Notes from Thailand Dec 2021

[heidih]

2 hours ago, shain said:

The same wonderful lunch was alleviated by a beautiful pond-side garden.

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful orchids. Oh and I am going with "elevated" as your meaning 

[shain]

1 hour ago, heidih said:

Beautiful orchids. Oh and I am going with "elevated" as your meaning 

Thanks

[ElsieD]

4 hours ago, shain said:

The same wonderful lunch was elevated by a beautiful pond-side garden.

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful!

[shain]

More random food photos.

 

 

 

Mango-orange smoothie.

 

 

A fancy khanom bueang - crisp pancake with meringue and candied egg yolk. 

 

 

Boughts sweets for the hike on the following day.

 

 

Fried egg salad. Quite nice. Chili, onion, tomatoes, greens, garlic, fish sauce and lime. 

 

[heidih]

Wonderful arrays, especially the various "salads". When the weather warms up eventually I will be looking back on your posts as inspiration. I often wonder about the ubiquitous low plastic stools you see all over Asia. Did some ginormous company capture the whole market or? That is a LOT of stools.

[shain]

8 hours ago, heidih said:

Did some ginormous company capture the whole market or? That is a LOT of stools.

This one guy is sitting on 4 stools, then one for the garbage bin. I can imagine some plastic stool company making a fortune.

[shain]

Doi Inthanon park, first track for the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 1, 2022 by shain (log)

[shain]

Some snacking during the day.

 

Bao with bean paste.

Coconut.

 

 

 

Tapioca pearl balls filled with dried shrimp. Fried garlic. Sweet & savory.
Chewy steamed rice dough with a sweet coconut filling.

 

 

 

 

[shain]

 

 

 

 

Edited March 3, 2022 by shain (log)

[shain]

More travel in Doi Inthanon national park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[shain]

The Royal Agricultural Station - Doi Inthanon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 12, 2022 by shain (log)

[ElsieD]

I had no idea that it is such a beautiful country.  Thank you.

[heidih]

The images of the lush greenery are almost overwhelming. I am lucky to have worked with a lot of the plants but seeing them more "in situ" is nice. Like when one of my favorite guys (Jorge Ochoa) does his "jungle explorer" lecture about discovering new passion vines or shows tillansias hangng off power lines down in the jungle.

 

The food and sights you have shown are incredibly delightful. How long were you there and has the trip inspired your cooking in any new way?

[shain]

15 hours ago, heidih said:

The images of the lush greenery are almost overwhelming. I am lucky to have worked with a lot of the plants but seeing them more "in situ" is nice. Like when one of my favorite guys (Jorge Ochoa) does his "jungle explorer" lecture about discovering new passion vines or shows tillansias hangng off power lines down in the jungle.

 

The food and sights you have shown are incredibly delightful. How long were you there and has the trip inspired your cooking in any new way?

 

We've been there for two weeks. Left with a taste for more.

Thai cuisine is one of few foreign cuisines that get decent representation in our local culinary scene, but dishes still have to adapt to ingredients unavailability and customer expectations. The Thai restaurants here also tend to represent more from the South of the country. And on top of this, I learned quite a bit over the years online.

That's a prelude to say that we learnt quite a bit of northern Thai tastes, and it's valuable to see dishes made at their source, doubly so when you get to see them made by different cooks. 

A few things that I recall noting down are the use of dill in northern cooking, the variety of soups I wasn't familiar with, lots of interesting dessert and sweets ideas, the influence-of/similarities-to Chinese cuisine in many dishes, the vivid flavors of fresh herbs and roots I only had dry or frozen (this helps me work better with what I have on hand).

[heidih]

Interesting on the dill. I always considered it so northern /central Euro until a Vietnamese friemd troduced me to Chả Cá Thăng Long (firm white fish with turmeric and lots of dill).  So much to taste, so much to learn

[shain]

Leaving Doi Inthanon.

 

 

 

[shain]

Mark Wiens have a new video from the Yunannease market in Chiang Mai, pictured a couple of pages ago.

I wish we had the stomach capacity and dedication to try all of the dishes as well.

 

 

[heidih]

I will watch this one. In general he is passiionate and funny. Thanks! I did not place his speech pattern unti I learned where he was raised. I appreciate his respect for local ways.

Edited March 16, 2022 by heidih (log)

[shain]

Hotpot for dinner.

Thai milk tea with boba, winter melon juice, and later a Taiwanese style milk tea.

 

 

 

[shain]

Chiang Mai produce market.

If I were to live in Chiang Mai, I think I would just spend my entire day in this market.

 

 

 

 

 

The pineapples!

 

And delicious drinks everywhere. This time a green tea slushy.

 

 

Any idea what this is?

 

 

 

Mushroom vendor.

 

 

 

This place is massive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 19, 2022 by shain (log)

[KennethT]

7 minutes ago, shain said:

Chiang Mai produce market.

If I were to live in Chiang Mai, I think I would just spend my entire day in this market.

 

 

 

 

 

The pineapples!

 

And delicious drinks everywhere. This time a green tea slushy.

 

 

Any idea what this is?

 

 

 

Mushroom vendor.

 

 

 

This place is massive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wish there was a "love love love" button.  It always amazes me how inexpensive produce is in SE Asia...

[heidih]

All wonderful. I coud imagine the fragrance of that cut pineapple clearly. Adorable squat "pumpkins". Do they sell/cook the greens as well?

[ElsieD]

Is that curry paste the lady is handling?

[shain]

9 minutes ago, heidih said:

Do they sell/cook the greens as well?

Haven't noticed any squash leaves.

[shain]

2 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

Is that curry paste the lady is handling?

 

Yes, she shapes them into domes. All of the products in this market were meticulously presented.