We are back in New York visiting my mother. She is funny, she has recently joined the Facebook ranks and my posts get cross posted onto Facebook. I completely forgot that I had friended her just a week or so ago. Actually my hubby suggested that we bring some of the pie to my mother’s so that we could surprise her, he is sweet like that, he wanted to impress my mother with my baking skills, so I walked in through the basement and I called up to the kitchen “I brought you a surprise!” My mother called back down to me “Is it the pie?” I almost fell over, I walked up the stairs and asked her “how did you guess?” And as calm as anything she replied “I read about it on Facebook” She is one smart cookie, my mother is and by the way the conversation was all in French, except for the word Facebook.
As I’m writing this, I have a very full belly from the wonderful Thai food we had at SriPraPhai restaurant in Woodside Queens. We ordered a delectable shrimp salad, it was served on a bed of lettuce with sliced red onions, lime juice, cilantro, it was light, slightly spicy, but still refreshing. We also ordered steamed dumplings that weren’t doughy at all, the were more filling than dough and nicely seasoned, we all were nodding happily as we were chewing.
The main courses were two different sets of textures and flavors. I had ordered Pad Thai, the safe choice, just in case I made a mistake with the other, soft-shelled crab with egg, curry powder and scallions. The Pad Thai was very good, but the soft-shelled crab was in my opinion out of this world. I remember that I used to look forward to soft shell crab season with much anticipation, but for the past few years, I have gotten over my delight, I don’t know why but I did. Tonight, I devoured my small share of the soft shell crab, it was served cut up into portions, deep fried and the batter was light and nicely seasoned and the egg was scrambled mixed with a light touch of the curry powder, the vegetables were more than the simple scallion, there was red pepper and celery, thinly sliced and the sauce was delicately flavored with curry powder. There was nothing heavy handed in the composition of this delicious plate. Like I said, I had ordered the Pad Thai to be safe and we had all enjoyed it, but not to the extent that we had inhaled the crab.
What I had known before and was impressed upon me again tonight is that I don’t know enough about curries and other Thai techniques, I went out on a limb, trusting nothing really, just hoping that I made a good choice, luckily I did. I look forward to doing it again and experiment with more unknowns.
This restaurant was a new experience for us, my mother had eaten there previously, but that was about ten years ago, I am so glad that my mother had the great idea to dine out tonight because I will not forget the phenomenal soft shell crab concoction that I had tonight.
laurieanichols 