Veg

While working on our Burmese visas (a process that took Marc and me to the embassy more times than I like to think about), we ate a few times at the absolute best Indian place in the city. I have been to Hamali Cha Cha, and the Indian street food by Chinatown, yes yes. I've even had some of the crap they call Indian near Nana, but this is the real deal.

Every dish is perfection. This one had a dal, which is always wonderful, and a few more that are consistently great as well. The bread is always piping hot and the rice is always fresh. Marc can even get his tea there, but I'll have a Coke, thank you.

My sandwich was one of their sweet specials. Every day it's different, and it's always the cheapest thing on the menu. This one was kind of like a spicy savory sandwich, plus cucumbers. I know, sounds weird, but tastes spectacular.

The last thing about this place, all vegetarian. Fills you up but won't slow you down. I don't remember what that's from, but it seems pretty appropriate here.

The Bad Stuff

So I have done some posts about street food in Thailand, and other places. I love eating food made and sold on the street, because it is often times very telling of a culture, it's cheap, and it's usually super yummy.

HOWEVER... I want to make it quite clear that not all street food is created equal. Both my poor husband and I have ended up pretty sick from intestinal infections due to eating the nasty stuff. In 2 years living in Bangkok, and about another 6 months total traveling around the region, we have each gotten sick only once, and Marc's was bad enough to stick him in the hospital for a day.

It is important to look at the things you are going to be putting inside your body (nah,... really?!).
Avoid places that look like they don't clean the dishes, look like the food has been there for 5 days, or just general uncleanliness.

These places that serve food (if you can believe it) are located at the end of my street. It makes me feel lucky to know that I can afford to not eat here.

Sweet Meats

A lot of Thai street food, in addition to being deserts, is snacks. A favorite is simply grilled sweet meats; chicken, beef and pork. Here I'm pretty sure we're looking at chicken, though pork is deceptive and often shows up when you predict chicken. Often, the vendor likes to snaz it up by adding some chilies, pineapple or cherry tomatoes. Some people just eat them alone, or you can get a little bag of sticky rice to go with.

Thai Sweets

So I kind of had this thing going on where, it had been so long since I posted anything, so I didn't want to post again until it was like something really great. To be honest, I don't really have any magnificent wonderment stored up. Then I realized that I'd have to just put one foot in front of the other and get posting again.

Above you can see one of my favorite snacks. I wish I knew the name in Thai, but I don't. Inside, it is sticky rice and coconut milk. A lot of Thai sweets are made of these basic 2 ingredients. Some add things, some do not.

For this one, there is usually either a strip of banana or a few taro beans. I like it both ways. It's just wrapped in some kind of leaf so it doesn't burn, and slow roasted.

When you peel the leaf off, its actually quite slick from the oils in the sticky rice. That also ensures that the inside doesn't stick to the wrapper. One of these little puppies sets you back about $.15.