I’ve been a low-key fan of the Spinners for some time now. I actually do assume one of many nice love songs of the previous century is “Do You Think I’m Falling in Love” — up there with Peter Gabriel and the growth bins, Robert Smith along with his Mary Poole, the Police and the umbrella and no matter else prompted their tune. Every Gen X lady desires of songs like that finally written for them, however none of those songs actually captures the uncertainty and vulnerability of truly falling in love, not the understanding however the gradual realization and the entire happiness but additionally terror that this implies. I really feel all of that within the Spinners tune, even within the simple tempo and beautiful melody and exquisite voice. To copy from Greg Kihn, “They don’t write like that anymore.”
Another tune I actually love — if just for the primary 4 minutes — is, after all, “Rubberband Man”. It’s a tune I don’t play actually because, let’s face it, it lasts ceaselessly and ever and doesn’t finish till you’ve given up all hope for the following tune to start. At least, I actually believed that till I listened to it, once more, on the best way to Hua Hin the place I’m pondering of dwelling for 50 % of the time, however that’s neither right here nor there and never a narrative for this submit. I noticed, lastly, after listening to it for thus many instances, that the latter half of the tune is a collection of variations on a theme, a “jam”, because it have been, the band jamming till the tune has reached its pure finish, taking part in identical to the Rubberband Man himself. Sometimes a few the variations sound comparable, and generally there’s a giant twist, however the theme continues to be there, even when what you hear is slightly totally different.
The Thai “tom” — all the time spelling “tom” in English even when it’s actually “thom” — is one in all Thailand’s greatest identified but concurrently underrated classes of meals. It’s additionally one in all Thailand’s oldest. Everyone is aware of “tom yum goong”, or thinks they comprehend it, even when the broth is muddied up with some form of milk and it tastes like sweet-and-sour cream. Chef Andy Ricker as soon as known as it a “cliché”, however it’s solely a cliché as a result of it’s so good (when it’s a transparent broth) that everybody is aware of it, identical to “London Calling” was a superb tune till everybody used it when the characters — even the freaking “Friends” crew — went to London as a result of nobody has any creativeness or creativity (although what different tune may very well be used for London? “Solsbury Hill”? And everybody agrees the Paris equal is “Ça Plane Pour Moi” by Plastic Bertrand, sure? What would you employ as an alternative? “Do You Hear the People Sing?”)
There are many different “toms” moreover tom yum, a complete household tree of “toms” that precede and observe it. There’s its shut sibling, the evening market normal “tom leng”, made up cleverly of the most cost effective butcher’s lower there’s, the pork or beef backbone, boiled with a boatload of chilies that pile up on the bone in order that it appears to be like just like the diner is the world’s bravest caveman while you take an image (as a result of that’s the entire level of this dish, the image). Then there’s arguably the yet another well-known than “tom yum”, the “tom kha”, named after galangal however based mostly on a coconut milk broth and normally that includes rooster. It’s the Taylor Swift of Thai soups, completely wonderful, one supposes. And lastly there’s what some imagine is the “big daddy” of “toms”, “tom kloang”, a real Central Thai creature sweetened with tamarind juice and contemporary tamarind leaves, which is perhaps analogous to Sister Rosetta Tharpe, if a soup might sing gospel and play electrical guitar on the identical time.
Among all of these “toms” (and there are various others), one is “tom khem”, which roughly interprets to “salty soup”. Unlike a number of the others, this one is Chinese-inspired, with a lot of soy sauce and palm sugar however with out the star anise and cloves utilized in a Chinese-style “pullo”, spices that some Thais discover to be smelly. Just like its cousins, it’s regularly served as a soup, however there are occasions when it’s allowed to scale back all the way down to nearly nothing, making no matter’s within the pot the principle participant all on its lonesome. That’s the thought behind the dish “pla tu tom khem”, or “Thai mackerel in salty soup”: generally served as a soup, however simply as typically served as a fish dish after all of the broth has been misplaced to the ether, in all probability as a result of the prepare dinner was off listening to the whole thing of “Rubberband Man”.
Samut Sakhon (and neighbor Samut Songkhram, actually) are all about Thai seafood; in spite of everything, they’re house to a lot of the seafood markets that provide Bangkok eateries. That’s why, while you go to those provinces, you wish to strive a really Thai seafood — pla tu, Thai mackerel, a sea fish that, like Thais themselves, likes to play with boundaries. In pla tu’s case, it’s within the brackish water on the mouth of the river the place pla tu thrive, someplace neither really sea however not river both.
At Khun Toom Restaurant in Samut Sakhon close to Mahachai Market, the pla tu is served in a “sathia”, the native phrase for “tom khem”, piled over an inky pool of soy sauce and confit garlic and garlanded with a contemporary tangle of coriander leaves. It’s not cooked for thus lengthy that the bones soften into the flesh; not like aristocratic Thai households, the cooks right here don’t have time for that (possibly in the event that they listened to Jethro Tull? But who would want this destiny on anybody?). But in case you are prepared to spend the time and revel in a little bit of a problem, the pla tu pile makes for a pleasant early dinner with a plate of rice, particularly lately when it’s always raining and it feels just like the world is about to finish.
Khun Tum isn’t simply identified for its Thai mackerel. Their most well-known dish is, after all, crab: both merely steamed, with an abundance of orange roe obscenely spilling out onto the plate, or already picked and stir-fried with inexperienced peppercorns, torn makrut lime leaves and sneaky smashed inexperienced hen’s eye chilies.
There are a ton of eating places identical to Khun Tum in Samut Sakhon (and Samut Songkhram), all variations on a scrumptious theme. Like “Rubberband Man”, there are totally different (once more, scrumptious) variations that set them other than the others; the sweet-and-sour “tom som” with deep-sea pomfret at Jay Meaw in Samut Songkhram involves thoughts, as does the “pla tu tom madan” (Thai mackerel soup with bitter cucumber) at Khun Ja Restaurant. Of course, for those who don’t just like the theme (that will be seafood), the variations can be very tedious certainly. But in case you are a fan, why not clear a while out out of your schedule and provides it a whirl?
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