When I go visit my fellow blogger Naomi, I enjoy eating real Mexican food from a road side cart. Delicious.
We usually share a spot at a picnic table with local workmen and even business people that know good food comes from road side vans. I especially love the Cokes in real bottles made with real sugar.
This one is located at the gas station near the round about at exit 3 Brattleboro Vermont
Here in the Vermont/New Hampshire area, we have Thai vans that sell food.
I have to admit I do not enjoy the Ginger soda they offer, but the food is fresh, good and cheap. There are also picnic tables. I have to wonder if business drops off a lot in the winter. I tend to only stop when it’s warmer as you have to wait for your food to be made.
Good choices, but I wish they had real sugar Coke in glass bottles
Vermont and New Hampshrie have many Thai immigrants, that have opened wonderful restaurants and become a welcome part of the community. When my children were in school they helped plant bulbs at the local Buddhist monastery in nearby Massachusetts.The Thai brought their religious beliefs with them along with their excellent food.
I would enjoy a Mexican family moving to our area, and opening a real Mexican restaurant or having a road side van. However, I have learned from my Thai friends how to make real sticky rice, and one of my favorite desserts, Khao Tom Mad.
The recipe is as follows, you can usually purchase banana leaves frozen at a Thai food grocery store! They defrost nicely, ready for use.
Khao Tom Mad
Ingrediants:
Sticky rice (real sticky rice, ask at your local Asian grocery store. Soak overnight!).
bananas
banana leaves
can of coconut milk
few tablespoons of sugar
To make….
Drain rice that has been soaking overnight. Put in nonstick frying pan and heat slowly with sugar and can of coconut milk. When rice is tender and cooked, cool.
Get your banana leaf out.
Put some rice mixture on leaf
Put half of a banana on a leaf
Put more ice on leaf
Tie leaf around it all, think of it as a little packet.
STEAM, use your steamer or a traditional bamboo steamer (I like traditional)
It really is a delicious treat, and kids love it. My kids would even eat it as a snack at lunch, but I like it best warm.
I was also told that in Thailand dessert is served with every meal, and the drink of choice is not ginger soda, but iced tea.
Related articles
- Thai Food (leeloblogs.wordpress.com)
- my love affair with thai food: part two (samanthade5a7.wordpress.com)
- Recovering USA economy gets Thai food restaurant entrepreneurs excited (entrepreneurthai.wordpress.com)
- A Farang’s Take on Thai Food: Part One (thailandtrekker.wordpress.com)
Two Different Girls 
Next time you’re in Houston, we will go to the Asian market, and you can make this for me!
well maybe. My Thai friend Aew, thinks the reason Thailand isn’t a “first world” country is the food takes so long to prepare. She has a fun theory that fast cheap food is important to a society, as it frees women from basically spending all day cooking. She grew up in a well to do family, and while the family had a maid, the mother is always expected to COOK. Her mother cooked ALL DAY…you don’t hire a cook because you can’t trust a cook to do as good a job as “mother”. It takes a lot of time!
Real Thai iced tea (or iced coffee) is very strong with a dose of milk (or coconut milk) and sugar to offset it. Yummy but it’ll give you a buzz!
I am happy to report that our choice of Thai restaurants has just doubled this Spring. Even though the erstwhile temp library has been converted to the “Beau Thai”, we still prefer the one on Wisc. Ave. 1. It’s comfier. 2. It’s right around the corner from the pet store with kitties up for adoption. 3. It offers a selection of inexpensive Italian desserts in addition to the mango and sticky rice.