Me Love FOOD ~

Inspired by my recent learning on how to make my way around a food court, I decided to visit Central Department Store and see what they had to offer. I made my way up to their food court, which they dubbed the “Food Loft: The Trendy & Upscale International Dining Experience.” It was definitely upscale and trendy and featured a variety of foods including Chinese, Japanese, Italian, a noodle bar and of course, Thai food. I checked out the Thai counter and zoomed in on what was described as a “curry dish with egg noodles in the Northern style.” Could it be? No, it couldn’t, KHAO SAWY?? (pronounced cow-soy). This absolutely fabulous regional dish was actually available for me to order again! The only place I knew of that served it in Seattle, the Noodle Studio on Broadway, had closed not too long ago. I was pretty bummed and pretty sure it would be quite some time until I saw khao sawy on the menu again. Obviously, I couldn’t read the Thai and pointed at it and was then told what it was.

When I was finished, I headed over to the dessert bar to see what they had to offer. On one side was a bunch of Western style desserts I was all too familiar with. On the other side was a whole array of Thai desserts. No contest there, so I went about asking the lady behind the counter what everything was and decided on a delicious concoction of agar gelatin with chestnuts in a sweet coconut sauce. Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE coconut? All my PIE peeps know from observing how voraciously and frequently I ate a Filipino dessert featuring coconut called buko pandan! Oh, how it miss it so.

I was on the phone with Nika the other day when we discussed how I had been afraid to try the street vendors. I told her that I was going to turn over a new leaf, because I was feeling silly. Also, buying food at full-service restaurants is expensive! She suggested that I order two things on a menu, by pointing at them and taking them to go, so I can try them in the privacy of my own home. That’s exactly what I decided to do today after I left Central Department Store. I stopped at one of the places I often walk by and pointed at the first THREE things on the menu. Rice? Yes, rice. Chicken? Yes, chicken. With a lot of gesturing and nodding and smiling, I placed my order. Somehow or another, she didn’t understand that I wanted three different items and so I got three of the same item. No matter, I ended up enjoying the dish quite a bit. It turned out to be chicken, stir fried with basil, okra, chili peppers, and pole beans…”kraphrao gai raat khao,” or stir fried chicken over rice. I found this out by asking the young woman how I call this dish in Thai. Luckily, there were a couple other people eating at a table nearby who were able to write it out in Thai for me. I asked them how I would write it out in English, but they didn’t know. I simply asked them to say what it’s called in Thai as I transcribe it the best I could. I brought the piece of paper home and looked it up in my handy dandy dictionary that Nika gave me. Oh! It was absolutely delicious and filling in a way that McDonald’s couldn’t even begin to compare to. And another thing. The three servings were my breakfast, lunch and dinner for a day and a half. All for only 75 baht, or about $2.03, which was less than I had spent for my one lunch at McDonald’s the other day.