Category Archives: Thailand

by | 10/27/2011 · 3:45 pm

Staying Dry

Dinner in Pathum Thani

Lately, I’ve been signing off all my texts/emails/WhatsApps (what DO you call these?) with the exhortation to “stay dry”. As if people needed reminding to, you know, “stay dry”. What can I say? It makes me feel better. But what does staying dry really mean?

Yes, floodwaters are rushing toward inner Bangkok. This makes people react in different ways. In my case, well, I guess it’s still a mixed bag of feelings that I have a hard time articulating. There is confusion, yes, and a little fear, and of course fatigue. I am very, very tired. But the thing I feel most right now is … curiosity. I am not so interested in thinking of defeat, or worrying, or angering, or, (I can’t believe I’m saying this) even eating. Okay, maybe eating, if it involves a buffet with an unlimited time span. Maybe that.

Bangkok Hospital has a program sending volunteer doctors and nurses on daily trips up north to see patients and distribute medicine to people who need it. Transport usually involves transferring from van to military vehicle to boat. Sometimes they go to a central location, like a temple, and sometimes they go into people’s houses. Until a week ago, they went to Ayutthaya; now that it is impossible, they go to Patum Thani. Obviously, I have no real, concrete skills of any kind, but I volunteered to go anyway. I was curious. My brother and I became the awkward hangers-on-slash-pretend pharmacists (don’t worry, one and sometimes two nurses double-checked the “orders” we filled).

I can’t lie, at first it was bleak. The smell of the rotting water made me woozy, making me break out into a panic-sweat. Aside from the sound of the motor, we traveled a couple of kilometers in deathly silence — no phones, no televisions, the view of cars parked along the expressway off-ramp constantly in the background. Water had already reached the lowest cars.

Traveling along a major road

(Photo by Sutree Duangnet)

We traveled to a temple that had flooded out completely on the ground floor. The second floor had turned into a de facto evacuation center and about 80 people lived there, sharing resources and space and energy. The doctors saw everyone, dispensed advice, and prescribed medicine — the most popular items turned out to be calamine lotion, eye drops and Diazepam.

What struck me was that people were kind, even crammed together without most of their belongings, confined to a space the size of an elementary school dining hall. They offered us water and food. One corner of the hall served as the kitchen; there was one shower and one toilet. A cat and her kittens lived on the ledge, while dogs — the strong, lucky ones — would jump through the windows from time to time.

Life went on, in its way. Everyone was staying dry the best way they could. Kids shouted from the window to the ones, also living on the second floor, next door. A man came in, offering sweets to the children. As we prepared to leave, they were setting up for dinner: rice, grilled Thai mackerel, shrimp paste chili dip. Three papayas and a bunch of bananas were waiting for dessert. They gave us the food we brought them as we got into the boat, saying they were “afraid it would spoil”. We ate it all on the way home.

The view from the front of the temple

(Photo by Sutree Duangnet)

On the way back, things seemed better. The rotten water was there, yes, but there was also: a group of friends on a wooden raft, enjoying an early dinner; an enterprising store-owner who had walled up half of her doorway with concrete, selling her wares to shoppers on boats; kids paddling along us, trying to flirt with the nurses. Our boat man made dinner plans with friends sitting on a nearby roof, their feet dangling over the water. As we waded through knee-deep water to our transport, he reminded us to “wash our feet”. Perhaps a new way to sign-off in the coming days.

 

 

 

10 Comments

Filed under Asia, Bangkok, food, Thailand

by | 10/20/2011 · 3:22 pm

When Gluttony becomes a chore

Fish rice porridge at Sieng Gi

(Photo by @SpecialKRB)

When the Popes lived in Avignon, they had a lot of visitors. That goes without saying, of course — what Pope doesn’t have a lot of visitors?  And visitors who are visiting always expect dinner.

Well, the Pope couldn’t just have any old dinner. When he entertained various and assorted important people in his cavernous grand hall-slash-dining room the size of a private airplane hangar, diners could expect to spend the next 4-5 hours with their butts firmly planted in their seats, enjoying, on average, 24 courses a night.

What did they have for dinner? Well, first and foremost, the higher the food was from the ground, the closer it was to God. So there was a lot of this kind of food — fruit, lettuces and veggies that grew up out of the ground instead of those nasty, dirt-burrowing root vegetables. There was, obviously, meat, but it had to be roasted; none of this boiling business was allowed, because boiling was for peasants. The kitchen responsible for these 24-on-average courses is surprisingly small, considering: the size of a generous living room as opposed to, say, a hotel lobby. But there are three ovens set up — obviously, roasting was a big deal.

As I listened to the tour guide as she wended her way through the upper reaches of the Pope’s Avignon palace, I couldn’t help thinking — how? How could he do it? I struggle with two big meals a day — yes, the old stomach is not what it used to be. While I am not immune to obsessing over gray hairs or wrinkles or sagging jowls or the Great Beyond that awaits us all, the thing that I miss most is my incredibly efficient, ever-elastic digestive system. Where did it go? Especially now that floodwaters are breaching the gates, and supermarket lines are as congested as the expressways where everyone has parked their cars, and spicy lemongrass shrimp Mama is worth its weight in gold … I find stuffing my face does not hold the allure it once did. Where did the beautiful past go? (I ask this as I look down at my own supermarket cart, the contents of which are: avocados, squash, and Betty Crocker French onion dip mix. Everyone else may be equipped for the floodpocalypse, but I will have a much easier time making dip, yo!)

Times like these call for drastic measures. Times like these call for khao thom (rice porridge). Boiling some rice with water sounds like a pitiful meal, but to me, right now, it sounds heavenly: the straight, almost sweet taste of watery rice, the purity of white porridge, amenable to anything you wish to pair it with — fish, omelet, stir-fried leafy vegetable, and even you, strange pickled shredded turnip, or you, weirdly pink fermented tofu glob, yes. Even you. What better to fix what (sort of) ails you, this ennui of the stomach that no grilled rib-eye something-or-other or braised pork belly this-and-that can fix?  What better to fortify you through this wait?

Good places for khao thom, if you can get to them:

1. Khao Thom Bowon — Across from the entrance to Wat Bowonniwet on Phra Sumen Road, this rice porridge shop is open from 4pm-late. They claim to be the originator of pad pak boong fai dang, or stir-fried morning glory with chilies.

2. Jay Suay — On Plang Nam Road, next to the famous shellfish omelets of Nai Mong Hoy Tod, this rice porridge shop is also open at night. It is especially known for its pork dishes; a personal favorite: pork meatballs in a clear soup flavored with pickled plums.

3. Khao Thom Polo — On the corner of Soi Polo and Wireless Road, this shop is almost perpetually packed for dinner. The dish that seems to get everyone fired up, despite the extreme spice factor, is their gaeng pa, or jungle curry.

 

2 Comments

Filed under Asia, Bangkok, food, food stalls, rice porridge, Thailand

by | 09/22/2011 · 10:30 am

About my grandma, and sausage

For as long as I can remember, I was told to refer to my grandmother as “Jiao Yai” (Lady Grandma). As a kid in Amish country somewhere in western Pennsylvania, I thought all Thais called their mother’s mother this term. Grandpa would be content with being a “khun tha”, but grandmas required something a little better.

I found out my grandma was kind of like a princess when we were getting ready to move back to Thailand. Her grandfather Inthawarorot had been the 8th of his line to “govern” Chiangmai; her father had been slated to be his heir. Her family name was “Na Chiangmai”, which, like “Na Ayutthaya”, “Na Songkhla”, or the like, means “Of [insert town name here]”.

Because I am really shallow, I became interested in my mom’s family history because of my grandma. When there were family gatherings, like a big ol’ buzzard, I was there, devouring scraps of old family gossip, hidden (and not so hidden) resentments, embroidering a new mental narrative of myself. Family dynamics were fascinating to me — there were “greater jiao” and “lesser jiao” (guess which branch yours truly belongs in?) and celebrations featuring dancers with ribbons and peacock feathers where everyone dresses up in old Thai clothing and complains about the heat (that’s just me, actually. I sweat a lot, what can I say?)

Best of all, there is gorgeous, life-changing, extraordinary Thai food. Getting gussied up in diapers and gossiping are all well and good, but after a couple of times, that story about Uncle So-and-so in 1847 gets old. The food never got old. It became the reason I still lurk, an ever-hungry buzzard, on the edges of family conversations, inviting myself to this or that party against the wishes of everyone involved. There is gabong, battered and deep-fried pumpkin, beans and whatnot (northern Thai tempura!) with a sweet chili dipping sauce. A sort of gaeng som in crystal-clear broth with chunks of pomfret, intense and flavorful despite its prettiness. A nam prik pla rah (fermented fish chili paste), tangy and salty but strangely un-fishy. Gluay buat chee, bananas served in a hot coconut milk, soft and comforting and almost buttery in taste.

And then there is the sai oua (northern Thai sausage), which I will always associate with my grandma. Obviously, my grandma has never stuffed a sausage link in her long life, but her cook has made exemplary sausage since I was a little girl, and although lots of places make nice sai oua (Soul Food Mahanakorn, the 5th floor of Emporium), I will always associate this particular sausage — fiery, yellow, flecked with fragrant herbs — with her. Nothing compares to my Grammy’s.

Too bad it’s so hard to get the freaking recipe. When I call Porn, my grandma’s cook, it’s a list of vagaries: “Get some shallots — 10 baht worth at the market near Victory Monument … some garlic …” “How much?” “Oh, well … five?” “Five cloves?” “Well, yes.” “What else? What else?” “Kaffir lime leaf, coriander, oh, slice it really thinly.” “Are there seasonings?” “What?” “ARE THERE SEASONINGS?” “Well, salt, and fish sauce, and MSG, and [something unintelligible] and curry base … mix all of that together …” “Anything else? Is there pork?” “Oh yes, pork. Maybe 2 kilos? Soak dried chilies in hot water, and don’t forget the pak chee farang … don’t forget the turmeric! You can’t forget the turmeric.” After guesstimating a handful of shallots as “10 baht worth” and mixing central and southern Thai curry paste to get a nice orange color, I end up with a paste that I think will work. I also get a kilo of minced pork and a kilo of minced pork fat.

Luckily, it was way easier to stuff the sausages than to make up the stuffing. Jarrett Wrisley, the owner of Soul Food, was kind enough to let my friend Chris and me use his sausage casings (100 percent natural!) and his kitchen, as well as his sai oua expertise — we used a mixture of fish sauce, salt and soy sauce, just like Jarrett does for his own, MSG-free sai oua. Chris made a gorgeous Polish sausage, slightly tart and salty, and a nice chicken sausage studded with dried apple.

Getting stuffed

The final product? When I got home, the first thing I did was turn on the oven and cook my very first sai oua. The result: burnished mahogany, soft on the inside, juices running from the pan.

Again, there is lots of great sai oua in the world, but nothing compares to my Grammy’s.

7 Comments

Filed under Asia, Bangkok, cooking, food, Northern Thailand, recipe, Thailand