just like caviar. If you’re a sushi fan, you’ll know just what I mean. The soup is a basic soup with the local vegetable pak waan, (Melientha suavis) which literally means sweet vegetable although the vegetable is by no means sweet.
I really enjoyed this, especially since it was homemade. You can occasionally order these out at restaurants in Bangkok such as Vientiane House (not recommended) and Crok Mai Thai Lao (recommended, but you need a Thai speaker), but you’ll be lucky to have a handful of ant eggs in it. Our homemade soup was just loaded with them. Lovely!
If your curious where the ant eggs come from you can look here.
Cooking up some ant egg soup
A tasty bowl
Just a baby
By admin | December 29, 2006
Shrimp are common and cheap in Thailand. And they have some big ones! Yum!
Big grilled shrimp on the Thai beach
By admin | December 27, 2006
Shark fin soup
This here is shark fin soup. I know it’s not a very politically correct soup, but as a purveyor of odd foods, I had to try it at least once. Despite its primarily Chinese origin and popularity, it is available all throughout Asia. it is very common in high class restaurants and around Chinatowns. We got this one at a restaurant in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is extremely expensive. The cheapest bowl with one bite of the lowest quality shark fin starts out at a couple dollars, but to get a larger bowl with better quality you can spend much more, even into the hundreds of dollars for this soup.
Of course, being the cheapskate that I am, I ordered the smallest bowl. I found it to be not bad, but nothing special. Rather bland with the thickish, eggy broth that is common in these expensive Chinese soups. Maybe next time I need to upgrade, but, from what I’ve heard, it had the general taste I was expecting. Other preparations might be tastier, but I don’t see it really being worth the expense. Or maybe I should be looking at it from the perspective that I paid for its supposed medicinal value?
By admin | December 27, 2006
Long clams in Kuala Lumpur
We found these interesting looking clams in Kuala Lumpur. I never saw them before and they tasted normal, although I was quite intrigued by the rectangular shape of their shells. Just to the left is some tasty fishhead curry.
By admin | November 11, 2006
What a meal
Here’s a dish I didn’t really enjoy, a knew I wouldn’t enjoy, but still had to purchase it anyway simply for the photo value. This is literally chicken bits to the fullest extent. I am unsure what it’s called in Thai, so I just call it chicken insides (kruang nai gai [เครื่à¸à¸‡à¹ƒà¸™à¹„à¸à¹ˆ]). If you look in some of the closeups, you can see some of those pieces look really funky. There is kidney, ovary ducts, uterus, undeveloped eggs (which I talk about more in another post) and even the piece of the body where the egg plops out. There probably a bunch of other parts hidden away in there, too. As you might expect, most of the pieces are pretty tough and chewy. The eggs were just yolky, although I tend to find these types of eggs really unappetizing. Well, it was worth the photo. The sauce wasn’t too bad either.
Ovary ducts?
Uterus pieces
By admin | October 17, 2006
Well, I know I mostly talk about weird Asian foods on here, but I couldn’t resist posting about one of my favorite American foods. Well, American is probably stretching it a bit. Maybe I should just say Rochesterian food? What we have here is the infamous trash plate (or garbage plate, or many other names). While Nick Tahoe’s is supposedly the original creator and their plates are certainly good, I still maintain a preference for Empire Hots. How could you go wrong with a styrofoam container filled with half macaroni salad, half home fries, topped with two cheeseburgers, ‘special’ hot suace, onions, mustard, and Frank’s red hot? Lo and behold one of the most delicious meals ever created: an Empire Hots cheeseburger plate.
Empire Hots trash plate
Posted in america, food | Tagged america, food |
By admin | September 24, 2006
Quite a selection
Here’s another interesting one. These are literally deep-fried flowers (dawk mai tawt [ดà¸à¸à¹„ม้ทà¸à¸”]). Apparently these are a Hmong specialty and these particular ones were found on the island of Koh Kret. Koh Kret is basically in the middle of the Chao Phraya River as it runs through Northern Bangkok. As you can see from the vendor selling them, there is a vast variety to choose from. I have no idea what kind we chose although my friends that ordered them may have. I didn’t bother to ask them at the time. Despite the variety to choose from, I imagine that they all taste pretty much the same–just like their light batter coating.
I found another site with a list of edible flowers. There was probably a good number of these available at the stand I saw:
ดà¸à¸à¸„าร์เนชั่น (Carnation), ดà¸à¸à¹€à¸”ย์ลิลลี่ (Day lily), ดà¸à¸à¸à¸´à¸‡à¸¥à¸´à¸Š เดย์ซี่ (English Daisy), ดà¸à¸à¹€à¸Ÿà¸™à¹€à¸™à¸¥ (Fennel) ,ดà¸à¸à¸™à¸±à¸Šà¹€à¸—à¸à¸Œà¸±à¸¡ (Nasturtium), ดà¸à¸à¸„าเลนดูล่า (Calendula),ดà¸à¸à¸šà¸µ บาล์ม (Bee Balm), ดà¸à¸à¸„าโมไมล์ (Chamomile), ดà¸à¸à¹„วโà¸à¹€à¸¥à¹‡à¸• (Violet), ดà¸à¸à¸à¸¸à¸«à¸¥à¸²à¸š (Rose), ดà¸à¸à¹‚รสà¹à¸¡à¸£à¸µà¹ˆ (Rosemary), ดà¸à¸à¸¥à¸²à¹€à¸§à¸™à¹€à¸”à¸à¸£à¹Œ (Lavender), ดà¸à¸à¹„ลà¹à¸¥à¸„ (Lilac), ดà¸à¸à¹à¸à¸™à¸´à¸Š ฮิซซà¸à¸ž (Anise Hyssop), ดà¸à¸à¸à¸²à¸£à¹Œà¸”ีเนีย (Gardenia), ดà¸à¸à¹à¸žà¸™à¸‹à¸µ (Pansy), ดà¸à¸à¹€à¸¥à¸¡à¸à¸™ เวà¸à¸£à¹Œà¸šà¸µà¸™à¸² (Lemon Verberna), ดà¸à¸à¸—ิวลิป (Tulip), ดà¸à¸à¸žà¸£à¸´à¸¡à¹‚รส (Primrose), ดà¸à¸à¸£à¸±à¸™à¹€à¸™à¸à¸£à¹Œ บีน (Runner Bean), ดà¸à¸à¹€à¸šà¹‚à¸à¹€à¸™à¸µà¸¢ (Begonia) เป็นต้น
Flower Food
The ones I ate
By admin | August 30, 2006
Mixed in with the noodles
The title of this post may be a bit deceiving.  Unhatched wouldn’t work because no egg is hatched. ‘Egg that hasn’t come out of the chicken yet’ doesn’t quite sound right.  Unborn wouldn’t work…or would it? Anyway, This is certainly one of the stranger dishes I’ve tried in my time over here. The taste is actually quite normal-just like a normal egg yolk. The difference is…well… you can see the difference. When I asked, I was told they are called kai yok [ไข่หยà¸], but I’m not so sure that is the official name. The yok part may just be a transliteration of the English word yolk. I’m thinking there’s got to be a more descriptive word for them. It doesn’t help that my spelling is probably wrong, too.
These are eggs that are not yet developed inside the chicken. As in many cultures, no part of a slaughtered chicken goes to waste so after the hen is killed, these eggs will be extracted and sold as a specialty of their own. It’s quite interesting (if you dare to take a close look) to see some larger yolks and many tiny ones all connected to the same membrane. I assume the large ones were getting ready to come out soon whereas the small ones had a bit of time left in them. Despite their usual, familiar taste, I find it quite difficult to get these down my throat. The ones here were even served in a palatable bowl full of noodles, but that didn’t help much.
The yolk is still the same
Closeup - notice the tiny yolks
By admin | August 20, 2006
Bucket of Toads
I had a post somewhere along the lines talking about eels.  Well toads are another ‘filler’ meat.  I say filler because I’m not aware of anyone actually eating the toads for the meat.  It’s more just a protein to put into a dish that will mask the taste of the toad meat.  An example, yet again, is the ubiquitous ga-prao [à¸à¸°à¹€à¸žà¸£à¸²], or stir-fried with basil leaves.  Just chop them up into tiny pieces, throw it in the skillet, and cook up a tasty meal.
By admin | August 20, 2006
Thai pumpkins and assorted vegetables
Here’s a shot a small vegetable stand in a market around here. There’s a variety of vegetables including winter melons, mushrooms, cabbage, and, most notably, pumpkins. Thai pumpkins, called fak tawng [ฟัà¸à¸—à¸à¸‡], are used in a lot of dishes ranging from main entrees to desserts. They remind me a lot of acorn or butternut squash in America. I love American pumpkins but unfortunately, while they look much nicer, they seem to be way underutilized. Not too many common dishes beyond pumpkin pie and perhaps a few other desserts. This is a clear case where one needs to avoid judging a book by its cover since the ugly Thai pumpkin turns out to be the tastier of the two.
