Whatever: The Open Lines Thread

[PB]

A restaurant near me doesn’t have Clay Pot scallops on the menu but they will make it for me when I go in.  It is expensive as Thai food goes but really tasty.

I've never even seen that.  There's so much more to Thai cuisine, so many more dishes.  We get a very limited exposure to it here, and it's seldom even close to the quality and taste one finds there. 

[GravitySucks]

I think it's because I usually go for the glass noodles.  Cooking all this yourself, you're really taken it to a new level. 

I cook Thai sometimes, but all this talk is inspiring me to do it more often - especially with the internet, I used to have to try to back engineer it

I have really enjoyed learning how to cook Thai.  It’s really easy once you have all of the ingredients. I bought a kaffir lime tree and I have to planters full of lemon grass and one of galangal. Fresh Thai basil can be hard to find near me so I just ordered two different kinds of seeds. 

I ordered this combination from Amazon. It includes lime leaves, galangal, lemon grass and bird chilies.  I received more than I expected. Everything can be cut up and frozen and seems to work well.  Everything was really fresh when I received it. 

Hope the link works. 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000N0T30K?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

[PB]

I have really enjoyed learning how to cook Thai.  It’s really easy once you have all of the ingredients. I bought a kaffir lime tree and I have to planters full of lemon grass and one of galangal. Fresh Thai basil can be hard to find near me so I just ordered two different kinds of seeds. 

I ordered this combination from Amazon. It includes lime leaves, galangal, lemon grass and bird chilies.  I received more than I expected. Everything can be cut up and frozen and seems to work well.  Everything was really fresh when I received it. 

Hope the link works. 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000N0T30K?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

It really is.  One thing I like living around here is access to quite a lot of ingredients for foreign foods, incl Thai.  Not everything, and some is seasonal, but much of it.

I'll have to check that link, one stop shopping

[GravitySucks]

I've never even seen that.  There's so much more to Thai cuisine, so many more dishes.  We get a very limited exposure to it here, and it's seldom even close to the quality and taste one finds there.

Isan food is probably my favorite. I actually prefer mine spicier than my Thai friends.  South food isn’t bad but it can be kind of sour. 

My Thai traveling friend invites me over for lunch quite often. I enjoy watching her and her friends prepare Som Tam. They make a Thai style and a Lao style. They reach under the kitchen sink and pull out jars of fermented fish sauce and for the Lao style some type of pickled crab in a sauce that looks like it was dredged from the Mekong river.  It looks really gross as they start mixing up the ingredients but very tasty.  And about as spicy as you could ever get in Thailand. 

She invited a bunch of us over the other day and made Pho.  It was really good.  Reminded me of eating in the boat at one of the floating markets.  We have a really good Asian market up near Hobby airport that has a good selection of most of the fresh vegetables you need (except Thai Basil - I keep asking them to carry it).

[Bart Ell]

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[GravitySucks]

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👍🏼

Lunch is served

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[GravitySucks]

I love the Thai Iced Tea, but I don’t like it with the milk or cream they put in.  Straight up and sweet. 

I have been making my own at home lately.  Your tastes may vary, but this is how I like mine. 

1 cup of loose Thai tea. Any good ceylon tea should work but I buy a brand that has the dye in it to give it the customary orange color.  I have tried several different recipes and this is what I have settled on for my liking. 

1 cup loose Thai tea
5 star anise pods
5 cardamon seed pods
5 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1/2-1 teaspoon vanilla
1 gallon water

I mash up the spices with a mortar and pestle but don’t actually grind them.

Throw everything in a pot and boil for 5 minutes. Turn off heat and allow to cool on the stove. 

Add sugar to taste. Start with one cup per gallon and add more if necessary.

Strain. I use a fine stainless steel strainer, but you might use a cheese cloth of sediment grosses you out. 

If you don’t have a pot that holds one gallon you can use less water, boil it a few minutes longer and add it later in the pitcher. 

Chill and serve over ice.  I have actually never tried it warm, but it would be like a chai tea.  Adding fresh lime juice to the glass makes an excellent addition. 

Traditionally you would fill the glass half full with tea and then add milk, evaporated milk, condensed milk or cream but milk doesn’t agree with me so you would have to find a recipe that includes that. 

I don’t think the lime juice would go good with milk. 

[Spookcat]

I love the Thai Iced Tea, but I don’t like it with the milk or cream they put in.  Straight up and sweet. 

I have been making my own at home lately.  Your tastes may vary, but this is how I like mine. 

1 cup of loose Thai tea. Any good ceylon tea should work but I buy a brand that has the dye in it to give it the customary orange color.  I have tried several different recipes and this is what I have settled on for my liking. 

1 cup loose Thai tea
5 star anise pods
5 cardamon seed pods
5 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1/2-1 teaspoon vanilla
1 gallon water

I mash up the spices with a mortar and pestle but don’t actually grind them.

Throw everything in a pot and boil for 5 minutes. Turn off heat and allow to cool on the stove. 

Add sugar to taste. Start with one cup per gallon and add more if necessary.

Strain. I use a fine stainless steel strainer, but you might use a cheese cloth of sediment grosses you out. 

If you don’t have a pot that holds one gallon you can use less water, boil it a few minutes longer and add it later in the pitcher. 

Chill and serve over ice.  I have actually never tried it warm, but it would be like a chai tea.  Adding fresh lime juice to the glass makes an excellent addition. 

Traditionally you would fill the glass half full with tea and then add milk, evaporated milk, condensed milk or cream but milk doesn’t agree with me so you would have to find a recipe that includes that. 

I don’t think the lime juice would go good with milk.

You could try coconut, almond or cashew milk. The sweetness of those might allow you to use less sugar as well.

[GravitySucks]

You could try coconut, almond or cashew milk. The sweetness of those might allow you to use less sugar as well.

They decided to call it almond milk and cashew milk after “nut juice” flopped in the focus group. 

I generally don’t care for creamy stuff.  Just don’t like the texture more than a dislike of the taste.  Even ice cream is something I just have once in awhile. Mainly to get a brain freeze.  Brain freezes are a desirable altered state IMHO. 

[PolkaDot]

I don’t eat Pad Thai very often.  Pad Kee Mow (Drunken noodles) is my go to noodle dish.

Yum!

[PolkaDot]

I'm partial to steamed whole fish in any Asian cuisine, this one with a chili, lime, and garlic sauce is from the southern provinces.  So many restaurants in the US have cookie cutter limited menus, I've only found one place in SF that has it (the garlic sb diced much much smaller than they've done it here, and maybe not as much)

There are plenty of other excellent steamed fish dishes, with coconut for example, or curries, etc

You must be getting the "white people" menu.  There's always another menu...

[FISH]

I feel @FISH and her magic 8-ball would have the best answer here.

Oh my.
I am blushing.

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[GravitySucks]

You must be getting the "white people" menu.  There's always another menu...

I just ask for a dish I want even if it’s not on the menu.  About half the time they will make it.  Yum Moon Sen is a good example.  It’s not always on the menu but they usually have all of the ingredients. 

I get a lot of second looks when I order “Isan spicy”. Then when I ask for the spice tray they ask me if I have ever been to Thailand.  I had a great experience at a Thai restaurant in DC in November.  I was going to see Reina Del Cid play in a small venue on H Street.  I got there about 3 hours early and found a Thai restaurant right across the street.  The family that owned it was from Chiang Mai. 

I took my time eating and asked them if I could sit until the doors opened.  They asked to see my pictures from my trip and I started with the ones from the Doi Suthep temple in Chiang Mai.  They asked me if I visited some temples they hadn’t been to.  I showed them all of my temple pictures and they seemed to enjoy them.  It had been years since they had been back, and most of them left when they were young kids.  The youngest girl had no conscious memory of Thailand and she was in awe of some of my pictures.

They gave me an order of yellow mango and sticky rice on the house and asked me to stop by any time. 

I generally don’t engage people in public but these people were really friendly and put me at ease. 

I’m going back to Bethesda in February for 2 more weeks of treatments. Hopefully the weather is mild enough for me to get back down there for lunch or dinner.  It’s about a 1.4 mile walk from the metro stop. 

I took this picture of my Panang curry

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[PB]

… She invited a bunch of us over the other day and made Pho...

I make pho ga (chicken soup).  Fresh Thai basil to garnish right at the end is an absolute must, due to olfactory senses.  Sb easy to grow

When asked 'how spicy?', I tell them as spicy as they'd prepare it for themselves.

[PB]

You must be getting the "white people" menu.  There's always another menu...

I'm about as white as can be.  People are always shocked when I order off menu, they find I've been to more places in their country than they have, etc