Food Coma Adventures

While Thai dishes are normally thought to be spicy, there are other overriding flavors that can usually be experienced in a single spoonful: sweet, sour, salty, bitter. And just like Thailand's neighbors around Asia, many of their dishes are actually quite simple: either homemade or being sold on the street for a couple of baht.

I'm no expert, but I guess this contrast — their seeming simplicity while being packed with complex flavors — is what appeals to many people, is what keeps people coming back to Thailand for food trips, and is what makes people try to recreate their favorites in their own kitchens.

So after a long hiatus away from the kitchen (save for deciding to try making banana pancakes for breakfast last Thursday), I decided to try my hand at cooking Thai food yesterday for our Resurrection Sunday Dinner. Fortunately, my two youngest siblings, who also happen to enjoy Thai cuisine, helped me out in the kitchen.

My original plan was to create a menu revolving around our family's favorite dishes:

Appetizer: Tom Yum Goong
Entrées: Pad Thai, Bagoong Fried Rice, Chicken Pandan
Dessert: Sticky Rice with Mango 

Two Sundays ago, my newlywed brother, Chuck, volunteered to cook Sunday dinner for the family. In tandem with his wife, Anna, and the supervision of our amazing chef of a mom, he was able to cook pesto — his favorite kind of pasta — from scratch.

This gave our mom a bright idea. Since she's always wanted to see any of us take over kitchen duties (unlike the rest of us who never really expressed an interest in cooking, she was cooking and baking as a child; she even put up a cookie business for about 10 years when we were kids and still continues to accept orders for her cookies, her one-of-a-kind apple pie, turkey, and more), she challenged us to take turns preparing Sunday dinner.

Chuck and Anna had already done their part. So the following Sunday, which was yesterday, my sister, Cooky, and yours truly were on deck.
After some researching, this was the final line-up: Italian pasta salad, rice pilaf, and chicken parmigiana.