One of the worst parts of living board is seeking for a ‘good’ Thai food in your area (I only say good instead of great because I don’t have high expectations if you know what I mean.) See I don’t live in a big-time-diverse city like LA, Chicago, or New York, so basically, I’ve settled for an ‘ok’ Thai restaurant in Indianapolis.
The thing is: Thai restaurants around here don’t offer the ‘kind’ of Thai foods I like–
you know those kinds of food we can find basically anywhere in Thailand.
Problem is some times you have that kind of craving, right? The kind of craving when you sit around your house or browsing something online at work, and it just kind of pretty much pops up into your head with no sense of its origin. The only thing that comes to your mind is: “I have gotta have this crap. I really do, and I shall do anything in my power to make this happen.”
See, this kind of mental requirement (and physical somewhat) is a little different than I-am-craving-for-french fries kind of thing. It’s not like you can just start your car and drive to the drive through by the corner of your apartment, then your craving is satisfied. It requires dedication, motivation, and creativity—some things money can’t buy.
Lately, I have been yearning for Hor-Mok, Mueng-Kam and Yum-Pra-Duke-Foo (see pictures.) I really want them, but have little to no idea how to complete this project. So I decided to call around (and yes, don’t really care much about the taste anymore. I can settle for less at this point) to see if any Thai restaurants in Indy have at least one of these foods on their menus. Seven phone calls later, I’ve got three types of answer: “Well, it takes too much time to prepare, so we don’t have it,” or “We don’t make it. Americans don’t like these kinds of food,” or “Nope, we just don’t make them because they are too Thai for customers.”
Oh! Come on. Those foods are awesome. I wonder if nobody decides to initiate new Thai cuisine to customers (who some probably never had Thai foods from anywhere else outside Indianapolis before,) how do you claim they will not like it? So I asked one of the restaurant owners if she can at least give me recipe for Hor-Mok, she simply tells me she cannot give it out since it is her family recipe. (yep! Even though she does not plan to include that in the menu some times soon.)
How great! So I move on to the next available source—online search engine (again, I am a Thai, and yes, I still need to look up for a recipe for Thai foods alright!) and jotted down an infamous recipe from a random website then headed to an Asian market nearby. Note: the worst time for grocery shopping is when you are hungry. Anyone with me?
Five hours later at home, I realized the Hor-Mok would never make to its completion without a proper steamer (which ain’t sold somewhere within 50 miles radius from where I live.) I then set a broiler, threw my Hor-Mok stuff in a heat-resistant bowl, and basically steamed it. Turning out, the so-called Hor-Mok is eatable, but to share the food with somebody else, it will not happen some times soon.
At the moment, I pondered…life would have been much easier if I lived in Thailand.
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