Taking Two Tots to Thailand: Food: Part 2

When you go out to eat almost every meal, you eat at lots of different places. We mainly do this because we don't know how to cook Thai food, and also this past week I haven't been in the mood for it since I have been sick. But here are some of of the things we tried!

Here is my homemade ice cream on bread. When you research Thailand and stuff to try, this is one of the things that comes up. Honestly, I think only the elderly folks eat it like this anymore. But it is traditional and I wanted to try it. It tastes about how you would picture it to. Ice cream on bread... enough said. There are "regular" ice cream places all over: Baskin Robbins, a place called Swenson's, and there is even a Cold Stone here. But if you want traditional ice cream, you need to look for a guy (or a woman) selling it on the street. You can tell they are selling ice cream because you will see ice cream cones on their cart. Or more obvious, a sign that says, "Ice Cream" written in English and Thai. The ice cream is made by the hawkers (another name for a peddler or a merchant on wheels) themselves. They usually only have 1 flavor and it is usually coconut made with fresh coconut milk. This hawker had 2 flavors: coconut and Thai tea (the brown one). Due to a miscommunication (story of my life out here) I got some tea ice cream when I asked for 2 coconut scoops. Oh well... there was a garbage can nearby where I also disposed of my bread as well.

This is a horrible picture but the only one I have of the ice cream "truck". They were putting everyone else's ice cream in empty coconut shells. They had all these weird toppings... none of them I recognized or knew the name of or else I would have asked for it... I was feeling brave that day... but I only recognized one of the toppings which was corn. Yep, corn. Apparently that's good on ice cream out here. ☺

We went to a Vietnamese Restaurant called Ngon-Lam. I had high hopes but it was all around disappointing. I tried something new, fresh sugar cane as a drink. Jason got fresh fruit punch which was much more delicious than mine.

I got fresh sping rolls with spicy dipping sauce. It was good for a couple bites, but it had this black licorice flavor to it that I couldn't get over so I had to stop. The boys' food was too spicy and Jason's food wasn't that great either so we left disappointed and ready to eat somewhere else. ☺

This is one of our favorite places to eat. It is called Oasis. It is at MBK Mall on the bottom floor over by the fish foot massages. It is a cafeteria style like most everywhere out here. It has a HUGE menu and great prices. It is clean, air conditioned, and you get traditional Thai food without the scary, street vendors.

Something that I have seen a couple times out here but I don't have a picture of, are people drinking soda out of a bag with a straw. It is literally a plastic bag, like the kind you would get at a store if you bought something small with those handles on it. It is usually filled with soda of some sort and has a straw inserted in it!

Confession: When you read up on Thailand, every one raves about the food. They love the delicious food that the street vendors sell. Here is my confession. I am afraid to buy anything from them. First of all, I afraid to talk to them. I can't speak there language, as much as I would like to, I just don't. But if I get past that fear, I'm afraid of the state of their food. I don't know how clean it is and if I will get sick if I eat it. Lots of people eat and love it. I think it is important to make sure that their cart looks clean and if it is too hot, like summer time, then it probably isn't safe to buy meat off of the street. But we are here in the cold season so the meat should be safe. Another thing to be aware of is to not buy fruit already cut. (I am pretty sure this is how me and my 18 month old Beckham got food poisoning.) When I say "already cut", I mean in pieces. They all have their fruit peeled already to save on time. If they don't cut it in front of you, then don't buy it. I am hoping to get the courage to get over my fears and "own" the food cart scene. Maybe towards the end of our stay, I can write a post on "finding food for your kids in the street markets."

So this is another reason why I don't eat street food. Those are pile of dishes on the ground by the sewer drain. I have seen how they clean these dishes. In a big metal garbage can usually with most likely cold water with soap. I don't know about anyone else, but this grosses me out. This is at a lunch market right next to our house. WE learned about it because some guys at church took my husband Jason there for lunch one day. They are American but have lived here for a couple years and know the good/ cheap places to eat. They go here everyday for lunch.

Jason got a "corn dog" at the lunch market.

I think about this every time Beckham does this, but I don't do anything about it. But he likes to suck on dried mango. All that sugar right next to his teeth can't be good for them. I really hope his teeth survive Thailand...

Jason bought me a fruit to try. In English it is called a Honey Pear. In Japanese, it is called Nashi. It is hard like an apple but has the taste and texture of a pear. It is pretty good. It doesn't have a ton of flavor but it is pretty refreshing. ☺

This is something we get everyday... okay not really... but they know us now and we totally have a punch card! This is mango with sticky rice, but it has something special on top... ICE CREAM! We order one for 55 baht and they bring out 4 spoons because they know us. ☺ This place is called OMG. I'm pretty sure it is a play on words because you think of what everyone uses OMG for these days but it really stands for "Oh Mango". This place is located at the metro stop right by our house at Phra Ram 9. You have to go through security and it is on the level above where you would buy your metro tickets.

When I was trying to take this picture, I had some very angry children with their spoons trying to get in to eat their treat!

And within 5 minutes, it was gone!

We decided to get pizza one night. It was a disastrous outing with spilled drinks and screaming children... sigh. We bought a pizza that said it served 3-4 people and were very surprised to see a personal pan sized pizza come out to our table... I guess Thai people eat a lot less than Americans do! I guess they serve fries here to because there was ketchup and it is the brand Heinz but it was written in Thai! I thought that was cool.

I found these tiny oranges at the store... Beckham LOVES them!

See? The slice is fingertip size! And that is a Hot Wheels car they are next to. I tried looking up what they were but couldn't find anything under "tiny orange". So I gave up looking. Last Sunday at church, they were serving them in Nursery to the 2 year olds so I asked the Nursery workers what they were and they said they were Mandarin Oranges. I always thought that Mandarin Oranges were bigger, but I guess I could be wrong.

I've had a hard time figuring out healthy snacks. One day I found dried seaweed at the store and thought I would try it. It tastes pretty good and Beckham likes them too!