road chicken revisited

as much as i love street food and adventurous eating in general, i have to give credit where it's due and admit that i didn't get here by myself. but for my fearless and inspiring blogmate (and our adventures on st. lucia) i doubt i'd have this kind of palate.

having said that, i'm feeling pretty good about my recent culinary adventures, and am starting to piece together a theory that when it comes to eating in thailand, the answer might be to go for the thing that sounds the most disgusting. i took baby steps at first. it wasn't immediately obvious to me that spicy papaya salad would be so delicious, but now it's one of my daily staples. i then moved on to the fruit-ginger-beet milkshake, another good choice. until today, the reigning favorite was the fish sausage at the sunday walking street in chiang mai, and victory made sweeter by the fact that i successfully got my initially horrfied and disbelieving guest-house neighbors to concede to its wonderfullness.

now i'm on ko samui, where upscale seafood joints are a dime a dozen. i was worried that sticking with my $2/meal and pointedly low-brow standards would relegate me to a week of ho-hum pad thai, but when i stumbled upon the hat lamai nightly market i saw my dining prospects brighten considerably. after warming up with some BBQ chicken (and yes, more papaya salad) and took a deep breath and ordered the fried mussels. i understand that you have to be of a certain disposition to even think such a thing sounds tasty... but imagine my delight when i watch her scramble an egg in and serve the whole thing up with a side of bean sprouts, green onions, and little baggies of bright red sauce. hands down the current front-runner in the best dinner in thailand race.

if this trend continues i may have to reconsider my staunchly anti- pork-ball stance.