MSR

What am I talking about?
Mango with Sticky Rice!
As embarrassing as this is to admit, it has become a staple...an essential, in our daily diet. I don't know how we are going to live without it ever again!

Here's how it works:

We eat dinner....we're full. And then Rodolfo gets that look...the MSR look....and the begging and the pleading starts.  Then, we somehow find ourselves winding around dark alleyways like stray cats, looking for a pile of mangos on a cart.  When we find it, which we always do, that's when things get exciting! It's 5 minutes of the best show ever!

"Sawat dee kaw! We want that!!!!" Pointing at the large metal bowl of sticky rice with giant grins on our faces.

Here's where the art comes in....
Step 1: The sticky rice
She carefully moulds two heaping handfuls of the sweet coconut soaked rice from the giant metal bowl covered with a cloth, to a styrofoam plate and sets it down.

Step 2: The mango
From the large pile of mangos lying in a pyramid of love in front of us, she'll pick up one, and put it back. Then she'll touch another one without picking it up and make a face of uncertainty. From there, she'll go to the other side of the pile and without hesitation pick it up immediately. I have no idea why this is, but it's happened every time.  What?  They just sense it?  What are they looking for?  I have no idea!

Step 3: Peeling
Watching this part is awesome!!!!! They always have a very sharp long knife, and peel half of the mango very carefully from head to toe. She'll then cut the peeled part (half the mango) away from the seed and then cut the half vertically into little squares of love and slide the whole heap onto the sticky rice. (Mangos are a bit smoother/riper here with a much flatter seed, so they're much easier to cut)

Step 4: Accessories - sugar sauce and nuts!
This is different at every place we go. Some vendors pour the sweet sugary coconut sauce all over for us and sprinkle the little crunchy nuts on top (still not sure what the nuts really are, accept that I'm addicted...nuts are not an essential part, but I always hope for them!). Many places give you small bags tied with rubber bands, so you can add your sauce and nuts directly before eating when you get home.***

Step 4: EATING!
They give you little plastic thai soup spoons to eat with....they usually give us two, the more plastic the better here! They put our styrofoam dish into a plastic bag for us... If you try to say no, it gets a little confusing and I'm pretty sure we hurt their feelings...like I said, plastic and styrofoam are king here. But anyway! One mouthful of melting mango into the chewy rice with the bit of sweet from coconut and that little bit of crunch from the nuts. ABSOLUTE HEAVEN!!!!! Totally worth the 20-40 baht (.70-$1.30) every night!!!!

***A lot of Thai people buy their meals from street vendors on their way home from work. You buy 6 or 7 different rubber banded plastic bags of food (curries, noodles, stir frys) and then take them home to eat. This makes buying some market food difficult for us, since we don't really have a kitchen to eat it in, but we've managed to...manage!