SC - Fw: [Mid] Is camping without a cooler out of period?

[Cindy Renfrow]

>>Uh, FWIW, Thai food is eaten with forks, traditionally. I suspect the
source of disappointment about chopsticks not being used is that some
Chinese people may find it faster and more efficient to have a regular
plate of rice and "som" (which in my lady wife's dialect is pronounced
"chloam", more or less), which they would eat with a fork. The Chinese
immigrant population who would favor such places are usually in a hurry,
since they usually work something like 16 hours, six days a week. At
least the ones I know generally do.

> they didn't just bring tea and
> nibbles to the table to hold you while you ordered-you bought tea by the
> cup. They didn't even have soy sauce on the table, you had to ask for it.
> Sheesh, talk about disappointing!

Soy sauce on the table??? Oh, oh, oh, aren't we grand? Gettin' all 'igh
an' mighty, are we? Soy sauce is generally a cooking ingredient,
sunshine, not a table condiment! To the Chinese the idea of adding soy
sauce to food at the table would be the equivalent of reaching into your
pocket, taking out a dried bouillon cube, and adding it to your soup.

Didn't mean to get all excited there. But yes, I see your point. I can
clearly trace my current interest in exotic foods, and cooking in
general, to childhood trips to some very ancient hole-in-the-wall
Chinese restaurants, complete with covered silver dishes, red and gold
velvet paisley wallpaper, lanterns, and a big neon sign, probably
reading "Chow Mien". Oh, and a War God near the cash register...;  )

I was referring more to Japanese and Korean foods. Haven't really had the
time to go all the way into Hartford or another large city to find Thai
food, and they haven't been much in evidence until the past few years as
they were all running Chinese places[well, you have to admit, it wasn't till
the late 70's and early 80's that food exploration has been popular]

My favorite hole in the wall Aunt Grace took me to was a 3d floor walk up,
with a long trestle table and benches along each side, there was the menu
written on the wall[in some dialect of Chinese...] and it was very home
style-they apparently had some preset type meals, or she ordered when she
said hello as we walked in, I don't remember. There was soy sauce on the
tables, as well as pickled something, pots of tea and dumplings. Very
working class compared to the red wallpapered type. I have been taken to the
fancy decor type by Aunt Grace, but the food there was more banquet oriented
than the more family or working class stuff of the walk up.

Don't laugh, I know somebody who takes the little packets of herb ox
bouillon to restaurants...something about having run into some really watery
reconstituted canned soups that a lot of places use...I thought about doing
it, but haven't decided to or not. I would rather avoid places like
that[though there were a few SCA feasts with rather tasteless soups that I
have been to.]



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