Thai'd Up

 

Wednesday, July 24, 2024

Terry began his weekend by relaxing and smoking a cigar or two outside after work. For him this time means reading in peace. He loves his books, about all types of things in life, and will read for hours. Me? I'm off delivering a friggin' burger to a town that is 10 miles out or off into banjo country. 

It was a great day to work however, meeting my goal and extending beyond that goal with the orders I was getting. My heart was set on making money for the day, but my mind was focused on being home, shoes off and watching TV for a bit with my hubby. 

I more than doubled my goal by 1:30 PM, when my scheduled shift ended. I  had another shift following but chose to take care of business first. I had to get a new phone. My old phone was a Samsung 20 Ultra Note. While it was always a good friend and took good photos for the time it was designed, she was getting old enough that her battery was losing charge fairly quickly. I almost cried when I had to hand her over. 

Terry and I purchased the Samsung S24 Ultra, which is the latest invention for the masses, or at least that's how the people at our wireless service provider make it sound. Now, after owning one for about six hours and taking photos of the mundane items around me, I have to say they were correct. Now both Terry and I have great cameras on our phones to bring better pictures to the blog. See? Y'all win too! 

Evie, our little stray kitty was on the front porch. I saw her sitting on the front deck area while Terry and I were outside chatting about the day. I zoomed in and took the shot. I am impressed with the way the photo came out. 

Samsung has upped their game again. I guess I need to set up an altar for the phone with charger feeding it the energy to keep it going, placing small, older phones all around to worship the titanium item. Yes, they must get on their knees to pay tribute to this new advanced technology. I will have more to photograph as time goes on of course, but so far, I'm impressed with the cameras it has built in. 

Back to our basic day. After work, Terry asked if I would like to go out for dinner. Nothing, and I mean nothing sounded better after the day I had! He was exhausted as well from his week.  

Where were we going? Sweet man told me he wanted to surprise me. Now this should be interesting. A bit scary since we are talking about a man who loves to eat escargot and other nasties from the sea. But off we went. 

We arrived in a small "strip mall" situation, when Terry asked, "Hey, babe. You ready to tie one on?" I replied, "Um, no. I don't drink, so this isn't happening." I looked up and saw the signage for a Thai restaurant. Funny man. He's got jokes. 

I've never eaten Thai food, so this will be interesting to say the least. We were seated and began perusing the menu. All sorts of dishes sounded great! I am impressed with Thai cuisine, that's for sure. But I had no idea what was about to take place. Turns out Thai food will send me to new heights of food acceptance and extreme levels of deliciousness I did not understand until now.  

After searching through the dishes listed in the large menu, Terry happened to find a nice special being served today, since it was Wednesday. The plate was the cashew nut veggie choice, but with your input of chicken or pork if you desire. I chose pork. Terry went with all veggie. Yum. Either way it looked so good. 

The plate is served with a side dish of steamed rice as well. Good meal. No, great meal. It was all wonderful. A little spicy and my mouth was on fire, but still a tasty dinner.

Loved the cashews mixed in with the chili sauce and the veggies. The pork added a different texture, although was bland in flavor as pork tends to be. Rice? Oh, yeah, rice. I love rice. As a diabetic it's not healthy for you, but still ... it's rice. Soy sauce covering the rice and we've got a meal. 

Over the years, I have found rice to be good with a sweetness to it, or butter, gravy, or even a little pepper added to round it all off. Veggies are even better with or in rice. Love the white stuff!

But Terry had a surprise for me. If you eat Thai food, you would probably know of this dish, but I am a Thai virgin as I stated above. I had no idea about the desserts served in a Thai restaurant. 

Already pretty full from the dinner, I didn't think I could finish the dessert portion of the evening. Boy, was I wrong! Have you ever been satisfied after a meal, but something tastes so good that you keep eating? Yeah, well, welcome to the desserts of Thailand. If you ever go to a Thai restaurant, do yourself a huge favor and order the mango sticky rice piece of heaven. 

When the waitress brought it to our table, I wasn't sure what I was looking at exactly. It was visually pretty and all, but odd. Although I thought I would give it the old college try, I picked at a small piece of the sticky rice form sitting in front of me. There was a white sauce covering the entire pairing of fruit and rice, so I scooped a bit of it up with the rice. I wasn't quite sure what the orange stuff was on top yet, so I gave that a moment. 

I brought the spoonful of rice to my lips. I began to worry a bit about what Terry had ordered. He was into eating his, that was for sure. Maybe it's a good thing? But the man eats calamari and escargot and things that I can say with certainty are not allowed anywhere near my mouth. 

Oh, my food gods and goddesses! The rice hit my tongue and filled my mouth with an explosion of greatness. Warm rice coated in a delicious coconut sauce danced with every taste bud before moving along! Tingles of delight spread throughout my body. This, this dish alone makes life worth living. 

Now for the orange thing. I asked Terry what it was. He told me it was mango. Mango and I don't sit well. It is a flavor that has been imitated in drinks and in foods for many years. That flavor is one I despise. Imitation mango is not on my menu. There is something about it that disgusts me, making an actual mango untrustworthy. But I thought I could give it a try because Terry was so excited to have me try this dish. 

A little piece of fresh mango was added to the rice and coconut sauce. The three sat on my spoon mocking me. I just didn't know if I had it in me to try that nasty orange fruit. I opened my mouth, inserted my spoonful of the hated mangifera indica and closed my mouth again. Hey, it's listed under "indica," correct? 

The mango, rice, and coconut sauce mixed together and sent me to a new level of ecstatic. The wonderful, tangy, yet sweet goodness delighted me in so many new ways. I couldn't get enough of this dessert! I told my husband it was orgasmic, to which brought a giggle or two. Literally, I wanted to moan and groan in pleasure, but didn't want to give our audience of other diners a When Harry Met Sally moment. Oh, my. Best stuff, ever!

I have decided I love the Thai people who invented this dish. I want to move to Thailand, although I'm not so sure the hubby will follow. We arrived back home and the first thing I did was grab for my phone. I had to know how to make such a brilliant plate of lovely food that had me swooning for more. Several recipes for the delightful dessert I had eaten came up in the listing. I'm going to be trying some of them to hopefully work up to that perfect moment once more. 

Warm rice bathing in the warm coconut sauce, then adding in the room temperature mango and you've got a heavenly, blissful dessert designed by angels. I can't get that moment of trying it out of my mind. The warmth with the cool, plus the sweet, creamy coconut sauce and the tang of fruit, amazingly blended into what I can only call perfect. So good!

When we returned home, Terry and I watched some TV, letting our full bellies digest for a bit before bed. The chili sauce on the main course was quite spicy for me, but I am a self proclaimed wimp when it comes to spicy foods. Although it seemed the cool of the fruit and coconut sauce calmed the spicy flavors of the food, in perfect balance. 

I finally headed for bed around midnight, falling asleep with a smile on my face and mangos covered in coconut sauce on top of a bed of sticky rice dancing in my head. Forget the sugar plums. The Sugar Plum Fairy ain't got nothin' on Thai people swinging this dessert! 

A simple, yet eventful day and evening for us. I will leave this here and bid you adieu for now. I'm off to dreamland where I will be eating another plate of sticky rice with mango while holding my husband's hand. Wonderful, awesome, delightful day. Makes life worthwhile. Life is grand.

 Love you all. Take care and peace out!