Octopus on a stick

Folks that know me know that I had fond memories of squid on a stick in Taiwan. My father did, too - he didn't have a chance to eat it when he was in Taiwan. So - Sam prepared him some, and I cooked it up some squid on a stick on the grill on my deck in Madison. It was the first time anyone ever ate squid on a stick within the borders of Wisconsin, USA. Yup, we're pioneers.

(how did my family like the squid? great, except I remember someone getting squirted on by an eye or an ink pack - well, they don't call them "ink fish" in Thai for nothing!)

Anyhow, I thought that squid on the stick was possibly both the most awesome and the most perfect food known to mankind. And then, lo and behold, one day walking down the streets of Bangkok I saw this - octopus on a stick. I looked, and stopped, and said in my best Thai "One!" And I pointed. My Thai isn't too great. But I got my octopus, although strangely enough they took it off the stick before serving it in a plastic bag with spicy sauce. About that - if you poke at octopus bits sitting in a saucy bag with a pointy stick, you might just end up poking a hole in the bag. I have seen many folks from Bangkok do this without problems, but mine sprung a leak right before I ate the last piece, and I had to abandon that bit to a trash can before the spicy octopus sauce got all over everything. I realized then I must master the complex skills of eating Thai street food. The Thais are masters, and I am but a novice. I thought I was not bad at eating street food, but truly, the Thais have elevated it to an art form. I am in awe.

ps the octopus was delicious

pss some of those tasty bits on the grill are actually squid body

pps I think I'll go grab some octopus on a stick

Crab snacks

One thing I will say about Thailand - locals like snacks, and locals pay attention to detail when they feel its important to.  So Thailand excels at fine craftsmanship, and also at fine craftsmanship of snack foods.  

Check out these crab shaped snacks.  In the States, I have seen such attention to detail in a packaged food only in macaroni and cheese products (thanks, Kraft!).  And though the absence of boxed macaroni and cheese in Thailand disturbs me (I am an artisan when it comes to its preparation), I must say that I am consoled by the easy availability of such high quality processed snack foods.

And remember - snacks in a bag from a grocery store will always rank a distant, distant second to snacks procured on the streets of Bangkok.  So for how wonderful this crab shaped snack food is, think of something 10 times as wonderful, and that is Bangkok street food.

Breakfast in a leaf

Grabbed some roasted sticky rice wrapped in a banana leaf the other day from a street vendor - an excellent breakfast!  It was flavored with something sweet - taro, I think.  Delicious!

Snacks - with an approval number

There wasn't actually a whole fish in this pack, but close; at least, much closer than the snacks I've eaten before.

I just like that there's an approval number for the snack. I suppose if you have a complaint about your snack, you then have a number with which to get - satisfaction?

Mmmm... rice flour donut

This is a snack we got the other day - it's sort of like a deep fried rice flour donut, coated with sugar and sesame seeds.  It was chewy, moist, sweet, and probably not very good for us.  But the few bites we had were very tasty.

Old school shaved ice

Here's someone shaving ice the old fashioned way.  Old school!  Pour a bit of syrup on top, and you have yourself a cool snack for a hot day.

I'll bet his handshake is like iron from doing this so often.

Cambodia - Food IV - packaged food

We didn't actually buy most any of what's pictured (Sam tried the kickapoo joy juice, which is Singapore's version of Mello Yello, and the soursop juice, which is a sweet/sour fruit juice).  We always like to troll through grocery stores a bit, though, to see what folks eat where we're visiting.  Love the names of the chips.  It's also great how the extreme skateboarder is set to drink all sorts of drinks you don't generally see in the US - soy bean, winter melon, lychee, grass jelly, and soursop.  Extreme!

More snacks

This time from a mall food court.  Some quick cooking of some little meaty bits, and we had an excellent snack.  A bit of sausage, some fish meat shaped like little pigs, deep fried quail eggs, some dipping sauce.

I did the cartoon images showing some of the things they sell.

Yet more Thai snacks

Here are some more Thai snacks.  Shandong style peanuts are good ("Camel" brand - perhaps they contain extra tar?), heart shaped sweet potato snacks, and a couple excellent shrimp flavored ones.  Enjoy!

(oh wait, you can't, we'll just have to do so in your stead)