Street Food

In a blog last month I wrote about a gastronomic quest to find some mille feuille. Today, I will write about another seach for elusive food.

In 2014, we moved to Chiang Rai in province in Northern Thailand. Sortly after we moved there, we were visiting friends in Chiang Mai and they introduced us to a Northern Thai dish known as Khao Soi. Khao Soi, which translates "street food," is a noodle soup with a yellow coconut curry-based broth. It typically has chicken (usually a drumstick) and is served with garnishings: pickles, cut up shallots or red onions, and a piece of lime. The soup is topped with crispy-fried noodles. Sometimes they will also serve garlic. It is typically mildly to moderately spicy. We enjoyed the Khao Soi, and decided we needed to find some place closer to home that served it.

Khao Soi in Chiang Mai, 2014

Eventually, we found a place about a kilometer from where we lived. This was a small, unassuming restaurant that served two dishes: khao soi and another kind of soup. It ended up being our go-to place to each lunch after church on Sundays if we didn't have other plans. The price was right, too. At the time it was about $1 US. (When we went back in 2023, the price had gone up to $1.50.) Good food at a good price.

Khao Soi Restaurant in Wiang Kaen

Khao Soi Restaurant in Wiang Kaen

When we lived in Northern Thailand, we typically traveled to Chiang Rai city, which was a 2-hour drive away, about once every two weeks or so. We did find a very rustic place along the way that served only khao soi. What was unique about this place was the big cauldron of soup on the wood-burning "stove."

Rustic Khao Soi Restaurant in Chiang Rai

In January, 2015, a friend of ours gave us a tour of some places he was doing ministry across the river in Laos. He was excited one day to take us to a khao soi restaurant. We were excited, too, until we saw it. Apparently there are different styles of Khao Soi. The Lao version was okay, but it was not what we were expecting.

Khao Soi, Lao Style, topped with fried pork rind

In 2017 we moved to Nong Khai province in Northeast Thailand (Isaan). Northeast Thailand is culturally different than Northen Thailand—it is more Lao than Thai. We sought out a place to find khao soi, but we could not find any in our district—it was easier to find a good hamburger or decent pizza and those were not easy to come by. I tried searching the internet, but to no avail. One day we were in the provincial capital, about a 45-minute drive from where we lived. We were looking for a particular business, but it was on a busy street, so we had to park some distance away. Just a few steps from where were we parked was a small, dark shop. "Wait...does that sign say khao soi?" We weren't ready for lunch yet, but we went back at a later date. The proprietor was a woman from Northern Thailand who had married someone from Nong Khai. She opened up a restaurant that served Kuai Tiao (a noodle soup found all over Thailand and is common in many places in the US as a Vietnamese variant called pho) along with khao soi.

Khao Soi in Nong Khai

In 2021, we moved to Kalasin province in the central part of Isaan. Like where we had previously lived, there were no khao soi restaurants in our district. One day, we were in the mood for some khao soi and I scoured the internet and eventually found a place. It was at the end of a small alley off a street that barely qualified as such. But it was popular—not so much as a sit-down restaurant, but with people ordering by various motorcycle delivery services. They ended up expanding but, for some reason, ended up closing about a year before we left Thailand. Now where to go?

Khao Soi in Kalasin

One day were were on our way back from Roi Et, the provice south of where we lived, and we stopped a a service station complex to try to find some food. These complexes typically have a Seven-Eleven or other convenience store, some kind of restaurant, a coffee shop, and various other small shops. This was our first time stopping at this service station for a meal (we had stopped there previously to get gas and/or coffee.) We walked into the restaurant and noticed that they had khao soi on the menu. It was good, but it was Isaan style—much spicier than we were used to.

Khao Soi in Roi Et

In 2023, we moved back to the USA—now where are we going to find Khao Soi? If you think it is hard to find in Isaan, what must it be like here? There are actually a lot of Thai restaurants that have sprung up in the US and Canada, but few of them serve khao soi.

One time, after we had returned to North America for our home ministry in 2017, we were traveling south on I-5 from Canada. We randomly pulled off the freeway somewhere in or near Tacoma and saw a Thai restaurant. We thought we would try it, not necessarily looking for khao soi, but it was on the menu—though at ten times the price of Thailand.

Khao Soi in Tacoma

Just after we returned to the US for home ministry in 2020, we took a few days to relax on the coast in Morro Bay. One night, we went out to eat at Thai Bounty. This was an interesting place in that it served both Cuban and Thai food (the owner was a Cuban fellow married to a Thai woman). The khao soi there was good, but unfortunately, the restaurant is no longer open.

Khao Soi at Thai Bounty in Morro Bay

But now have have moved back to the US permanently. Shortly after we returned to Fresno, we read an article that says there are 27 Thai restaurants in Fresno. But what constitutes Thai is another matter. Fresno has a large SE Asian population, the majority of which are ethnic Hmong from Laos. There are also Khmu (from Laos), ethnic Lao, Cambodian, Thai and other. We have been to several Thai restaurants, some of which have khao soi on the menu. But NOT the northern Thai version.

Today is my birthday. I had already decided a couple of weeks ago that I would like Thai food for the occasion. Yesterday evening, I was scrounging through Google maps, Yelp, and general web searches looking up Thai restaurants. Then I decided that maybe I should try to find places that had khao soi. Some places I already knew had the Lao version. A reviewer of one restaurant said they had a Mien version. When I could pull up menus, I would look at the descriptions and end up disapponted.

Then—there it was—a description of Northern Thai style khao soi—only it wasn't in Fresno. It was in Madera...close enough.

This morning we were up early to help out with the monthly food distribution at Butler Church. We finished up just before 11 am. Then off we were to Madera. Thai Basil is located not far off the 99 freeway on the north side of Madera. The proprietors set up shop there 2 years ago after running a Thai restaurant in Sacramento for 15 years. They wanted to move to a quieter community and find a place where it was more affordable for their daughter to practice golf. Victor is from Udon Thani in Isaan. His wife is from Trat in Eastern Thailand but went to school at Burapha University in Bang Saen, the town were a team of MB missionaries did a church plant in the early 2000's and to which we have been to many times. So it was surprising that they had the Northern Thai version of Khao Soi on the menu. Victor said that they try to have Thai food and not the variants from nearby places like Laos.

We we happy with the khao soi, and we will probably go back—though we will probably try some of the other dishes. We were drooling as we watched them bring food out to the other diners. It was like going home to Thailand. Happy Birthday me!

Khao Soi at Thai Basil in Madera, CA

Bookends 2024

Bookends: when I look at change through the year through a photo at the beginning and the end.

I began the year with COVID. Between that and the cool weather, it was a good time to stay home and assemble jigsaw puzzles. So this photo becomes the first bookend. Otherwise, we probably would have made a day trip on New Year's day and posted a photo from that.

I suppose this was a fitting way to begin the new year. Like putting together a jigsaw, we had to figure out a lot of things in our lives as we moved from being employed to not being employed. In the United States that also means, among other things, figuring out the health care system with the various parts of Medicare. Then there is the issue of how to make ends meet when you no longer have employment income. We decided to work with a financial planner to help us navigate through this period of our lives, and that has helped a lot.

Health issues were a dominant theme for the year. Beginning with a broken toe and surgery, which affected mobility for a while. Then there was lots of dental work, including surgical removal of a tooth and resulting implant (still waiting for the crown for that). On top of that was cataract surgery, in my right eye—for the first time since 4th grade, my uncorrected vision is better in my right eye than my left.

Another part of our retirement and settling back into Fresno is getting the house and yard back in order after being gone for so long. Exterior painting with all the prep involved has taken and will yet take a lot of time. Fixing broken sprinkler systems. Removing trees for various reasons. Planting more fruit trees. Reinstalling a vegetable garden. Converting the front yard to a xeriscape. All these things are ongoing. So, I'm not really retired, I'm just not getting paid for my work (but I'm also not having to pay someone else to do it—at least not most of it).

Amidst all that, we managed to do some traveling. A road trip to Canada to visit family. Another road trip to Arizona to visit friends and family, but also check out the Grand Canyon. Then, a quick trip to Los Cabos, Mexico, to use up some airline credits before they expired.

There are ministry activities. The main things we are doing is helping with the food distribution at our church once a month. Added to this, we began English tutoring at a local school our church partners with. We do this one morning a week.

Then, all of a sudden the year is over. On the last day of the year, I went to check out our garden. And I saw that some of our marigolds were still blooming.

I bought the marigolds at the Spring Plant Sale of the UCSC Farm and Garden back in April. And they are still blooming! While I enjoy the flowers, they are a reminder of how mild the temperatures have been this fall. We have not had a good frost, or even many days below 40F (5C). While our bodies appreciate the warmth, it is keeping some of our plants from going dormant, which may affect fruit production next year. (Our nectarine tree and grape vine have yet to drop all their leaves.) It also means that our citrus have not sweetened up yet. So, our oranges and Oro Blanco are looking ready to pick, but we're still waiting on some cooler weather so they'll be sweeter.

Maybe this uncertainty in our garden is also a picture of our lives. I still don't feel that I've completely adapted to our new lives. Just like the weather can confuse the plants, so also events that have happened in our lives can leave us uncertain as to which direction to take with our lives. I still don't feel like I've settled on what role I should have in church (our church also is going through times of uncertainty). I'm not bored—there is a lot to do. I'm content to be an introvert at home staying busy with things that need doing there. But I'm not sure this is the best use of my time and talent.

I asked my wife this morning if she had any goals for this year. Like me, she says she doesn't. Should we have one? Do we need one? I did tell her after that I have at least one goal: to stay married to her all year. Other than that, we'll see where life takes us. We did complete 4 500-piece jigsaw puzzles this past week. Maybe that's a sign that the pieces are starting to come together.