A True Thai Thanksgiving

This is a traditional Hmong costume worn for Tsa Hauv Toj, or Hmong New Year's, but it is also good for Thanksgiving because Hmong New Year's always comes in November or December. This year it is being celebrated at the Saint Paul River Centre from November 27th through the 29th (this Friday, Saturday and Sunday).

I have been giving some thought to the American custom of giving thanks on Thanksgiving. Usually I do not think about it until suddenly — without warning — someone at the table says, "this year I'd like to give thanks for..." and then it is my turn but I'm not sure what to say!

So this year I have thought a lot about it and I have decided that I am most grateful to Carla, my personal trainer, for making me healthier and giving me the energy to work 105 hours a week. But I am also grateful to all of True Thai's customers. You are the reason I work so many hours. If you were not so wonderful I wouldn't want to spend so much time at True Thai.

I am also grateful for:

True Thai's cooks for fixing tasty, healthy meals

Mickey my cat who is also my therapist because he listens to me

All our customers who voted for us in the Zagat poll

All of our customers who did not vote for us

All of my blog readers

My family

My friends

America, my adopted homeland

And I am always grateful to Thailand, the country of my birth.

I hope you enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday. True Thai will be open as usual tomorrow, Friday the 27th. Stop by if you'd like to eat some food that does not have turkey in it, or just to say hi!

Lost

You may not recognize the person in this picture. It is me, and this picture was taken a year ago. While it is true that eating Thai food will not make you fat, I used to eat lots of other kinds of food as well, and eating at steakhouses, Italian restaurants and Boston Market was not good for my waistline.

Losing 40 lbs. helped motivate me to become a better blogger. Well, a more frequent blogger at any rate.

Eating more Thai food helped me lose weight, but most of the credit belongs to Carla at Los Campeones Gym. Since this is Thanksgiving week, I should probably say that I am very grateful to Carla for helping me lose that 40 lbs. through exercise and better eating habits.

They say that losing weight will change your life. Well, it changed mine. I have more energy for one thing. In fact, Susan Pagani's profile of me at The Heavy Table talks a lot about my energy levels.

Anna Prasomphol Fieser is indefatigable.

The woman is tiny, she’s over-worked by anyone’s standards, but at the end of a long week she seems to have more energy than a 2-year-old after a dozen powdered donuts.

....contagious energy and enthusiasm....

Believe me when I say that in my entire life no one ever called me tiny before! They called me short, but not tiny.



Thank you Carla.

I also don't remember people talking about my energy levels. How hard I work, yes. Energetic? Not really.

Thank you Carla.

I have always believed in eating the right food, but hanging out with fitness buffs I have learned a lot about food. I now better understand why I am healthier when I eat more Thai food, and heavier when I eat other stuff.

Thank you Carla.

If you would like to thank Carla for turning your life around, call Los Campeones Gym at 612 333-8181. Then you too can say, "thank you Carla."

Mmmm, fish cakes!

True Thai's customers love our appetizers but seem to order the sames ones all the time. Spring rolls, egg rolls, satay and shrimp are very popular. Our Southeast Asian customers love our Bangkok Crispy Beef, and guys in general like chicken wings.

Our customers who order fish cakes are harder to categorize. The only thing they have in common is the fact that they keep ordering fish cakes each time they come in. It is clear that they love True Thai's Royal Thai Fish Cakes (#9 on our menu).

It may be that you have never heard of fish cakes. Many people have not. But if you put "fish cakes" into Google, you will get almost 8 million matches! And no, they do not think you are searching for a cake with a picture of a fish on it!

Fish cakes remind me of my home in Chanthaburi. When Anna and her brothers would come home from school, fish cakes were our favorite after-school snack. Our mom's were best because she made the best fish cakes and the best fish cake sauce and that is why I use my mom's recipe for True Thai's Royal Fish Cakes.

It makes me happy that the food on our menu makes our customers happy.

You all like the same food I do!

I think that is the basis for a long and healthy relationship.

Metro Magazine likes our chilis & basil!

Chef Anna here to let you know that Twin Cities Metro Magazine has reviewed True Thai's #38, Wok-fried Green Chilis & Fresh Sweet Basil!

I like what Jamie Thomas has to say about our entrées and our commitment to hot and spicy food.

"Thai hot" is mouth-scorching, but even so, owner Anna Fieser says many of her regulars have gotten used to this level of spice thanks to regular exposure to her fare. Begin your quest to become one of the seasoned pros by ordering the Wok-friend Green Chili and Basil dish, which contains jalapenos and Thai chilis.

That almost makes up for Twin Cities Metro Magazine's Chris Clayton and Mecca Bos-Williams telling the world that True Thai has the Twin Cities' "Stinkiest Salad."

I do not think our laab is stinky! Even if they did mean that "in a good way."

But Chef Anna knows that what smells like heaven to some can be pretty stinky to others. Our wok-fried chilis and basil is not a stinky dish, but it is very intense. Here is a close up:



This is the "hot" version of this entrée. You can tell because we used red jalapeños instead of green ones. If red jalapeños are not hot enough for you, we can always make yours "Thai hot" and use green or red Thai chili peppers.

Anna's Garden

Soooo beautiful! Have you ever seen such a large or bountiful cherry tomato plant?

It's late in the season now and it's getting cold at night so we are moving Anna's Garden inside for the winter, but I am still shocked by how large this cherry tomato plant grew up to be. I have been looking and looking for pictures of other cherry tomato plants online to compare mine to, but this sad specimen is the best I could do:


In my opinion, there is no comparison. This one may be a little older and bigger, but it doesn't have cherry tomatoes like Anna's does.

I think I am going to award myself a black belt in tomato growing!

Enjoyed by kings and peasants alike

All my life when people asked me, "Anna, what is your favorite Thai curry?", I would say Choo Chee Curry, #35 on True Thai's menu. We ate seafood all the time when I was growing up and no Thai dish has more seafood in it than Choo Chee Curry.

But that was before I discovered Red Curry with Kabocha Squash (#F). It is #F on our menu because we added it after we opened. In fact, we added it to our menu almost immediately after I first tried it. Kabocha squash adds an addictively creamy, deliciously natural spicy flavor to red curry.

Growing up in Thailand, I do not think I ever had red curry with Kabocha squash. Two hundred years ago this was a very special dish served only to the Royal family. Then Kabocha squash became more common but for some reason Thai restaurants never served it. But rural people did, and red curry with Kabocha squash became known as an ethnic dish from northern Thailand.

Red Curry with Kabocha Squash is not just my personal favorite. If you read blog reviews of True Thai there is almost always a glowing mention of our Red Curry with Kabocha Squash, and I know many customers who order it almost every time they come in. And it is not just True Thai that serves it now. If you go to Asian food warehouses they have all started to carry Kabocha squash by the case, and not just in the Fall for table decorations.


Once served to kings, then found only in rural areas, and now served at True Thai Restaurant: Red Curry with Kabocha Squash!

Happy Loi Krathong

Loi Krathong is Thailand's most beautiful holiday. It is best known for floating Krathongs in banana leaf cups on the closest river or lake. Each year little Anna would stay up late the night before and then get up early to finish making her own banana leaf cup and Krathong, much like American kids carving a jack-o-lantern and making cookies for Santa all at one time. Then that night as Loi Krathong began, Little Anna would take her banana cup and Krathong to the Chanthaburi River where she and her friends would set them on the river and watch as they floated away with our sins from the past year.



My mom would never go with us. She would always said she didn't have that many sins and wasn't worried about it. I think she just liked having some time to herself which is hard to come by in a house with twelve kids. We were taught that the banana cups would take our sins away because we were Catholics, but Loi Krathong is a Buddhist holiday and so most Thai would say that they are ridding themselves of their "bad luck" by putting it into banana cups.

You can see pictures from last year's Chiang Mai Loi Krathong festival here . Many festivals also feature an illuminated boat procession.

Loi Krathong is soooo beautiful! Many people wear red costumes. Here is a picture of Anna in her grownup Loi Krathong clothes:

True Thai Halloween

Ooooo — creepy! No, we don't celebrate Halloween in Thailand, but we do have lots of creepy movies. Here are some posters from some Thai horror classics:


Oooo, scary!

No tricks just treats at True Thai this Halloween. Stop in and let us see your costumes!

Halloween vs Loi Krathong

Getting ready for trick or treaters!

If the Zagat Twin Cities' Top Ten rating was our treat, I'm a little worried about what tricks may be coming Anna's way! But no tricks for you at True Thai this week: just the usual great tasting treats.

There is no Halloween in Thailand. If you are in Thailand or will be there on Saturday, many cities will be celebrating Loi Krathong with a festival. [In Thai, วันลอยกระทง, also spelled Loy Krathong in English.] It usually comes in early November but it is early this year because the twelfth lunar month came early in 2009.

I will write more about Loi Krathong this Sunday but right now I'm busy figuring out what to give trick or treaters. (I'm thinking persimmons.)



Better for you than candy, and just as sweet.

Thank you again Zagat!

Omigosh I can hardly believe it! Rick Nelson says that Zagat has listed True Thai as one of Minneapolis' Top Ten restaurants. I don't know why I'm surprised — I've got the award hanging on the wall. I guess I should have read the letter that came with it!

Who got the top rankings in the annual Zagat "America's Top Restaurants" guide ($15.95) in the Twin Cities?

The top 10 food rankings (in order, from highest to lowest) are:

• La Belle Vie
• 112 Eatery
• Restaurant Alma
• Lucia's Restaurant
• Vincent
• Manny's Steakhouse
• Heartland
• Oceanaire Seafood Room
• 20.21
• True Thai

OK, maybe we are not first but we are on the list. All of these restaurants are famous in the Twin Cities. True Thai is very honored that Zagat thinks we belong on a list with these outstanding restaurants. I'd like to do better than #10 but for those of you who do not know, #9 is Wolfgang Puck's restaurant.

But next year, True Thai will do better. Anna will have her entire restaurant staff working out at Los Campeones gym, training to beat Wolfgang Puck.

October 27, National Potato Day

I.don't.think.most people realize that the potato was unknown to most of the world until the Spanish conquistadors brought them back to Europe from Peru. Almost immediately chefs from around the world began to develop recipes featuring potatoes.

The British celebrated their National Potato Day last February 3. Peru celebrated their most famous vegetable on May 30. The Irish celebrate taters every March, but South Dakotans celebrate National Potato Day in August while Coloradans spud out in September. Williams, Minnesota, has been celebrating the lowly tuber every October since 1953. To their credit, spud loving Minnesotans in Williams have their own Potato Parade, complete with contests for best potato sculpture and spud decorating.

The potatoes shown above are not from Williams but as you can see potatoes have great potential for art. You might want to warm up your pumpkin carving skills by working on a potato!

Thai cooks mostly use potatoes in curry dishes. At True Thai Restaurant our Magnificent Masaman Curry combines potatoes with peanuts to create a heavenly comfort food.

But our most popular potato dish is one we invented ourselves: Thai Potatoes, Country Style:


Potatoes sliced thin and then wok-fried until they are crispy. Yum!

WELCOME TASTE OF THE TWIN CITIES!

True Thai welcomes Taste of the Twin Cities to our party room tonight!

If you have a group that likes to eat out, remember that True Thai Restaurant does not charge a fee to reserve our party room.

UPDATE: Wow, what a great bunch of people! Taste of the Twin Cities had True Thai rocking last night.