Closed Memorial Day

In my lifetime, Thailand has not known war firsthand. Border skirmishes and internal conflicts, yes. And Japan did invade us during WWII, but only for about eight hours and then we established an armistice. Modern Thailand is not a warlike country, but we certainly know war.

During each war in Asia, Thailand becomes home to countless refugee camps. What I know of war, I learned from others who had fled from war. When I was young and our family would take food baskets to nearby refugee camps, it was heartbreaking to see the smiles of refugees because you could tell it had been a long time since they had any reason to smile.

This picture is of the Umpiem Mai refugee camp in northern Thailand. Over 150,000 people live there, mostly Burmese refugees who have fled the military junta in Burma.

There is nothing good to say about war, and each war creates a flood of victims. Memorial Day is the day we set aside to think about war and those who didn't come back.

True Thai Restaurant will be closed Monday, May 30, in recognition of Memorial Day.

Thai grrr!

I was happy to learn that there may be more tigers in Thailand than was previously thought. I like tigers, maybe because unlike crocodiles, I have never met a tiger except in a zoo.

In Asia, the tiger is the King of Beasts! In fact, the tiger really is the King of Beasts, having been voted the "world's favourite animal" in a poll conducted by Animal Planet. (Dogs finished second.)

Three species of tiger have become extinct, but six species still remain. The tigers in Thailand are Indochinese tigers (Panthera tigris corbetti), but no matter which species you pick, there is no such thing as a small adult tiger. Male adults of each species grow to eleven feet in length and weigh about 650 lbs.

The Wat Pa Luang Ta Bua Temple in western Thailand is known as the Tiger Temple. There are 34 tigers living with the monks there. I think those are very brave monks! Sadly, that's ten percent of the tigers still known to live in Thailand. You can see a video of those tigers at YouTube.

Now that I live in the United States, I am much more pro-tiger than I used to be. My sister Mem, who still lives in Thailand, is not as big a fan.

*****

I think this is the first time I've ever updated a post, but I just learned there is some good news from Thailand for tigers: Sudjai Chanthawong, the head of Thailand's biggest tiger trafficking ring, has been arrested!

Have you made your reservations yet?

Every time we celebrate a holiday, I find myself thinking about the next holiday. After Easter, the next holiday is Mother's Day on Sunday, May 8.

But not in Thailand. In Thailand we celebrate Mother's Day on the Queen's birthday, which is August 12. May 8th is Don Rickles' birthday, but I do not think that is why they picked the second Sunday in May to be Mother's Day in America.

Have you made your reservations yet? There are only two days in the year when I know in advance that True Thai will be packed with customers: Valentine's Day and Mother's Day.

Father's Day? We do OK, but our customers seem to like their moms better than their dads. If you like your mom and want to take her to True Thai on Mother's Day, make your reservation now!

Closed Easter

Just a reminder that True Thai Restaurant will be closed Easter Sunday so our employees can spend time with their families. We will be open during regular hours on Saturday and Monday.

Please accept our wishes for a happy holiday weekend.

Happy Songkran!

Sorry not to have been posting more often, but a friend just sent me a link to someone else's pictures of the Songkran festivities in Thailand.

I promise to post more often in the future, but in the meantime enjoy Regina's pictures.

Thailand's Got Talent!

Forget Susan Boyle — the new talent discovery for 2011 is fifteen-year-old First!

First is one of many, many very talented Thais. Here's another video that's much more Thai and much less American.

Yes, Bell Nantita is a transgender Thai, in case you were wondering about the sudden voice change. In Thailand, anyone can be Michael Jackson or Celine Dion or both!

Your vote is very important!

It's that time of year again! City Pages is accepting ballots for their annual Readers' Poll. I'm not saying who I voted for, but I used a lot of T's when I filled out my ballot.

Nutritionists owe the coconut an apology!

When I came to this country, I was very skinny and very healthy. I was shocked when I learned in college nutrition classes that coconut oil wasn't good for me. When I was growing up nearly everything I ate was cooked with coconut oil!

Now the experts are saying, "oops, maybe coconut oil is not so bad for you."

[W]hile it is still uncertain whether coconut oil is actively beneficial the way olive oil is, small amounts probably are not harmful. The new federal Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that no more than 10 percent of total dietary calories a day come from saturated fat. For a 2,000-calorie diet, that’s about 20 grams.

I could have told them that. As a public health nurse, I should probably defend nutritionists. I should, but I cannot. Since I started working out regularly, I've learned more about nutrition from fitness trainers than I ever did in a college classroom.

What have I learned? I've learned that in most countries, the traditional dietary practices are almost always healthy and good for you. I've learned that the less time food spends being processed, the better it is for you. And I've learned not to eat anything with a lot fine print on the label.

Good food is made fresh, from fresh ingredients. You may have tried to stock up on True Thai takeout. If so, you've learned that Thai food is not meant to be kept in a refrigerator. Once prepared, it should be eaten, not stored.

I do not wish to be rude, but in my humble opinion, people who invented lard should not criticize other people's cooking oils.

Of course, it is easy to talk about fresh food when you are from a country where it never snows. Preservatives made life in the frozen north (and south) possible. But if you have a choice, always eat fresh foods because given a choice, wouldn't you rather live longer and be healthier?

Plastic food

A friend just sent me a link to one of the saddest stories I've ever read. In China, criminals are selling fake rice to poor people! Fake rice?

The "rice" is made by mixing potatoes, sweet potatoes and plastic. The potatoes are first formed into the shape of rice grains. Industrial synthetic resins are then added to the mix. The rice reportedly stays hard even after being cooked....

"A Chinese Restaurant Association official said that eating three bowls of this fake rice would be like eating one plastic bag.

I have never eaten a plastic bag but I cannot imagine that they are very tasty, even when cooked with MSG.

The really terrible thing about this story is that rice is already very cheap. Yes, yes — I know that prices went up last year and that rice hoarders almost created a shortage and that prices are still at historically "high" levels —but even at grocery store prices a cup of uncooked rice still costs less than 25¢.

That's why True Thai did not raise our menu prices when the price of rice went up. We go through at least one fifty-pound bag of rice every day, but when the wholesale price of rice skyrocketed, that still cost us less than $10 a day. Still, much smaller restaurants who go through much less rice used that as an excuse to raise their menu prices. I will not share with you what I think these restaurant owners have in common with people who sell fake rice, but maybe you can guess.

I am less reluctant to share with you a link to Jeremy Iggers' review of Tracy's Saloon, an outstanding casual dining establishment just a few blocks west of True Thai Restaurant. The next time you stop by on a Friday or Saturday night and there is a line of people waiting to get into True Thai, remember that Tracy's is just a few blocks down the street and they are Jeremy Iggers approved!

Food and I.Q.

A new study finds that children who eat diets high in processed food (junk food) have lower I.Q.s. I am not surprised.

My family always believed there was a connection between intelligence and the food you eat. I have written about My Mother's Salmon before, so maybe you already know that when I was little, my Mom fed me salmon for breakfast on days when I had to take a test.

Very few ingredients used at True Thai are processed. I have not done a formal study, but I have noticed that the children who come here to eat on a regular basis seem to be very bright kids. I also think our adult customers are smarter than average, but maybe I am wrong about that.

In years past, True Thai has always had a good crowd on Super Bowl Sundays. I attributed this to our not having any TVs at the restaurant. I cannot say that any more. Last Sunday night it seemed as if there was one person at every table who was watching the game on their phone. I do not think there is enough salmon in the world to help these people.

Please do not think that I dislike all sports. If a Muay Thai boxing tournament is ever held in the Twin Cities, you will not find me at the restaurant watching on my phone. I will be sitting in the front row cheering.

And maybe eating some salmon.

Eating your way through the menu

A friend sent me a link to an incredible story about JoAnn Stougaard, a blogger who is eating her way through the menu at a Thai restaurant in Los Angeles.

Today, Stougaard will eat her 148th, 149th and 150th dishes from among the restaurant's about 300 mostly southern Thai specialties — the halfway point toward her goal of working her way through the entire menu, curry by curry, pad see ew by pad Thai, miang khun shrimp by yala tiger prawn.

"I'm tying my hair back to get ready," she says, getting down to business. She pulls out her trusty Leica D-Lux 4 camera, which she has used to document via Flickr every Jitlada dish she has eaten, and takes a photo of the plate in front of her — deep-fried soft-shell crab in a dry curry with pumpkin. "OK, let's eat."

Stougaard, an infectiously perky 46-year-old with a white-bright smile, doesn't have to ask before a server brings to the table her preferred beverage — Singha beer. When she wants an extra glass of water, she dashes to the waiters' station and pours it herself. And when customers walk in but the harried staff is too busy to notice, Stougaard will get up, seat them at a table and start recommending dishes.

Wow, I wish True Thai had more customers like Stougaard, although I'm not sure I like the idea of customers bussing their own tables and seating other customers!

I was also impressed that the Jitlada Restaurant has 300 items on their menu, so I tried to find an online copy of it. Their website was not helpful (score 1 for True Thai!), and Menupages.com's Jitlada menu only showed less than 120 dishes. True Thai's menu has 80 items on it, so 120 did not sound like too many to me.

That got me to thinking, maybe they count Chicken Satay as one dish, and Pork Satay as another? If you approach True Thai's menu that way, we have 300 dishes you can order!

But my friend did some more online detective work and found Jitlada's actual online menu. It is a very big menu and they serve some Thai dishes I have never eaten except in Thailand. True, Los Angeles is much closer to Thailand than Minneapolis is, and I'm sure it helps that there are more Thai in L.A. than the rest of the U.S. put together. It also helps that it's warm in southern California. Their farmers can grow things Minnesotans can only grow in heated greenhouses.

How many different True Thai menu items have you ordered? And no, we do not serve kaeng phuung plaa kun sap (fish kidney curry), but if you ask nicely, we will make some special just for you.

Happy New Year's!

2010 was the Year of the Metal Tiger

True Thai Restaurant will be open on New Year's Eve, but we will be closed on New Year's Day. The Western calendar's New Year's Day, that is. Not everyone celebrates the New Year on the same day.

It used to be that you had to be an Asian astrologer to figure out which day was Thai New Year's, also known as Songkran, but now Songkran (สงกรานต์) always falls on April 13-15. In Burma they call this celebration Thingyan, in Lao it is Songkan, and in Khmer (Cambodian) it is called Chaul Chnam Thmey. Nepalese New Year's fall on April 12-15. In the Indian state of Assam, they celebrate on April 14-15, which is the same as the Bengali New Year.

Tamil New Year's (Puthandu) comes on January 14, the same day as the Punjabi/Sikh New Year in Punjab.

But it is not just Asians who celebrate different New Year's. Ancient Babylonians celebrated in March, and the Iranians still party in March as do many parts of India. The Coptic Church in Africa celebrates Neyrouz in September.

Did you know that Rosh Hashanah is really the Jewish New Year's? And that it's always in the fall? The Vietnamese (Tét), Koreans (Seollal) and Chinese still vary New Year's from year to year due to their use of a lunar calendar, but the Japanese went Western in 1873.

Fortunately, few other cultures drink on New Year's like Americans do, but with the adoption of the Western calendar by most of the world that is changing. Even Thais have been partying on December 31st since 1941.

But even the British didn't agree on New Year's Day falling on January 1 until 1752, 152 years after Scotland picked that day.

And, if you are Muslim, you already had your New Year's on December 7. I'm also pretty sure you didn't have any alcohol to celebrate Ras as-Sana al-Hijreya.

In any language you like, Happy New Year's!

2011 is the Year of the Metal Rabbit

(the bell is optional)