Authentic Thai Food

I ‘m fortunate to have a Thai food market within walking distance.  Finding frozen giant water bugs in the freezer section makes me think they cater to people who know hat they’re doing.  It seems they’re the species Lethocerus indicus, and that you need them to make a really authentic chili sauce to go with fried mackerel.

I also came across an article on the history of Pad Thai (via).  Apparently it  was a dish invented as part of a nationalist modernization campaign, and aside from the patriotism imputed to it it’s not really distinctively Thai.  It also seems that the bright orange American stuff is that way due to the use of ketchup.

Trucktoberfest

Today in DC was the Trucktoberfest food truck festival over at the Union Market.  First up was Takorean, a truck I’d heard about before that as the name suggests serves Korean BBQ in taco form.  I was looking forward to trying it and I wasn’t alone, the line to order was something like a half hour long.  I had the bulgogi taco and it was quite good, almost worth the wait.  Next door was DC Empanada, another truck I’ve wanted to try.  Again the name sums up the food, as they sell empanadas.  I tried their daily special El Matador empanada, one filled with chorizo, potatoes and spices.  It was hot, crisp and very good.  Wandering around I next tried Stix, a truck that specializes in food on sticks.  I had their firecracker shrimp, which consisted of a skewer of five large shrimp, two slices of crusty bread and a tub of spicy sauce served in a cone of brown paper.  The presentation was nice, as was the food.  I finished the day at the Tapas Truck, yet another truck with a straight-forward name.  Here I had a chorizo sandwich with chimchurri sauce and a side of garlic fries along with a Coke to drink.  I pretty much inhaled the fries.  The sausage I lingered over while I watched the sunset.

Overall a nice dinner.

Cookies!

I’m a regular reader of the online comic Girls With Slingshots, which recently had this comic:

 

Those cookies sounded damn tasty, so I looked around for a recipe on the internet and found one.  They were indeed awesome.  Then I learned that the comic’s creator was going to be at the Baltimore Comic Con (and simultaneously learned that there was a Baltimore Comic Con).  Being so close I had no excuse not to go, and of course I brought some of the pear ginger cookies to give to Ms. Cosetti.  Unfortunately she’s gluten intolerant and couldn’t actually eat them.   However, I got a second chance since the she was also attending the Small Press Expo in Bethesda the next weekend.  kind enough to draw a skecThis time I made a gluten-free version, and she was kind enough to draw a sketch in return.  I requested a drawing of McPedro attacking a vampire watermelon.  Why?  Because I just learned about that crazy bit of folklore and it seemed appropriate for a talking cactus to fight one.