TODAY'S TRAVEL PHOTO OF YESTERYEAR:
I recall the lunch under the sun-faded umbrellas so clearly. I sat down in blue shade on a neon plastic chair. It was a sweltering day in Bangkok, and busy.
What I remember distinctly is the smell in the air of this food market. The fragrance trapped beneath the umbrellas, and the feast before us. The sharpness of Oyster sauce, the strong smell of the Thai green curries, its cool antidote: coconut milk; the fresh sliced mango, the sweet and sour pineapple chicken displayed on green banana leaves; and the complex fusion before me: the perfect Pad Thai. Lime, peanut and chili infused in a gently dressed dish of shrimps, bean-sprouts and light rice noodles, stir-fried with egg, tamarind juice and fish sauce. I could not manage dessert after that, so a sweet mangosteen had to wait a little.
This was, and remains, a beautiful lunch. And these faded umbrellas will always remind me of how lucky I am to have experienced such happy delights in the foreign far East.
What I remember distinctly is the smell in the air of this food market. The fragrance trapped beneath the umbrellas, and the feast before us. The sharpness of Oyster sauce, the strong smell of the Thai green curries, its cool antidote: coconut milk; the fresh sliced mango, the sweet and sour pineapple chicken displayed on green banana leaves; and the complex fusion before me: the perfect Pad Thai. Lime, peanut and chili infused in a gently dressed dish of shrimps, bean-sprouts and light rice noodles, stir-fried with egg, tamarind juice and fish sauce. I could not manage dessert after that, so a sweet mangosteen had to wait a little.
This was, and remains, a beautiful lunch. And these faded umbrellas will always remind me of how lucky I am to have experienced such happy delights in the foreign far East.
- THE EMBELLISHED GRAND -
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