Early Days of TMC

This one is from the archives. It's one of two video clips I recently came across from the early days of TMC, July of '03. This one is at the corner of 15th & Sage, in front of the RPI Student Union. I pitched and slung curry off a hotdog cart and a turkey fryer that first year. Each year TMC grew on that corner adding tents, tables, and turkey fryers. Eventually the hot dog cart came to an ignomous end when the business transformed into a street corner decked out self serve buffet under a 10x20 tent.

In the fall of '07, Jackie Baldwin the executive chef for Sodexo, the food service at RPI approached me and asked if TMC might like to move inside the Union. A space was open in the McNeil Room cafeteria. Negotiations began and Thunder Mountain Curry soon after became a subcontracted vendor of Sodexo Food Service.

We still have customers who remember those warm sunny days on the corner slinging curry. I'll never forget of course. There isn't a day I don't wistfully look back at the corner where it all began.

rice video 4

Ingredients are added...

rice noodle video 5

Almost ready...

The dish is now finished and ready to serve!

Tea Time!

Rice noodle video #1

This is Leng Lee making Fried Rice Noodle with vegetables. A Luang Prabang specialty.

rice noodle video #2

Feu Khua (Fried Rice Noodles with Chicken & Vegetables)

List of Ingredients: 100gms minced chicken,beef, or pork),150gms rice noodles,1 egg, 2 cherry tomatoes or 1 large tomato, 1/4 onion sliced thin, 2 cloves garlic (crushed) 120 gms Asian greens (or any vegetable), 2 Tbl oyster sauce, 2 1/2 Tbl oil, 1/2 cup water, 1 t corn flour mixed with water, 1/2 t soy sauce, 1 lime, 1 chili, 1/2 t sugar,1/4 t salt, 1 t white pepper

Fried Rice Noodle #2

In this dish the fresh wide rice noodle (a soaked dry noodle will work) is dropped in very hot oil in the wok and lightly browned on both sides. An egg is broken and allowed to cook on one side of the rice noodle. It's turned and fully cooked. This is cut in the wok into smaller pieces. It is removed and garlic, chicken, vegetables, and seasonings are added. The video follows.

Tamnak cooking school Laos #1

I'm about to enjoy our work at the Tamnak cooking school in Luang Prabang, Laos. Check out their website http://www.tamnaklao.net/ if you are interested in any info about the class, the restaurant, and some good background on Lao cuisine. I spent a day at this class on the 5/25/09. What will follow in a series of pictures and video will be a Luang Prabang specialty: Fried Rice Noodle with Vegetables. This will be one of the new dishes we all will be enjoying soon!

Mike.

Laos and Back

The paths I walked in Laos and Thailand have returned me to my home once agian. It's been quite a ride literary and figuratively. A sensory overload of sorts. I am refreshed in body and spirit, jet lag not withstanding.

The depth of the experience is heightened by the solo journey that's undertaken. While taking in a totally foreign culture anyone will learn quite a bit about themselves. By removing everything familar and comfortable forces one to look at the simpliest things in a whole new way. This new way of seeing things has a ripple effect. Often with profound result.Any personal journey, a walkabout as the Aussies say is something I highly recommend to everyone. It doesn't have to be a far off land you can find yourself anywhere.

I came to SE Asia as I always do for the food and I got a whole lot more. I took in a deeper understanding and respect for the Buddist culture, the importance of it's food in ritual, celebration, and everyday life and how it relates to the their environment in what is available to eat. Thai/Lao peoples of Northern Thailand and Central/Northern Laos have less arrible land and that means a much poorer people. To say protein sources are varied would be an understatement. From wasp and ant larvae to the most succulant river fish. What flys, walks, slithers, swims, or crawls is fair game. This is the land people like to talk about, you know where bugs, bats, rats, snakes are all fair game because they have something we all need. Protein. That doesn't mean we have to eat it of course! I'm sure if it was all you had you would eat it too, just like me and everyone else. In this region those fortunite enough to snare a pig, chicken, fish or whatever eat the whole animal. Nothing goes to waste.

No worries, I do not intend to adopt these policies at TMC because we all by the grace of God don't have to. I chose the Mekong region to spend my time and that meant fish was always on my menu and ate it often. That is not all I ate of course. I sampled many dishes, cooked a few, and plan to cook quite a few more in the weeks to come. Immersing myself in true Thai/Lao food taught me not only a few new dishes, I retasted many that I have made for you all before. It has retuned my tastebuds reorienting them to what they should taste like. I also got to appreciate new face to Thai food. As different as both sides of the River Mekong. Lao food.

In a couple Thai dishes I sampled laarp and tom yum for example, both I have made many times, there are subtle changes caused by giving a different spin to virtually the same ingredients. This is also clearly evident in som tom, the famous papaya salad I first tasted in Chaing Mai, in Northern Thailand.

Lao food is generally less spicy than Thai, giving your palette more room to explore the other flavors present. Bitter ingredients were used I never saw in Thailand, and more sweet and sour flavors are also heightened.

You will see other changes at Thunder Mountain Curry. Some will be so subtle you may not even notice some will more bold. Some you may like and some you may not. As always we welcome and appreciate your feedback! I look forward to cooking for you soon.

I'm still assimilating everything and collating a lot in my sleep deprived mind. As promised pictures and videos coming soon.

Here's cooking to you,

Mike.

Laos
A country with a tragic history of conquests over the centuries and the more recent senseless bombings the US did during the Vietnam war is now my home for while. In an unsuccessful attempt to slow the Viet Cong's resupply routes into South Vietnam we carpet bombed the hell out this beautiful country. More bombs were dropped in the 10 years of the "secret" war on neutral Laos than were dropped during the whole of World War 2. The villagers lived in caves during this onslaught watching there villages and farms permanently destroyed by bombs and the defoliant agent orange. Today there are vast areas that still will not support life. Unexploded ordinance is an ever present danger and the war continues as the number of beggars grows in the streets. They are innocently maimed by cluster bombs and mines while going about their daily lives.

You would think they are angry at the US still but they bear no resentment. They smile and hold out their hands hoping our sense of decency will prevail. Yes, I do feel a sense of responsibility at the atrocities committed by our country. But I cannot help them all and being here spending dollars on tourism and telling people back home their story is the best way I can help them all.

I spent a day in Vientiane the capital of Laos. Today it flags in comparison to it's neighbor Thailand. The communist regime has held back growth and the restrictions on free trade make for a sad state. Former French colonial buildings are tired, dirty and in disrepair. Beggars, victims of an ending war sleep on doorsteps or hold out their hands to me making feeble attempts. In many ways it's like all of South East Asia with the many motor bikes and tuk tuks (motorbike taxis) crowding the streets. Everywhere someone is selling something on the street.
I enjoyed a nice meal of grilled Mekong fish and sticky rice in a makeshift restaurant on the banks of the Mekong while drinking their famous beer lao watching Lao families eating and laughing. They are a proud and happy people despite all they have gone through.

I am now in the holy city of Luanne Prabang in Northern Laos. It's lush and mountainous. There are ancient wats and waterfalls to discover, rivers to kayak, caves to explore. The food and accommodations are cheap so naturally twenty somethings from around the world have made it their playground. I am seeing this place from a different perspective than those kids using the wisdom of my years to appreciate Laos for all its been through and what it has to offer the World.

lazy days on the mekong

Hi Everybody,

I have been holed up in a quiet guesthouse on the banks of the Mekong River the past couple days. Laos is calling me on the opposite shore. Nong Khai is a border town with a laid back friendly vibe in stark contrast with the frentic energy of Bangkok. It will be hard to leave this place. I am making friends with the cooks here spending time in the kitchen and enjoying their terrific food. As I suspected the cuisine here is very different from that of the rest of Thailand. I can't wait to try some of these dishes in my kitchen for you all. I have been eating fish pulled right out of the river cooked in a style unlike any I have experienced before.

It's hot here and rains from the monsoon drop sheets of rain on me while I write this under a thatched roof with the muddy river flowing swifty below me. In between bouts of rain the tropical sun beats down and the air is fresh, clean and earthy. Everything is growing like mad. Orchids, poppies, and so many flowers I don't recognize complete with the greenest greens I have ever seen. When I awoke a butterfly I mistook for a large bat fluttered into my open air bathroom. That said the mosquitos are also very robust and enjoying this wet environment. Malaria is a reality but no worries, I have plenty of deet on hand.

I will be moving on to Laos tommorrow, a country that has turned it back to rest of the world in favor of a repressed political ideology. Ranked 178th in the World, behind Bangladesh and Sierra Leone. There is no research in Laos because there are no scientists. They have never filed a patent, something even Burundi can't claim. Things are only getting worse in Laos I'm afraid. In '91 25% of roads were paved, by '99 that number dropped to 14%. But I'm told it's beautiful, the people are very friendly and the food is very similiar to what I have been enjoying the past couple days.

I'll post again when I return to Thailand as I hear the internet hasn't made it there yet.

Mike.

Mike's Thailand Blog #1

Hi Everyone!

Well here I am in Thailand. Home to some of the best food and friendliest people in the world. I have just arrived after a body and soul bruising 30 hour trip to Bangkok. No journey is without the unexpected. Mine began with a bit of swine flu hysteria. The Japanese government with their efficency decided they would stop the pandemic at their door by requiring every person that enters the country submit to an inspection before deplaning. So 300 or so of us waited while a platoon of medical staff in full hazmat operational attire checked us over. After the 14 hour flight every minute in that sweaty plane was torture. At least I was not worried about missing a connection. Unlike the other guys next to me I had plenty of time to explore the wonders of Tokyo International airport. My first stop was the loo. The Japanese are marvels in efficency and sanitation. The toilet stall I chose featured a full door for your discretion and a gleaming seat to await my repose. It was a high tech toilet. Buttons on both side of the seat availed me a bidet with variable water pressure and a heated seat! Having never experianced a bidet I thought I would give it a try. I was immediately glad I selected the low pressure setting. The heat was nice but not necasary in my opinion.

I spent my first day shaking off jet lag and wondering the streets of Bangkok getting hopelessly lost and enjoying the street food and taking in the sights of this wonderous city. Its hot here. Very hot. The humidity is thick and pollution burns my eyes whenever I venture outside. I am staying in the backpacker ghetto of Khao San. It's a carnival atmosphere of international twenty somethings and loud rock n' roll. Your senses are assaulted in every way. But the rooms are cheap and clean. My 14.00 room avails me the use of a rooftop pool and bar with an awesome view of the city and the madness below me.

Tomorrow I fly to the North and a more tranquil setting.

Mike.

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