Living it 'Thai

Living it 'Thai.

One of the trio of jobs Im juggling involves weekend evenings of phone stuck on my ear, getting orders for a thai takeaway that my former workmate opened a few months ago.
I actually adore that job aside from the homey feeling of being with fellow Southeast Asians, I endearingly and teasingly call my boss Mom, she worked in the first restaurant I worked with in which our other boss there had been eventually my boss in the third medley of my working life - the office.
Small world.

Anyways, I got a few hilarious orders for the past few months.. and underneath each is my invisible replies, double underline invisible, cos I gotta hold on to my mouth and just smile my way through if I still want my job next week.

“Can I please have a portion of Chicken Cashew Nut without Cashew”
–Can I please take the order, without you saying the order? Prolly sign language would do?

“Can I please have a Nugget and Chips”
– Right we do that best, since we’re a thai takeaway

Three people came in, me jumping for joy for extra business, one of them call out the order: “Can I just have one portion of chips please?”
-I think the chicken shop next door do that better.

“Can you please just knock softly on the door and don’t ring the bell? My baby’s sleeping
-Maybe we should start whispering on the phone too.


But sometimes, I get the lower hand.

Me: Can I take a name and a contact number pls?
Customer: Mr Ascot. 077********
Me: Ascot? Like the Royal Ascot? (Royal Ascot = Royal Horse Sprints/Races)
Customer: Yeah, you made that joke last week.
Me to my mind: Glad to know you’re a regular sir :)

Holy Chutney.
Anyways, Chef Thaibool (my endearment for him) usually makes this homemade salad for everyone, it's not on any of the restaurants menu, rather, it’s an authentic salad from Northern regions of Thailand, and its damn good. And so easy. It’s a chutney of some kind. I call it Holy Chutney because I reckon its so healthy and its really tasty.

Aubergine, Garlic, Tomatoes – originally best to roast in a tandoori oven, but I don’t have a restaurant in my backyard so the grill/oven would do. Usually, I slice the auberigine/tomatoes horizontally first to exposed a lot of flesh to give it color/caramelization. Authentically, Thaibool would pound it on mortar/pestle to make it as a mach but then you sliced or mashed according to choice. I like mine strips.

Ground Green Chilis

Fresh chopped Coriander Leaf

Lime Juice

Nam Pla/Fish Sauce.

It got this sweet and spicy feeing playing in your mouth with different textures from the vegetable (crunchy and nuggetty from the roasted skin, and mushy from the flesh), the roasted garlic makes it more rustic, and the coriander leaf aromatize everything to freshness, the lime juice cuts through and gives the fish sauce a good marriage. Love Living it’Thai.