One benefit to living with someone and sharing a bedroom is your partner can
catch the nighttime gems you utter while half asleep and still dreaming. And then remind you the next morning so you don’t forget the important lessons of life that only come with REM sleep.

My husband said he walked into the bedroom late last night and I exclaimed,
“Goddamn crustaceans.”

To which he replied supportively, “Jerks.”

I only remembered this exchange when he told me in the morning.

You know what? I think those lobsters were totally trying to rip me off last night.

We’ve been living in this location for almost 4 years now and we’re still discovering the restaurants in our neighborhood. Between busy schedules and sheer laziness, we’ve fallen into a rut of going to a handful of restaurants in the area when we can’t think of anywhere else to eat.

Oddly enough (until you remember we’re lazy) though we both love Thai food, we had not identified a place to be our standby, local, fallback Thai restaurant. If the craving struck, one of us would make a red or green curry at home or we’d or travel 5 to 10 miles to eat at the ever tasty Amarin Bankok Thai on Prospect Blvd, Chez Savon (Cambodian-Thai) in Campbell or the beautiful House of Siam in Downtown San Jose.

But today we decided it was time to branch out and start scoping out the closest Thai spots. So we started with Siam Square in Willow Glen.

Siam Square looks like a former diner which has been converted into a comfortable restaurant with comfy booths for tall people (which I’m not), glass topped tables and cloth napkins. The menu lists the standard Thai in America fare I’ve grown fond of over the years.

D and I ordered a number of dishes since the plan was to try enough to make our will-this-be-our-local-thai-spot? evaluation. We also wanted to go home with leftovers for dinner.

What We Ate

Angel Wings Appetizer
2 Hot boneless chicken wings, stuffed with chicken, vermicelli noodles and assorted veggies, breaded and lightly fried. These were a bit bland and could have used a bit more salt. It was accompanied by an overly sweet & sour cucumber dip. I usually love this Thai condiment, but this version was just too cloying. Still, the dish was tasty and satisfying.

Num Tok Nuer or Tangy Beef Salad
Slices of beef marinated in lime, chile, onions, rice powder, mint leaves and scallions over crisp iceberg lettuce. We ordered mild but it was still tinglingly spicy which we enjoyed. This was a refreshing salad and as both of us were getting over colds, the spicy chile and acidity of the lime made this a rather soothing dish. Soothing the way hot soup is when you’re not feeling well.

Pad Thai
I usually only order this dish once per restaurant, the first time I visit. If it’s amazingly good, I’ll get it again but it rarely is. This version was ok but I won’t be ordering it on our next visit. It had the requisite sweet and sour flavors, but the noodles were too dense and the accompanying chicken, shrimp, bean sprouts and nuts were minimal and boring. I like my pad thai full of goodies including egg, and the noodles should be light, almost a gossamer mass, full of flavor.

Siam Hor-Moke
This was the highlight of our meal and definitely why we’ll be returning to this restaurant. D and I are both big fans of Hoa (or Hor) Moke, usually a custardy curry dish of seafood, cabbage, galangal, and basil, steamed in a banana leaf or foil pouch. This one was not made with eggs but was chock full of prawns, tender calamari and white fish, steamed in a thick red curry sauce and served with a dollop of coconut cream. Very different from the hoa moke’s we’ve had before but totally delicious.

Panang Green Curry
A perennial favorite, this one was served with green beans and pork. This was also quite good though I think I’d get it with chicken next time as the pork was slightly tough.

In summary, we accomplished our tasks admirably. We have tons of leftovers and we’ve also found a solid Thai place close to home. We’ve had better Thai elsewhere but if the curries are any indication, further exploration of the menu should reveal promising comfort food to satisfy our after-work dinner cravings.

…

DETAILS
Siam Square Thai Cuisine
1040 Willow St.
San Jose, CA
408-293-2268
Map

Lunch
M-F 11am-2:30pm
Dinner
M-Th 5pm-9:30pm
Fri 5pm-10:00pm
Sat 11:30am-10pm
Sun 4pm-9:30pm

Sorry for the long hiatus folks. First some kind of horrible flu/cold/cough knocked me out, then I was away in New Orleans on business from Sunday thru Wednesday night.

New Orleans is well known for its incredible food. Gumbos, jambalaya, seafood, muffaleta, beignets, boudin and more. Unfortunately, most of what I ate was barely edible, highly expensive convention food.

If the dried out croissant or cold cocktail bits weren’t enough to sustain me through the day, I’d order something from the expensive room service menu. Not exciting food, but solid sustenance after a full day of back-to-back meetings and evening cocktail parties.

Plus there’s definitely something satisfying, decadent and thoroughly enjoyable about ordering room service. I ordered a hot bowl of chicken soup my first night and ate it curled up in bed at midnight, crumbling crackers with abandon, knowing that I’d just move over to the fresh 2nd double bed to sleep. Crumbfree.

And my last afternoon there, I ordered the Turkey Club you see on the right, eating, packing and reading the NY Times before leaving for the airport.

While most of my culinary encounters were non-events (I only had 3 real meals in 4 days) I am happy to recommend Cafe Adelaide, an offshoot of the famous Commander’s Palace Restaurant of New Orleans. It’s located on the first floor of the Loews Hotel. I had a delicious entree of Pompano filet with oyster mushrooms, applewood bacon & gnocchi; for dessert, cappuccino mousse semifreddo with 3 little beignets dusted with sugar.

I’m hopeful that my next trip to New Orleans will be at a more leisurely pace and that I’ll have a real chance to sample some of the great flavors and dishes of this charming city.

Cafe Adelaide
Loews Hotel
600 Polydras Blvd
New Orleans, LA
$$$

Ugg, I feel like I’m starting to come down with something. D is just getting over a flu-like thingy, all congestion, coughing, upset stomach & with a touch of fever. I hope I’m not coming down with the same thing as I can ill- (ha, a pun!) afford the time off from work what with all the stuff I need to get done plus an impending business trip next week.

Hopefully, I just overdid it in the sun today. After several drizzly, rainy, gray days, stuck in a cubicle at work, craving sunshine, I spent all day outdoors making the most of the glorious weather and bright blue sky.

But my throat’s getting sore and I’m getting that odd, prickly sensation that often heralds a full fledged cold.

So what do you eat to stave off a cold? I’m not particularly hungry but could really use some ideas. I figure a good hot meal, hot bath and restful night’s sleep should set everything to rights. Here’s what what sounds good though I’m not up for serious cooking tonight:

A spicy Thai Tom Yum Goong sounds really good.

Warm & soothing Indian Dal on rice would be nice too.

I’m always craving fresh fruit. And I’m sure the extra vitamin C would help too.

Any other ideas? I’m at a loss.

Have you ever made a dish that seemed to have magical properties? Here’s one I’ve experienced.

Over the years, I’ve turned into a cauliflower junkie. I love it pureed in soups, gratins, cooked in various Italian dishes, heavily spiced in Indian dishes and even fresh, broken up into tiny florets for salads.

One day a few years ago, I found a simple preparation method on eGullet, the very popular food site & user forum. They advocated simply breaking the fresh cauliflower up and broiling it with a little drizzling of olive oil, salt and pepper.

I was hooked. The broiling/roasting brought out the sweetness of the vegetable, retaining some of the texture while softening it for easy eating. Made like this, it makes a nice (low carb!) replacement to traditional starches like mashed potatoes or rice.

But here’s the magical part. One day, I decided to eat my broiled cauliflower with a homemade tomato/marinara sauce. It was very delicious.

The next morning I woke up with the most dewy, rosy, smooth, perfect complexion I can ever remember having. I just couldn’t stop looking at myself in the mirror that morning. I felt very vain and full of myself.

I thought about what could have contributed to such a remarkable change. The only thing that came to mind was that cauliflower and tomato dish I had the night before.

Alas, the effect did not last long. The following morning I was back to being my own freckley self.

I’ve never gone back and tried that magical combination though I’ve had roasted cauliflower several times since. But I don’t think I’ll every forget that amazing morning transformation I still attribute to the magical dish of white & red.