Have some ice cheese?
“What’s that?” I asked.
Frozen cheese dessert.
“Like cheese cake?”
No. Ice cheese. Not cake.
“Ok, I’ll have one to go.”
To go?
“Yeah, to take home.”
Oh, kay. One ice cheese takeaway.
…
One of the best mascarpone cheese cakes I’ve ever had, frozen.
I’ve moved on. I spent over three lovely weeks in Chiang Mai, cycling daily from cafe to restaurant to crossfit to live music, and doing almost every excursion imaginable: a thai farm cooking class, an elephant park, elephant Mahout training, ziplining, Tiger Kingdom, the night safari, and of course, Poopoopaperpark. Oh yeah, I also visited a hilltribe and a coffee plantation, and did a bit of barrista training. After three weeks the only thing left to do was ride a motorbike like a local, so I did that too.
I was sad about leaving the cafe-crawling capital, but this tiny town called Nan has a certified hipster cafe. I personally certified it when the barrista complimented my Herschel laptop bag. As if the name didn’t give it away, Vespresso. Half Vespa gallery, half cafe.
The Canadian embassy in Bangkok gave me an update: at least 10 more days until my new my passport will be ready. Even though I lost my passport, drivers license and a handful of cash, and I’m waiting 3 weeks for a new passport, I actually feel like I’m winning! Yesterday I tried my 13th cafe in Chiang Mai and arrived just as a coffee cupping class was beginning. I asked,
“Can I learn how to do that too?”
“Yes, ok.”
“Great. When?”
“Right now. Come come.”
“Ok!”
So I learned coffee cupping, the art of smelling and tasting coffee. During this I met Pauline from France who invited me to visit her in France this summer. Deal! Then Pauline introduced me to a latte art afficionado who offered to train me in latte art later this week. Double whammy. Happy St. Patrick’s Day, I think I found the pot of gold.
Yesterday I went to a gallery-district cafe with heavenly coconut cream pie. Today’s gem has macaron and honey lattes, and a tree growing through the roof. Since I’m back on the coffee bandwagon I’m spending my afternoons looking for the best little cafe in Chiang Mai. Two down, twelve to go. Tasty times!
I just devoured a massive slice of coconut cream pie and a coffee with coconut milk. When I ordered this the barrista looked at me like I’m nuts. “Coconut milk in your coffee? Not milk?” I nodded and the look on his face said “Ok crazy lady.” How can Thailand not use coconut milk in coffee?… It’s the great land of premium coconut milk and mediocre coffee, yet they don’t put them together?! Who’s crazy?
A mangosteen is a dark purple fruit from the mangosteen tree. By squeezing it on the top and bottom it splits open to reveal an edible white part in the middle that looks like garlic and tastes like a cross between lychee and heaven.
I also tried a sapodilla fruit. If I really had to describe it, I’d say it has the texture of a ripe pear and flavour of a concentrated apple, grape, mango smoothie, or something like that.
And then I tried tamarind. It grows in a giant brown pod. It’s sort of like a date. The fruit. It’s good too. They’re all good, but I like mangosteen the most.
We’re kayaking down the river in Vang Vieng, Laos, when our tour guide points out a snake in the water. Andrea begins to ask a million questions – is it poisonous? Do people in Lao eat snake? How do you catch a snake?… Before you know it, our guide is bartering with a group of young boys to buy a snake they just caught! The going price in the market is 80 to 100,000 kip (10-14 CAD), which is a LOT when you consider a restaurant meal costs 15 – 30,000 kip. Andrea got a steal of a deal, paying 20,000 kip for the snake. The kids bashed the snake a couple times, dropped it in a clear plastic bag and handed it to our guide. At the end of our trip, our guide arranged dinner, curbside snake soup. It’s chewy.
I’d like to thank James for introducing me to mango sticky rice, and Andrea for making sure I ate something ASIDE from delicious mango sticky rice for my 3rd meal of the day. The food in Thailand does not disappoint!
