Friday 12 June 2009

World Blog Surf Day

World Blog Surf Day

Today, Saturday 13th June 2009 is the World Blog Surf day, where 32 blog owners that participate from all over the world write about food. They form a chain by linking to one blog in the chain of 32. My link is to one of my favorite blogs in Thailand from The TEFL DON, a blog he named ‘My Thai Friend'. If you follow all links, you can visit all 32 blogs.

Let’s move on however to the theme for this World Blog Surf Day; FOOD, something that I reported plenty of times about. On my blog you can find plenty of restaurant reviews from all over Thailand but mainly from Koh Samui, the tropical island in the Gulf of Thailand where I live with my family.

Thai food is amongst my favorite cuisines of the world, first Italian food was top of the list, than I discovered Indian food and Mexican food also ranked up there for a long time. Until I discovered Thai food.
It comes in really handy that I actually live in Thailand and I eat Thai food pretty much on a daily base now.

Here’s a dish from one of my fave restaurants on Koh Samui; Yam Sabeinglae, a house salad (yam = salad) of the Saebeinglae restaurant in Lamai.

A typical Thai meal is a well balanced feast of food, a spicy dish should be balanced out by a non spicy dish, a salad is balanced out by a soup, fish is balanced out by a meat dish and if you’re lucky you find a vegetable dish ;-), etc. Rice and/or rice soup is used to complement the meal and if Thai males are participating in the meal, than usually a bottle of Johnny Walker black or similar is not far away.

Everybody joins in and all served meals are shared between all that are participating. Most plates have a relatively small amount of food on them so plenty of plates can be ordered or will be served and in typical Thai fashion almost nothing is wasted but either gets eaten right there and then or taken home in the doggy bag.

If you visit a Thai family at their home, the first question is; did you eat already? Rather than asking how you’re doing, as we do in the West. Immediately food is pulled out from all places of the house and you sit down and eat, after the meal is finished, you discuss or talk about whatever you dropped by for.

Here’s a picture of a small hole in the wall place in Chaweng, with some excellent and very cheap food. All ingredients are chopped up before hand but the actual cooking of the food is happening more or less in front of you and since Thai food in general is just tossed around in a frying pan, it’s fresh and crispy.

A lot of good food in Thailand is found in very small, similar hole in the wall like places or just on the sidewalk. In Thailand food is never far away from where you are and Thais tend to eat all day long. Little bits and pieces here and there and everywhere.

These pre-cooked Thai curries (heaven for spicy food lovers) are for sale on all markets and sidewalks all over the country. The South of Thailand where Samui is located, is well known for its spicy curries.

Thailand has very different fruits to the Western countries, one of the most notorious ones is pictured here in the front right, the Durian, the King of fruit. You either like it or love. The smell of this fruit is very special and takes some time getting used to. Most hotels in Thailand don’t allow them in the rooms!

On the left, the bean like strings are Sator, a typical Southern Thai kind of bean, that smell heavy on your breath, just like garlic does. I always manage to raise an eyebrow in local eateries if the locals see me eat this. It’s very strong in taste and probably not to everybody’s liking.

It’s just the tip of the iceberg that I’m touching here, regarding Thai food. If you’re interested in Thai food, try my blog, plenty of more information of my favorite places around the country and other food related stories for grabs.

I hope you enjoyed my small part in the chain of World Blog Surf Day and that you visit as many blog as possible that participate. Thanks for checking in, and check out Sher's blog, who organised this chain event.
Camille


This World Blog Surf Day event also has an official Twitter feed taken care of by Anastasia Ashman (Thandelike), she is an American cultural producer based in Instanbul, and is a creator of Expat Harem, the anthology by foreign women about modern Turkey. Her Tweetstream focuses on women, travel and history, and she shares resources for writers/travelers, expats, Turkophiles and culturati of all stripes



24 comments:

Sher said...

Hi Camille,
Thanks for the heads up that your blog post was up already!! You did a great job--you're making me hungry with the pictures and descriptions of the Thai food you're lucky to eat every day!!!

Great post!! And thanks for the blurb for my blog, too!!

Have a good night,
Sher :0)

globalgal said...

I am a huge fan of both Thailand and Thai food. It's one of my favorite places. I believe that Thai food is probably the best in the world. Thanks for sharing a wonderful overview, it had me salivating. Looks like it is time for another trip down south!

Unknown said...

I enjoyed reading your food blog on Thai food. I agree, this is one of the best cuisine!... I wonder if you also eat durian fruit - the fruit with that strong smell?! :)

Camille Lemmens said...

Hi Czaroma,

Thnaks for dropping in and checking my blog. I love Durian, although I have to sya that in the beginning when I first was introduced to the fruit, I didn't like it and thought it smelled aweful.
At some stage I slowly turned to liking Durian and nowadays when I smell Durian I get excited about the prospect of having a nice piece of it!

Ivanhoe said...

I discovered Thai food only a couple years ago, but it's one of my faves now. We have a little mom & pop Thai place close by and go there for a dinner at least once a month. I'm staying away from the very spicy dishes, but that's what hubby enjoys :o)

Camille Lemmens said...

Hi Ivanhoe,

Thnaks for dropping by.

Before I moved to Thailand I only cooked Thai food at home and ate les and less Western food. Now I'm living since 10 year in Thailand and sometimes I crave for some good Western food, but luckily enough, the variation on Samui is superb and I get the best of both worlds!

hospitalera said...

I didn't have Thai food for ages, a bit hard to come by here in Prague! Your post, and the photos, made my mouth water in Nostalgia! SY

Martin in Bulgaria said...

Some mouth-watering examples of food there both in verse and pictures. Fast food isn't quite 'fast food' as wse know it it seems - Good news!

Mandy said...

Great post! I'm really intrigued in that durian fruit! I wonder if I would like it or not?

Camille Lemmens said...

Hi Emm,

It's a very special fruit with a distinct smell and taste, usually it's a very easy like or not like situation. You won't know until you try it though.
In Malaysia I even had Durian ice cream once!

Camille Lemmens said...

Hi Martin,

Thai fast or junk food is still just that, don't be fooled, however, a lot of food can be prepared really quickly or fast and is of excellent quality and value and very tasteful.

Camille Lemmens said...

Hi SY,

Too bad that Prague doesn't offer easy access to Thai food.
Sooner or later there will be enough Thais in Prague to warrant some more easy acces to Thai food in shops and/or restaurants.

Emmanuelle Archer said...

Thai food is so wonderful! I started teaching myself how to make a few basic recipes such as sticky rice and green papaya salad. My Panang curry still needs work, but I'll get there eventually!

I love cooking with a wok, especially in hot weather - everything's ready in a flash and no need to slave over a hot stove for hours!

Camille Lemmens said...

Hi Emmanualle,

That is indeed one of the big advantages of Thai cooking that it's ready in a flash. On top of that it's tasty and healthy, as long as you put enough veggies in it.

Leigh said...

I love Thai food and haven't had it in a long time. I want to try everything you mention, even durian ice cream. I actually don't mind it.

A question: When you stop by people's houses and they ask if you've eaten, does anyone ever say no?

Corinne said...

Love Thai food! When my daughter and I were in Thailand, we had many memorable food moments, but our favorite was buying a colum (sp?), can with sweet sticky rice from a vendor passing by. Gotta love street food. Thanks!

Yazar said...

The culture sounds a little like Turkey, they just love to feed you up!

That first picture made my mouth water!

Camille Lemmens said...

Hi Leigh,

Good point, in general it's a rhethorical question, it's like we ask 'how are you', the answer can be relatively unimportant, yes I have or no I haven't eaten.

Hope for you that you can get your dose of Thai food again soon!

Camille Lemmens said...

Hi Corinne,

The 'colums' are called Kao Laam and I have a picture in this post about a fair in Nathon

Camille Lemmens said...

Hi Yazar,

In certain ways it definately may be similar to Turkey in Thaialnd, they love to feed you up indeed.

Wait until you can get to the Sabeinglae restaurant, it's one of my absolute faves, this view is shared by many on the island, both Thai or foreigner, which is always a good sign if the locals like it.

Unknown said...

Italian, Mexican, Indian, French and Greek food are among my favorites. But barely had to chance the try Thai! İs it simular to Indonesian?
Kindest
hans

Camille Lemmens said...

Hoi Hans,

As a fellow 'cloggie' I know about the Indonesian cuisine, but Thai is very different, a lot more spicy and a lot more curries compared to Indonesian food.

They have similar things but there are some major differences.

Romancing Italy said...

I wouldn't be surprised if the American version of Thai food is different...just as the American version of Italian food is waaaay different than the real thing.

HOWEVER, the one restaurant I frequented in San Francisco was the Thai restaurant around the corner. I like curry, I like spicy, I like meat, and I like the colors, scent and preparation. Absolutely delicious and I miss it so much.

Camille Lemmens said...

It is possible to find good Thai food outside of Thailand, but you gotta know what and where to look for, a lot of times it's some sort of Asian food spiced up so it passes for Thai food.