43 Thailand #3: Chili heat

Dishes on display

Hardly anyone in my family is a lightweight when it comes to spicy food. Even my grandma, since living with my parents, has developed a higher tolerance for heat. My mom told me that once she lost her hearing for a full minute because of eating a hot chili (it might have been a habanero).

Popping raw chiles has become kind of an addiction for me; the resultant endorphin rush is worth any temporary discomfort. My mom's experience has become my litmus test for whether something is too spicy for me: if I lose my hearing, I've gone too far (Fingers crossed it hasn't happened yet, not that I haven't pushed it a few times...).

On our first full day in Bangkok, we were at lunch with my Thai brother and his friend, and I saw the little red chilies innocently hanging out on the edge of the plate, thought "Why not?" and popped one into my mouth, to the mild horror and amusement of my dining companions.

At first I was thinking "This isn't so bad." But then, inevitably, the heat started building, the insides of my ears started to hurt, and my eyes began to water. To get through it I just kept eating rice (no water; that's the worst) and slowly, slowly, the fire abated. Totally worth it (I personally believe that subjecting myself to this trial set me up for the intensely spicy somptam that we had in Chiang Mai a few days later).

Cool Thai Food Links

Thought I'd share a few links that were useful in preparing for one of the most important parts of our Thailand (and Malaysia) trip: Eating.

1.  This list was indispensible in planning what we wanted to prioritize putting in our gullets (and when you're in Thailand, some prioritizing is needed, believe me). If you're a street food enthusiast like me and planning a trip to Thailand, you should definitely check it out. And, even if you're not planning a trip - enjoy the photos!

2. One man, the author of this blog, spent 30 days eating exclusively street food around his home in Thailand. 100 meals in total, and he never repeated a dish, plus he reports saving money and losing weight. If I attempted that in my neighborhood, I'd probably be stuck on a rotation of twigim 튀김, ddeokbokki 떡볶기, hotteok 호떡, toast 토스트, and sundae 순대; there's no way I could even approach 100 (and as for losing weight...).

3. Featured on the same site as #2 is this series of quizzes and menu decoders, which you can use to practice reading Thai (if you already know the alphabet. If you don't already but are interested in learning, this is the site that I used to brush up on the alphabet and continue learning before we went; Dad has used it, too, to keep up his Thai).

43 Thailand #1: Mataba

 My knowledge and experience of Thai food is centered around Isan, the northeastern region. It's where my dad lived while he was serving in the army, and also where my Thai family lives (basically my host family in Thailand; their son, my Thai brother, lived with my family for a time as an exchange student when he was in high school and we've been visiting back and forth ever since). Isan food is also popular in other parts of Thailand, and since I'm familiar with it, I tend to order it. Therefore, my knowledge of Thai food from other regions is lacking in comparison.

Our first night in Bangkok, our friend J., who has lived in Thailand for several years now, took us to a southern Thai restaurant around Khao San Road (an experience for another post...) and we ordered something called mataba that turned out to be a kind of stuffed roti served with a bit of pickled cucumber relish on the side:

Isn't it pretty on its blue plate? The egg and meat layered with pastry inside created a nice texture. Unfortunately, this particular mataba didn't really strike me. It could have been the time: We were eating fairly late (around 10pm) and it wasn't warmed completely through. Also, there wasn't anything particularly distinctive about the spicing. However, after reading this description of the dish on Kasma Lola-unchit's site, I'm willing to give it another try when I have the chance.

Note: Also from Kasma Lola-unchit: Apparently "mataba" is the Thai word for what is referred to as "murtabak" in Malaysia and Singapore.

ZenKimchi's 100 Korean foods you gotta try (from 2008)

Since finishing up my work for my second semester of teaching here, I've had more time to poke around on the Internet. While looking up some information on Mary eats for my toast post, I happened to revisit her posting of ZenKimchi's "100 Korean foods you gotta try" (from 2008, original post by ZenKimchi, on September 16, 2008, can be found here)

I was not new to Korean food when I moved here. I've been a long time fan of kimchi since my dad introduced it to me when I was a kid. Then, while living in Seattle and D.C., I learned more about the cuisine by exploring the markets and restaurants in both places. A decent number of these are things I tried before I came to Seoul. Currently, I'm looking to expand my horizons even more. I thought posting this list now would be a good way to both get a sense of what I've tried so far, and prioritize my "to-eat" list for my time here.

A change of scene

Well, once again I haven't updated in quite some time. This time, my excuse is that I was moving overseas in stages throughout the summer: to Seoul, South Korea. We arrived in late August and have been settling in these last two months.

Because we were unable to move into our more permanent apartment until late September, we have spent the better part of these last two months eating in restaurants. Although I had my reservations initially, eating out at every meal here has actually proved to be quite fun, tasty, and economical.

Here is a picture of my current favorite breakfast:

Contents (clockwise from left): seaweed, doenjangjjigae (basically Korean miso soup - it's loaded with vegetables, tofu and hot peppers. This restaurant makes my favorite version so far) with white rice; kimchi; damuji (sp)-the yellow pickled radish; Mandu (dumplings), some kind of greens in a cold "soup," and spicy beansprouts. We ordered the doenjangjjigae and mandu, and everything else came with the meal (typical here; the gratis side dishes are called "banchan" in Korean).