It's great to be here, Thailand has a special place in my heart, I feel warm and content here (most of the time) and the cuisine is definitely one of my favourites, if not my very favourite - if I could only eat one cuisine for the rest of my life it would be a strong contender.
So, these are the highlights of the Thai cuisine so far - we start off with baked mussels Thai style
We had these on our first night in Thailand - it was in Koh Samui, in a little place on Lamai beach that wasn't especially amazing. Apart from these mussels that is - which were baked in a sweet chilli sauce, thai basil adding a fragrant quality to the dish. I woke up at 5am the next morning, kicking myself that I hadn't taken a photo of them. So we went back and had them again and they were just as good the second time round
That is a spicy duck salad - shredded duck with red onion and green chilli, with a tangy lime and chilli dressing. This is what I'm guessing anyway - it was a very simple dish and yet I couldn't get enough of it! We had this in a lovely restaurant overlooking Bophut beach in Koh Samui, it was called something like "Starfish"... they also did an interesting seafood soufle served in a coconut shell. I hadn't been to Bophut fisherman's village before - it is one of the most charming places in Thailand in my eyes
And voila - le Barracuda flambe! This was served is a sweet sauce that, weirly enough, reminded me of a Polish fish dish - ryba po grecku - which is served cold. It had that same oniony sweetness. I expect it also had some kind of tomato sauce in there, and perhpas some mango, as it was quite fruity. Sorry I didn't ask what was in it, but I was too busy putting it away and I forgot
So here, it is, I am worried that I will loose internet connection again, so I am signing off now - wish me luck pulling the plug out of the socket again!