Joy was craving this meal for weeks, but we didn't (I didn't) want to go to the commercial restaurant. Then we found it here at my favorite restaurant.

It was 2:30pm when we realized we hadn’t eaten yet so I told Joy I want to go to my new favorite restaurant close to the park. Thai food of course.

We’ve eaten there once before and all the Thai food was good – and very reasonably priced ($1+).

Joy got Jim Jolm which was like a suki-yaki dish – we got a hot pot, vegetables (Khun Chai, Pak Bung, cabbage, scallions, sweet basil), clean cuts of beef, an egg,  glass noodles (woonsen). In Isaan where Joy is from they add more vegetables.

I got a Lahb Gai (spicy chicken uhm, like a chili almost). I really love Lahb gai, Lahb Moo (pork) or Lahp Bpla (fish).

We also got a dish of chicken fried rice that was made with a lot of black pepper – a unique way to have it that we never had before.

Joy looks happy enough!

Total cost? $6 USD. Including bottled water and Joy got a Minao Bpun (crushed ice lemon-sugar-salt) drink that I thought was great – like a margherita without the alcohol.

Jim Jolm - like a suki-yaki type dish.

Lahb Gai - a spicy Isaan style dish eaten with rice.

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In Thailand of course!

Nice atmosphere can be found at many Thai restaurants that would cost a lot of money to find in the USA or elsewhere.

It was a special night out for, what else? Thai food!

We rode around town and looked for a place we hadn’t eaten at yet. Then I remembered a place on a hill within a kilometer of where we live. We pulled up to the large open-air pavilion which I thought was “it”. When we were looking for a place to sit down Joy noticed a very large area filled with bamboo huts down by some small ponds. JACKPOT!

We walked down the hill. There were only two other groups eating and it was very quiet. The mosquitoes were at “level insanity” so we asked them to light “the coil” and that brought an end to the skeeters.

Fried rice with squid, morning glory with garlic, fried rice with everything (Joys)

We ordered kow padt Pla Meuk (fried rice with squid) for me and Joy ordered kow pad nam prig long reu-uh (fried rice with special made chili sauce, dried shrimp, side veggies, salted egg, and fried chicken. No, Joy wasn’t eating for 2 or 3, it didn’t amount to more than my fried rice in volume. Then, we got my favorite for a vegetable – Pad pak boong – stir fried morning glory with chilis and garlic. YUM.

We topped it off with Pepsi and a bucket of ice.

We chose one of the bamboo huts without chairs – it’s just a sit on the raised floor type hut. We could see the mosquitoes easier that way and it’s easier for Joy to have a nap after dinner too. Isn’t she the cutest…? HA! She doesn’t know I put this photo on here – she’ll make me take it down if she sees it – so enjoy while you can.

A really cozy place. The food was quite good too.

Thai food is really the best food on the planet. Thai food in Thailand? Well, I don’t have to tell you – is amazing. I’ve lived on it for four years straight now -with only the occasional pizza from in town because it’s so prohibitively expensive! This whole meal, with ambience was just 185 baht – about $5 USD. That’s expensive considering how much dinner usually costs – just 75-80 baht for both of us. So tonight we splurged on upscale Thai food dining. Tomorrow? Back tot he 80 baht dinners – which are almost as good, but lack the atmosphere.

In Thailand it is quite OK to fall asleep after your meal in one of these bamboo huts. The ones that float on the river are even better. We have some photos from that type of hut while we were in Isaan (northeast Thailand) that I will have to find sometime to share here...

When are you coming to Thailand?

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I was looking through the stats for Joy’s Thai Food and saw that the top five states for visitors to our blog were:

California, New York, Texas, Illinois, and Washington State.

I wonder why… I know from being in California, New York and Illinois that there are a lot of Thai restaurants. A lot of Thais have immigrated to these states and so it makes sense that there are more restaurants there. Texas is huge, so that makes sense I guess. Washington State I think has a lot of Thai food restaurants, a lot of people that came from Thailand.

I’ve mentioned before that Florida has a LOT of Thai food restaurants and some good ones too. I knew many Thai people in Florida when I stayed.

Click the links above to see the Thai food restaurants in those states or click here: Thai food restaurants in the USA to see a list for all US States. (almost – I think there were a couple without restaurants that I could find).

Thai food is the best food!

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Sawasdee Ka!

We decided to give away one of our eBooks for free when you purchase the original 101 page Thai food ebook.

Order Joy’s Thai Food Recipe Ebook here!

If you don’t know what an e-book is, it’s simply a Word file with photos and nice formatting converted into an Adobe PDF format that you can read on your computer, PDA, phone, or maybe even your watch. It makes the files easy to read on electronic readers too – you may have heard about Microsoft’s and Amazon’s new readers. They are e-book readers designed specially for reading e-books.

We are giving away a sample PDF file of the first 11 pages of Joy’s Thai Food Recipe eBook below. When you order you’ll receive 2 more free ebooks as well as a Buddhist pendant for your necklace and either two Buddhist bracelets or stickers.

Joy’s Thai Food Recipe E-book Sample, 11 pages, fully illustrated, fully FREE! This is to give you an idea what you’re getting. But there’s more…

If you order the above book you’ll get 2 more eBooks free:

• Joy’s Top 20 Thai Desserts eBook – 42 pages of the best desserts Thailand has to offer!
• Thai Photo Journal – a personal look at some of the amazing Thailand experiences we’ve shared.

and, a Buddhist pendant to wear on your necklace…

and, two woven Buddhist bracelets or stickers (you choose)…

Order here!

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ผัดไทย Pad Thai (Thai Style Noodle Stir-Fry)

Prepare:
14 big shrimps (peeled, de-veined and cooked)
2 handful thin noodle
3/4 cup cut yellow tofu
3 tbsp. good quality dried shrimp
1/4 cup salted radish (minced)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tsp. vinegar
1 tbsp. water
1/4 cup a garlic-like vegetable of the genus Allium (cut 1 inch)
2 duck’s eggs
1 cup bean sprouts
1 tbsp. sliced red onion
1 tbsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. dried red chili powder
2 tbsp. roasted peanut (crushed)
1 tsp. sugar

Pad Thai Sauce:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 tbsp. minced red onion
3 tbsp. minced garlic
1/2 cup palm sugar
1/3 cup good quality fish sauce
1/2 cup concentrated tamarind juice

Cooking Instructions:

1. Heat the pan and add vegetable oil. When the pan is hot, add 3 tbsp. minced red onion and 3 tbsp. minced garlic. Fry until it turns gold. Gold pad Thai is good pad Thai. Be careful, it will be bitter if you put max heat and burn it.

2. Add palm sugar, fish sauce, concentrated tamarind juice. Boil until it gets thick.

3. Remove from the stove.

Next, we will cook the pad Thai noodles.

1. In a different pan, heat the pan and add vegetable oil. When the pan is hot, add red 1 tbsp. sliced onion and garlic. Fry until it has aromatic smell.

2. Add tofu, salted radish and dried shrimps.

3. Now, add noodle and water. Mix well then add vinegar.

4. Pour pad Thai sauce we prepare from before. Add as much as you like. Make sure you don’t add too much because the noodle will be too wet and overcook.

5. Then, make a quick stir. If you like bean sprouts and the genus Allium to be cooked, add it in this step.

6. Turn off the fire. Arrange the noodle on a plate. Put dried chili pepper, sugar, roasted peanut, fresh bean sprouts and the genus Allium on a side.

Oy!!!! I forgot to add shrimp!!

You can put them after any step above, because it was already cooked. I’ll put them like a pyramid on top of my Pad Thai. Another option for Pad Thai, make an omelet from duck’s eggs. Make it as thin and as big as possible. Put the noodle in the middle of the omelet. Fold four sides then put another plate on top. Turn it upside down. Decorate it with bean sprouts, the genus Allium or scallion, dried chili powder, sugar, peanut, and one piece of lemon.

We called this Pad Thai with omelet in Thai language, “Pad Thai Kai Ho”. Pad Thai is a classic Thai Food dish and one that we eat a lot – a couple times per month. Tourists, when they come to Thailand know “Pad Thai” from the Thai food restaurants in their home country. They always seem to know to order this dish!

My Pad Thai YouTube Video >

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Joy’s Top 5 Thai Food Specialty Recipes from Thailand! \(^v^)/

Joy’s Top 5 Thai Food Specialty Recipes! from Joy’s TryThaiFood Blog

5. Gang Som Naw Mai Dong (Spicy Bamboo Soup) with photo and video!

4. Yum WoonSen (Glass Noodle Spicy Salad) with photo!

3. Gang Som Goong Kai Cha-Om (Shrimp and Fried Egg Sour Soup) with many photos!

2. Pad Phet Sator (Bean Pod Stir-Fry). Photo and Video! This one is SO delicious! This is my husband’s favorite! But, it is not number one. This is my list, so I CHOOSE THE NUMBER ONE!

NUMBER 1. Is…. TOM YUM GOONG! Spicy Shrimp Thai Soup – yes, we LOVE spicy soups here… what can I say? \(^v^)/ Tom Yum Video >

Make some Thai Food for your family
– you don’t have to buy it at the restaurant,

it’s easy!

This TOP 5 Recipe post was inspired by Darren Rowse at Problogger.net – he is giving away $1001 dollars for a prize. There are THOUSANDS of entries! I hope I win something… ^^

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My Favorite Thai Food Meals!

I thought I’d write today about my favorite Thai food.

Unfortunately my wife is on holiday in Isaan and won’t be back until this Saturday. But, I’ll write it now and we’ll edit it to add the Thai names of the food later.

One meal I like at a Thai food restaurant is: Yum Woon Sen. This is a spicy noodle salad with clear rice noodles, cut tomatoes, onions, scallions, chilis, some garlic and some round small things that resemble garlic cloves but that are a little bit sweet. I must have my wife give me the name and I’ll put it here if I remember.

Yum Woon Sen is spicy because it’s wet. The wet foods are more spicy because they build up on your tongue easier for some reason, soon reaching a level of “inferno” here in Thailand. In Isaan, land of the super-spicy food I would ask for Pedt Podee or, spicy “just right”. In Isaan this means it will STILL start a small fire in your mouth, but I was able to finish it most times.

Usually cucumber is served with this dish – and the cucumber slices help to reduce the amount of burn in your mouth. The Indian food restaurants I’ve eaten at have “Lassi” – which is a yogurt mixture with cucumber pieces that also helps calm the mouth.

Another of my all-time favorite Thai foods is called, “Gai Yang!” (guy yang) This is just barbequed chicken on a stick. Many people sell this all over Isaan, and though I can find this food in the restaurants and food stalls here, it’s NOT as plentiful or as delicious as in Isaan. But, alas, nothing IS!

Guy Yang is eaten alone, with rice and bla-la (fermented fish paste) and/or with my favorite dish of all time – Som Tam! Som tam is one of the recipes we already have listed in this blog. It is very simple – and yet I love it to death. Really, I hinted that it might be addictive… but, without a doubt there is no RATIONAL explanation for why I crave it like I do… It IS ADDICTIVE.

The last meal that I’ll mention is “Tom Yum” soup. It comes in many varieties… I like the clear broth or the coconut milk broth. Though the latter seems to be spicier for some reason. Both are delicious. We will have the Thai food video and recipe listed for this very soon because she makes it so often…

I hope that gave you an idea for something to try at the restaurants. I left out some of my other favorites that I can’t remember the name for! That will be another post – after Saturday when my translator (wife) gets home!

Ok, have a great day…

Joy’s Husband

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