Where have you been all my life?

I have a new favorite food & I am speechless.  How did I get to be on this planet for {quite} so long before I discovered Thai food?  I have totally lost count of the number of times friends have asked me if I liked Thai food & my response had always been that I’d never had it.  Everyone said it was good and yet I’d never had it.  Leave it to Shawn to {yet again} introduce me to weird stuff that I had never heard of before.  He has a knack for that.  He introduced me to sushi.  I have so much to thank the man for, and now here’s one more thing to add to the growing list.

What is the object of my latest foodie passion?  Tom Ka Gai.  Where did I eat it?  Thai House Restaurant in Mesa, Arizona.

Tom Ka Gai: heaven in a bowl

 There were 6 of us – Shawn, his wife, 2 of his children & one of his nieces…a {particularly} cheeky chick in a hot fuchsia t-shirt & sporting bright blue fingernails.  A lot of laughing was guaranteed.  And I was prepared for that.

I was {completely} un-prepared for the taste-bud ecstasy that was about to explode in my mouth over the next 45 minutes.  Completely un-prepared.  I don’t even want to write about it.  I just want to eat it.  Again.  And again.  And again.  My first New Year resolution?  Find the best Thai food in Seattle.  And go often.  I just checked on Urbanspoon & there are around 305 Thai restaurants in Seattle.  I think 2011 is going to be a {seriously} tasty year.

We had other things apart from the Tom Ka Gai.  I barely remember them although I do remember that they were good.  I was just utterly smitten with this soup:  white chicken meat with mushrooms, cabbage & Thai spices in coconut milk.  Shawn tells me that one of the spices is Lemongrass.  Whatever it is I have never tasted anything quite like it.  I certainly can’t describe it other than to say that it is one of the most divine flavors I have ever had the pleasure of inhaling.  I say inhale because I ate probably 4 bowls of the stuff.  We had ordered 2 large bowls to share between the 6 of us.  I could have just eaten the 2 large bowls of soup myself & been entirely & absurdly blissful.  I wish I had a way to adequately express my enthusiasm for this soup.  My dining companions laughed at me.  I didn’t care.  This whole thing is, after all, all your fault Shawn.

Mus-sa-mun: tasty peanut curry

Orange Chicken

Pad Thai: very different noodles with crushed peanuts

Pork Garlic & Pepper

A whole plate of Thai tastiness

Tom Ka Gai: the big bowl

 I am not going to lie.  It wasn’t quite all harp-playing angels.  When we got to dessert, after I had inhaled an inordinate amount of Tom Ka Gai (stopping just short of licking the bowl) it all went sideways really quickly.  Now I understand that this is a traditional Thai dessert & I know nothing about Thai desserts, but I still have to say that this dish was just nasty to me.  The sticky rice was like eating cold 5-day-old rice pudding & the custard was just wrong.  I had serious texture issues with the entire thing.  I am glad I tried it, but I won’t be doing that again anytime soon.

Sticky Rice & Thai custard: the point at which it all went sideways

 However I am simply not going to let that color my new-found love of Thai food in the slightest.  If you have never had Thai food, please go try it.  If you love Thai food, I now know exactly why you rave about it.

Shawn:  THANK YOU.  My taste-buds adore you.

Thai House Restaurant:  I will never forget my first Thai dining experience or your Tom Ka Gai.