Another Thai noodle dish this for dinner this evening. Thais consider noodles to be Chinese, so noodle dishes are done "Chinese style", very mild. Fish sauce added, of course (or it wouldn't be Thai now would it? **).

This mildness has always been an invitation to me to slather on one or another incindiary Thai condiment in obscene quantity - quantities that stunned the wait-staff at the three Thai restaurants I used to eat lunch at back when I had time for lunch.

Thinly sliced fresh Thai chilis pickled in rice vinegar and fish sauce - Yum! Of course I eat hot chilis in such quantity that "afterburn" is just another faded memory of my tender misspent youth. On the other hand, my lower bowel is sometimes of the opinion, "Ummm . . . could we kinda' just move this stuff along here?", so I've scheduled no client appointments until after 10:30am.

** Actually, it could be - by using a muddy potion called "Yellow Bean Sauce". It's made from salt and fermented soybeans so it's "Bionerd Safe". Vegetarians can use this gunk instead of fish sauce (which is made by packing anchovies (guts and all) with salt in big jars and setting them out in the hot sun for a year or so to be consumed by their own digestive enzymes, just as was done in ancient Rome).

Yellow bean sauce isn't quite as good, but it's close enough for government work. Don't use Vietnamese yellow bean sauce (a "sanitized" product lacking character) or Chinese yellow bean sauce (not enough salt or a fermented enough flavor).

Left: fermented yellow bean sauce, right: fermented fish sauce ("Squid" brand).

[image|http://www.clovegarden.com/ajg/cm_beanfish01.jpg||||]