So, as you might guess, I have been trying to find the most interesting and tasty food to consume in Thailand. This is not easy since you have to avoid the usual tourist places that have signs and menus in English.
So on our second day, Caroline and I went to the Bangkok weekend market (where we got a ton of fantastic stuff for about $80, only to find out that it would cost $200 to send home by UPS). I ordered papaya salad with crab for lunch. Now I had seen these crabs before, and they looked just like soft shell crabs you get in sushi or at Asian stores. They're about four inches wide, leg to leg, and dark colored, almost black. So my Som-Tom with crab arrived and I picked up a half a black crab in my spoon and big into it. Crunch! Not so soft shelled after all. So I weighed my options. Obviously you are not meant to pick out the meat out of those tiny little legs. You must be supposed to eat it whole as it is. So I did. Still very tasty, but it made me wonder if the shell pieces would end up in my appendix (or someplace worse). I tried to chew well.
The evening of the same day, obviously having learned nothing, I ordered frog. I was I little frightened of what would come since I had just seen whole frog on a street vendor's cart and it did not look like it had even been cleaned before being roasted over a charcoal fire. Parts is parts. I hoped that this was a pretty good restaurant and what would come would be some of the better examples of prepared frog in Thailand. What did come was what I expect to be the result of cleaning a frog (thank God), laying it whole on a cutting board, chopping it into bite size pieces starting at the toes and working up to the head, discarding the head (again, thank God), and finally battering and frying it all in a wok. I put a piece in my mouth and chomped down on frog leg bone that made the crab shell seem like crisp lettuce. The experience with the crab instilled in me a courage to boldly try to chew my way through anything. The frog, however, instilled a new wisdom to spit out bones that you have no hope of chewing up. Sadly, I also learned that I probably don't care for Thai prepared frog.
Those little seeds in watermelons that up until now I could never stand to swallow had better start worrying when they see me next.
3 comments:
These ain't your mama's deep fried frog legs. One of the highlights of the trip has been watching Dave try to chew up that frog.
to cross-reference: Dave only ate pork belly off the cart--not the aforementioned fresh river critters. but it made for good copy.
Food with flavor, eh?
;-)
rjf&
I followed with interest your culinary pursuits. In fact, I was inspired to come home from work tonight and whip up some good ole artery clogging Southern comfort supper consisting of chicken fried steak, purple hull peas, baked spud, and a wonderful slathering of white gravey. Hmmm -- not real exotic but I think I'll pass on the deep fried frog and eels. I can feel the indigestion onslaught as I type.
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