isaan sunday brunch

Laap somtam gai mun perhaps I might be in a bit of a rut

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light lunch in khonkaen

Tom gasm and somtam. Laying off the khao ngiaow go the day

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Yaam on the Lake

yep, back to Beung Kaen Nakhon and Yaam or spicy salad. Remember Tom Yaam Is spicy salad soup ( boiled) and a green salad is usualy calad either saalat or phaak saalat.
These folks are always great to have a chat wit, and very nice to buy food from. Not to hot just right

gai yaang khao suan kwang khonkaen

This is the recipe from gai yaang village north of naam. Pong. And now available in downtown khonkaen

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Songkran can make you hungry

Songkran is for families and after a few turns around Beueng Kaen Nakhon folks build up an appetite for a sit down and a bite to eat. Here are a few of the families taking on a bit of energy, before celebrating more songkran here in Khon Kaen.

songkran lunch gai mun somtam and Chang

Old MSN like me needs my energy

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thaifood songkran break

In khonkaen isaan

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Prawns, shrimp goong other crushed asians and squid as well, thaifood in isaan

Here you see squid being turned into shoe leather.
Squid which takes about a minute to be cooked either on the grill or boiled is left to become the equivelant of rubber soles in either place after a few minutes. I love squid and when I see this I wince..
I have shown friends how to cook squid and once they have tasted something they can actually chew they quite enjoy it andwill try to cook it that way, especially at "Koree" BBQs wher each person is in charge of  creating the meal. There are restaurants in Isaan that do know how to prepare plaa meuk correctly and they are among my favorite Which brings me to my question for all you gastromes and cooking sites out there and it is all about tom yaam or according to wikipedia "tom yum".

When my tom yaam goong arrives absolutely perfect I  easily extract the meat from the shell and pop it in my mouth. The same with other crustaceans, fish and cephalopods. But 5 minutes later, suprises suprise I cannot get the damned thig out because it is overcooked. Now some time ago I started taking whatever seafood was in the soup out after arrival and re-insrting a bit as I ate. The goong are perfect through the whole meal as are the squid or whatever else is in there that should not be over cooked.. Now a Thai friend whose restaurant I was sitting in asked me what I was doing and I gladly explained. He has now tried my system as well as some of his friend and they swear by it.
Now my question to all you ffod blogs, thai food sites and thai food cooks is why do you want us eating over cooked crustaceans and other seafood. And why have you never brought this up. And why does the secret to perfect tom yaam or yum have to come from some plonker in Isaan.
Never mind my squid is tender and I have no trouble sucking my goong out of it's shell.

lunch after a very long morning

In Baan phue enroute return to tha bo area 6hours and a bunch of sites

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Village Lunch in Nong Khai, Isaan, Thailand

When someone who owns a fish farm and also raises chickens and pigs invites me to lunch the first thing I do is find out what time and where, before picking up a few beers. The fried fish was delicious and the pork, but so was everything else. Life is sure a bugger when you have to eat Isaan style. Nap time now. It's dirty work but someone has to do it.
mobile photos from HTC Legend

a tom yaam evening in khonkaen

My run amuck weekend before songkran

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Restaurant Chem Gai Yaang Khao Suan Kwaang, Khon Kaen

This new place is located on Ammat next to the Chan Tour bus park.
Simple menu with Gai Yaang, Khao Suan Kwaang a famous chicken type in the area. The recipe comes fom a village north of Naam Pong on Mitthraphap Hoghway, know as Gai Yaang Village. Also served Laap Moo and somtam. The Laap was one of the best I have had, not salty. The somtam is not for sissies, but is not hot, note the crab parts in the photos. Beer is available. It is now 1 of my regular stops.

Sunday lunch 3/4/11 khonkaen

Map location an write up soon. The laap moo is brilliant, and I am not getting thrown out

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Saturday penang and Leo

Back at krua sri saard even though it'd 4k not 400 meters

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out of khao tom and joke

So It's noodles Saturday warm up to laap and Leo day

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