As summer hits and mint starts to take over our herb garden, Larb Gai, a Thai chicken dish, starts to take over our weekly menu.
Each flavor in larb gai sings of summer: cool refreshing mint, crisp, purple shallots, lip-puckering, zesty lime juice, fragrant toasted rice powder, tongue-tingling chili flakes and fresh bright green cilantro and green onions—perfect for a summer night in Boone, or Bangkok.
We recently returned from six epic weeks of traveling Thailand, where Thai Hubby and I took our four half-Thai kids on a Thailand Heritage Tour from the northern mountains of Chiang Rai to the pristine beaches of the Similian Islands in the south!
As we traveled and devoured Thai meals all over Thailand with local Thai friends and Thai family, I can’t count the times I said, “Oh my goodness, this is soooo good!” as I closed my eyes in complete ecstasy over the intense Thai flavors I got to indulge in everyday.
As we did our tour of Thailand, I was reminded from my years of living and traveling in Thailand with local Thai family and Thai friends that if you really want to get good Thai food in Thailand that local Thais love, there are five best places you have to eat Thai food at while traveling in Thailand:
We are about to leave in a few days for our 6 week trip to Thailand with our now 4 kiddos who are 10, 8, 6, and 4! Continue Reading
We were visiting our hip friends who live in Charleston, S.C., and walking around the local farmer’s market, hungry for Saturday brunch.
The smells of the fried food sizzling at the cluster of friendly food trailers were pulling us like a magnet to their windows. We ambled around looking at the chalkboard menus posted on the side of the trucks, and then I saw a menu item on a truck called Roti Rolls that made my eyes light up, and I started to drool immediately.
“Wakey Bakey: sunny egg, candied bacon, Thai pimento cheese, and roasted potato”. Thai pimento cheese”? What in the world was that and can I try it now please?!
Do you ever get stuck cooking the same meals every week? Even though there are millions of other things I could cook, my mind often goes on auto-pilot when doing our weekly menu plan, and I feel like I make the same 7 meals all the time. You feel me?
Let’s be honest. When I think of the average American soup, I think cozy, heart-warming, but sorta boring.
A bowl full of warmth, but usually not packed with varying flavors and textures, which is fine for those times when you are sick and just need warm sustenance.
But Thai soup is a different story and bland and boring are adjectives unheard of when describing Thai soup, or really Thai food!
“Wow! This is soooo good!!” My Thai Hubby mumbled out as he ravenously stuck another spoonful of the Thai sausage, with a spicy, zesty dipping sauce and jasmine rice in his mouth.
Its flavors of tangy kaffir lime leaf, spicy, heart-warming Thai red curry paste, and a hint of sweetness drew us in so much that each bite was like going to the cozy house of a welcoming host who makes you feel so part of the family you never want to leave.
I was never a fan of tasteless American instant ramen noodles, aka the ridiculously cheap Maruchan Ramen that give legit Japanese ramen a bad name.
So when I saw the variety of Thai instant ramen noodles called Mama sitting on the shelf at the one of the many 7/11’s that sits at every corner in Bangkok, I thought, “Ew, they have instant noodles here too??”
Have you ever felt super intimidated to try making a Thai dish you adore? Like only magical Thai chefs have the superpowers to make it, so why even try?
Usually I’ll try making any Thai dish I’ve had in Thailand at home, but homemade Thai curry paste always seemed like one of those super intricate processes that only super hero Thai cooks create.
