A Golden Bowl

Having had the fortuitous opportunity to travel in and out of the Kingdom of Thailand on several occasions (including an extended stint in Chiang Mai and Mae Sai), I often want to kick myself for not indulging more into what has since become my go-to plato. Khao Soi, the famoso and distinctive noodle splendor of the North, is prepared in multitudes of local varieties and I, Solo Basura, am loathe to admit that I may have overlooked almost all of them---damn, c'est la vie. Well, what doesn't kill you only makes you hungry so on this cloudy and fresca LA afternoon I invited K to join me at Spicy BBQ on Santa Monica and Normandie. This tiny restaurant is mainly known (if known at all) for its attention to Northern Thai cuisine. I came expressly for my fix of the Chinese-Muslim goodness (see short history here), but K had other intentions and ordered Khanom Jeen Nam Ngiaw which led our friendly waitress to ask: "Where are you from?" After a quick ethnic background check, she concurred that K might indeed find the dish palatable: vermicelli noodles, bean sprouts, dried camerones, shredded cabbage, pickled greens, cilantro, green onions, fresh limon, and dried chiles are served on a plate and then mixed with a picante tomato based curry (coconut milk-free) with ground pork, blood sausage, and shrimp paste. With everything synthesized and ready to roll, we eagerly set to slurping until finally slowing down with a good case of the "spicy sniffles". Wow, I know the Thai military has long since wrested power away from the drug lords of The Golden Triangle, but I wonder if they missed something even more addictive than refined poppy. I shall have to revisit Khao Soi soon on Comida Con Basura, at least before the withdrawals set in.