Where the Hell am I? And what's with the raw meat?

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For the past three weeks I've thought that I lived in Chalong Bay. Turns out I'm just as bad with directions in Thailand as I was the States.

I actually live in No-Man's land. I'm not in Chalong, Rawia, Kata, or Nai Harn. I live at the borders of these places, but if you ask a tuk-tuk or taxi to take you to any of these destinations and then say "just keep going, I'm only past the Lemon Green sign" they bump up the rate by 50 Bhat.

I thought I was getting hustled every time, so I would act huffy with the driver. I guess I owe a few apologies...

So what's so hot about living in an unnamed area? The food. Food seems to be the solution to anything around here. I've looked at my past blogs and food takes a center stage in most of them...

This shouldn't be a surprise to any of you though.

So in my neck of Phuket, we get the good cart food. These are the guys who cook on the side of the street. I would get satay from them.

Then we've got The Family who has the most delicious pitas ever. And we met the owner who said that in November they expect to carry bagels and cream cheese too...

On the Nai Harn side we have a plethora: Blue Frog with the 120 BHT breakfast buffet with bottomless juices and coffee (yes, coffee). Los Amigos- no explanation needed here.

We also have Don's Mall with a butcher shop, deli, BBQ, and Mexican food. We met Don the other day and he bought us a round of beers.

And then we have the all-you-can-eat-Thai-BBQ-cook-at-your-table goodness. It's nice. Gorgeous, I would say if I were British.

So you walk in and pay 98 BHT (less than 3 USD) and are led into this room-o-meat-and-veggies. You can get anything you want and they have everything: different cuts of beef, pork, chicken, squid, prawn, liver; basically any meat and any part you could think of. It's an overeater's anonymous' dream.

So you grab what you want and sit at your table with this golden BBQ set on top. You put a chunk of lard inplace and then grill away. The juices drip into a moat surrounding the BBQ and you fill the moat with veggies and noodles. You eat that as a soup.

It sounds yummy to most folks but my issues are as follows:
1. A big chunk of lard actually scares me- just a little
2. I don't like looking at raw meat. I avoid this section of the grocery store at all costs.
3. I hate touching raw meat with the utensils I have to eat with. I'm afraid of bacteria and salmonella. Who knows what other things I could get here in Thailand that I've never heard of or know to be wary of...
4. I don't like my food to touch. This is applicable on several points here:
a) The food on the grill touches everyone else's food. The chicken is friends with the pork who is touching the squid who has been strewn across the prawn.
b) The soup at the end is a nightmare of mingled meat marinades and juices. I swear that there was an antennae in my stew. I didn't put it there...

Alright. So there you have my enumerated list of food phobias that I successfully conquered all in one sitting.

Back to the food touching issue: I love working at a primary school because they use the segregated plates so my rice has a nice little home that keeps it dry and clean from the spicy chicken chunks in the dish next door. They are separate but equal.

I do have to say that the food was very good and I did enjoy the soup apart of the antennae that went awry. Now if I can only find a Thai man to come and actually cook it for me, I'll be all set...

Bon appitite

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Photos

BBQ Grill
The lid isn't on- but this is the grill 'pre-food' stage

Monkey with Meat
Lisa's grillin' it up

Mmmmm. Moat Soup
Laura gets veggies to put into the moat

Laura and P
You can see the whole set-up here: meat on top, liquid in the moat. A place for everything and everything in it's place.

The antennae
I'm no scientist, but this must be where the antennae came from...

Comments

[Captain Willard]

Shrimp eh...
I don't know how you feel about this shrimp, but if you'll eat it, you never have to prove your courage in any other way...

[You Saw My Privates]

Always Brake
Is that an antennae in your pocket or are you just happy to see me? That girl is always opening her mouth wide...