The Fresh Market

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I'm the first to admit, I'm not a good cook and generally speaking I don't even really enjoy it. If Shaun were any other guy, he'd be the second to admit my bad cooking skills, however, lucky for me, and him, he's not like every other guy. Shhhhh...come a little closer, a bit closer now, ahhh ok, that's good, now I can tell you...Shaun isn't the best cook either. I guess I can say that because I, am not like most other girls in the sense that I would say something like that. So, I'm finding out a little revelation...I like to cook Thai food. I'm not sure if it's just one reason, I think it's a few. First and foremost...I like to eat Thai food, in fact, it's one of my all time faves, aside from Mexican. Secondly, I am super intrigued by the ingredients...partly, because they look pretty and I can't read the writing. It's fun to make some concoction out of a handful of items and actually have it taste pretty good. Which may also be a reason I like to cook Thai is that I don't really have a specific dish or name I'm going for, therefore don't have anything to compare it to. Unlike when I cook at home...my beef stroganoff is not necessarily what you would call beef stroganoff. (Bad example...I have never even attempted BS, but you get the point.) Our mantra at home is if you can grill it, we can cook it. Which leaves us in a predicament during the rainy season and the barbie is out in the elements. I rarely use the oven with the exception of making really super yummy carrot cake around the holidays...which reminds me, I didn't do that this year. My mom told Shaun and I a story awhile back that when we would go to restaurants when I was little my mom would always order me soup, because I was such a picky eater...she claimed that there was nothing good on the kids menu, which could of been true as well. For years to come, anytime we were at a restaurant I would say, "whatcha want for dinner mom, soup?" I'm sure I beleived that was all they served at restaurants. Anyways, this story came up when my mom was visiting and we were talking about what to make for dinner and I mentioned that we had been eating soup for a week, but I didn't mind if we had it again.
Ok, the Fresh Market...even I know that you gotta get there early to get the best offerings. So, we take the Sporty out at about 7:30 and head to the market in Nathon center. Poupe had told us several times which markets not to go to, only for Thai people. Once she had pointed this one out to be suitable for foreigners, we happily risked our lives on the roads with all the locals. They drive just absolutely crazy here, I thought Guadalahara was bad...that was a picnic along with all the other cities that claim to have "tricky" driving...NYC, Boston, LA, just to name a few. There are more fatalities here on Samui than anywhere the touristy book mentioned, which now I don't remember. Either way, crazy driving. The market we ended up at didn't look too different than all the others we had seen, raw meat lying on the counters with these paper fans above them, I'm assuming to have the appearance of shooing the flies away, stray dogs being fed the raw meat from yesterday under their cart, tons of produce that I honestly never knew existed. You would think that 2 people in the Horticulture industry would at least recognize this stuff, but nope, we're stumped. Oh...the choices and the price was right...cheap, cheap, cheap. (Little Thai ladies say these words like little birdies to get foreigners attention to buy) Oh, and I will now pay any price, ANY price, for cleaned shrimp. I bought about a pound of fresh shrimp for only $2 US, Shaun cleaned a few and I cleaned the rest...somethings are better never to really know. Combine just how grueling that job is with the fact you can't consume the government water, makes a very long process. Shaun picked out Dragon fruit, Asian Pears, Mango, the "other" banana, a huge bag of mini limes which we are adding to everything! I got bean sprouts, 2 big bags of them for about $1...only to sit there and think how crazy the bean sprout market really is. I mean the seed gets planted, normal germination of about 7 days, then just as it is about to grow it's first set of leaves...pluck! From the soil, the root hairs are trimmed and then that is done about a zillion more times to make a little bunch to sell for about 35 cents. Wow, at least with most other crops the actual veggie is larger than an under-nourished worm. If we had to do that for one day, we would have a completely different appreciation for those little sprouts...I'm gonna start to eat those for snacks, starting tomorrow. I also picked out a huge clump of Thai basil for less than a dollar, green onions, peanuts, curry spices, coconut milk, baby corn, bamboo shoots...how we ever accepted those rectangle cut outs of "bamboo shoots" as the real deal is totally beyond me, it's supposed to look exactly like it sounds. Less than 500 THB later, we have enough produce to fill the back of the Sporty and to cook a few super yummy meals.
We quickly walked the centre back to this music shop we had seen the day before with guitars hanging from the roof. Normally, Shaun doesn't get to far without one, however thru our travels he has realized it's way better to buy an instrument locally vs. bringing one from home. We added to the collection. His new Thai accoustic guitar will soothe many Happy Hours here and at home too.

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Photos

Little Island, Big Sand Bar
This is actually from the next day, I just needed a good 1st photo...previously explained.

The Other Banana
Little Shorty

Dragon Fruit
I'll be interested to see how this tastes.

Baby Corn!
I thought these only came in a can! :)

My current reading material
Don't worry Heather, you can borrow it when I'm done.

Best Friend Chairs
If you don't pinch your arse, they're actually pretty comfy.

Pool View
This was right before he gave me the bird. I probably would've done the same.