Dinning: Lost in Translation

So the other night we took our Thai friends out for a dinner. This consisted of our Tennis friends Hoi, her husband and their two kids, as well as Piroon, another friend. Since generally we have eaten at Thai places with them we thought we’d try a nice Italian place for a change. The kids love pasta and Syd and I were needed a nice bottle of red. We disguised the event as Barrett’s birthday although it was a few days early. Hoi picked the Italian restaurant as the restaurateur was a tennis acquaintance of hers. He had moved here from Italy ten years ago and married a Thai lady. (A frequent theme around here). His menu, certainly not inexpensive from a Chiang Mai point of view, was by far the most authentic we’ve found here and the atmosphere was very nice. We were excited for a nice meal and occasion.

Syd started by suggesting some red wine. Bad choice. Our friends turned out to be dry and quickly dashed any idea of drinking a nice bottle of red. No matter, the appetizers looked great and I ordered some for the table. The “tar tar” styled beef (can’t remembered what it was called but it was basically raw, acid marinated beef) was a disaster. Turns out our friends don’t eat beef due to their Buddhist religion. Pork, chicken, fish and the others are fine, but no beef. Guess I should have known but I thought that was a Hindu thing. So we were off to a good start. Not! I should note that Piroon did partake in the appetizers. He promptly requested a bottle of Catsup and then preceded to smoother the Kobe beef in it prior to consumption. He nodded in approval.

As I pondered the menu I asked Hoi what she might order. She confided in me that she didn’t like Italian food. I think she used the words; “I hate Italian food” and made a face to make sure I understood. I chucked a little and asked her what kind of foods she did like. She said, “Thai”. Luckily, she knew the owner and was able to order some “custom” dishes. Dishes, not dish (entrée) is the key here. As you might guess at this point, going out for nice dinners wasn’t really something our friends did much. Certainly not Italian.

The Thai style of dinning is really quite different. Somewhat like when you order Chinese, the dish comes to the table, not an individual. Basically, when you order you order with the group in mind. Well this is the concept that they used as they parsed the menu. Before I knew it twice as many entrees were ordered then there were people at the table.

Unlike Chinese, the Thais consider it rude to take more then a spoonful from the communal plate at any one time. However it is not rude to reach in front of someone to help yourself to more. Basically it’s a dinning madhouse.

As the entrees appeared they were quickly passed around and spooned on to the plates. Pasta dishes, Lasagna dishes, seafood pizzas, ect. It was kinda like potluck at a really nice Italian restaurant. Piroon continued with the catsup theme. On his lasagna, on the seafood pizza, complete with mussels, and even the pasta dishes that already had tomato sauce on them. Syd and I had a hard time containing our amusement.

The whole time the kids enjoyed being with teenaged kids, our friends seemed happy if not oblivious, and the night was a great time. The tab, on us, was three times what we’ve paid for any other dinner out. (I think it was a whopping $100.) Regardless, when Syd and I finally made it home, we couldn’t stop laughing as we recounted the evening. Next time we’re going to try to take them to Sushi. We’ll see.

Wine ing

When Syd and I started this extended leave of absence we knew that we'd need to tighten our belts a bit in order to make things work. Buying miscellaneous stuff was the first thing to go from the budget, then new clothes, finally expensive dinners out (in the US anyway) went away. We adjusted to the point that our only remaining vices were Starbucks coffee, good wine and tennis expenses. Eventually, even the wine had to go. We started buying wine in The Dalles for a couple bucks a bottle and ,at the time, we thought we had hit rock bottom. Like most vices, giving them up is just a part-time endeavor. We ran into a wine store the other day and Syd bought a bottle of Phu Ping. A product of Thailand made from mulberries, different, but that's the whole point. We gave it a go. As it turns out Phu Ping (pronounced Poo ping) tasted just like its name: Poo Poo. We should have known.

Our next chance to taste local wines was on our road trip up North. We asked the driver to stop at a fruit stand that was loaded with strawberries, Logan berries and oranges. They also were selling a locally produced wines and juices. With the typical Thai smile, the stand operator suggested that we try a taste of the "wine". Big mistake! It was absolutely awful! It was worse then MadDog 20/20 or Boones Berry Farms. I mean really just nasty. Somewhere between grain alcohol and berry juice gone bad. We smiled and bought some strawberries. They were good.

Finally, we found a Western styled Cheese, Meat and Wine store. We found some decent (not great) wines: mostly French, Italian, Chilean, and Australian. The prices however,were outrageous. I was familiar with a number of the wines, wines that we'd pay $4-12 for. Here they were starting at $30! We've broken down a couple of times and paid the ungodly sum, for the most part however, we are starving for good wine.

Life

Sorry I haven’t written in awhile but we haven’t really been doing much. Our days have been revolving around a simple routine that frequently includes tennis, massage, entertaining the kids and exploration of local restaurants and foods. Life is quite good. While we speak frequently of where we’ll head next, we never seem to get the energy to actually make plans to do so. At this point I think mid March will be our likely departure date to a new destination. (Yes we can change our Visas once again but it’s truly the last time). In the meantime we've decided we really like it here. There is enough around here to keep things new and interesting so we're staying.

Some of you have mentioned that we might not return at all. Well if I have my way that might be true, for a while anyway. I just don’t have any sense that “going home” is something that we should be doing. In fact, the opposite is true. I feel “at home” and want to delve deeper into living abroad. It provides fulfillment and opportunity to live a completely different lifestyle, experience new points of view and interactions. For me variety is truly the spice of life and this type of living experience fulfills that need. I love it and feel blessed to have such an opportunity.

Over the past years, and during this stay in particular, we’ve become so accustomed to being surrounded by foreign languages that we hardy even notice it at times. You learn to communicate through other means and over time the hesitant and somewhat uncomfortable feeling of doing so just disappears. Even the kids use gestures and talk with their hands to get their point across. Most often this occurs when the kids are ordering desert or the roaming ice cream vendor appears.. The ice cream vendor (not a truck but rather a moped and trailer)song has a very different sound here, something like elevator music, but it has the same effect on kids.

Anyway, at some point we’ll be getting on to Vietnam and we’ll have something to write about. After that it’s anyone’s guess. At one point Africa and Kenya were on the short list but I suppose we’ll have to change that plan. We'll let you in on the plans as they develop. We enjoy hearing from you all. Feel free to comment, are just let us know you’re alive. The Ihdes