Isan's incredible, spicy, and...ah...unusual food.

    We are utterly spoiled now.  I'm not sure how I'm going to go back to my own cooking, and I'm a pretty good cook.  But this food is all SO.GOOD.  The food on the bus- chicken curry with rice and a strange little egg blanket, was as good as anything you'd get in a restaurant in the US.  And Lamai is a ridiculously good cook.  Even Tess, who didn't think she liked Thai food before we went, often said, "It's so good, Mommy.  I'm full but I don't want to stop!"  Those words have never been uttered in our house by that child before.  

Breakfast at the homestay was American-esque but check out the coffee.  It’s called Brazilian Slimming Coffee.  According to the label, it will slim you right down if you are carrying extra weight (it helpfully list various kinds of extra weight, in case you are unsure) and was utterly terrible.  I literally couldn’t’ drink it.

But every other meal was traditional Thai, whether at the house or out. 

OK, Thai plus fries.  

 Here are some photos to wet your whistle.

Isan is famous for its grilled food- spit and then bbq'd. 

 The fish on the right is coated in a thick layer of salt before being grilled.  To eat it you peel back the salty skin and eat the inside.  Now, I'm a New Englander and I've eaten a lot of white fish in my time.  This fish was probably the best ever.  Incredibly soft and mild.  

Tom Yum Soup.  Obscenely spicy.  Still delicious! 

 And this photo?
Frogs.  Very Spicy Frogs to be precise.  They kept insisting that it tasted like chicken and I thought, well, when in Isan.....so I ate one.  Tastes like chicken.  Or in this case, spicy chicken. The fact that I ate it still makes me awesome.

And here are some shots of the market in Bua Yai, a larger town near Ko Pet. 

Lamai and Jolie, her daughter

Isan is also famous for very spicy food, so chilis aren't sold in tiny cellophane bags like they are in the US. Why get 3 when you need 50?  Or 500?  I ate a bite of one of these suckers our first night in Ko Pet just to see what would happen.  Lots and lots of plain rice later, I asked Lamai if Thai people thought the chilis were hot.  She looked at me sympathetically and said, "Well.......medium."  In other words,"Sister, don't ask that question. The truth will just shame you."

But they cook with lots of other spices in Isan, too.

  The market was both a bit overwhelming and a food paradise.  All those spices everywhere! Just unfortunately mixed in with um...unusual cuts of meat and lots of flies.  

Also lots of sea creatures- fish, eels, crabs....

Most of the fish was sold live.  If you look closely in this photo you can see that there are nets over some of the bins near the back.  Apparently the fish were so strong they would jump out, and then either hit people in the head or choke them (I couldn't quite understand what she was saying). Either way, end result- fish inflicted death.  So now they net them in. 

And to close out this post: fish chips.  I'm sure I'll post more food photos later on.