Guess Who's Coming To (Easter) Dinner?

Dr. John Prentice?

Hah!

No, really, Bridgestone is coming to Easter dinner (from Sweden!!), and we ask that you join us.*

TAC
Easter Sunday, April 8th**
7pm
BYOB

Estimated cost : $20-25 per diner

I can accommodate a total of ten diners.

Now, three of those seats have already been filled (Bridgestone, Bridgestone's brother, and myself), so that only leaves seven spaces.

If you are interested, be quick, and contact me via p.m.

And, if you can make a firm commitment, I will add you to the list.

E.M.

* Bridgestone has asked me to arrange this dinner as a favour and I promise that it will be a very special event. The menu itself shall remain a surprise, but I will tell you that there will be a pointed emphasis on off-menu seafood preparations from Central and Southern Thailand.

** Yes, it is an odd date for this sort of thing, but it is all that our schedules allow.

I can't make it but a great idea and a most fitting welcome, Erik. I'm sure the spaces will go fast!

Well, my celebrity draw is worth just about its weight in lutfisk but the opportunity to experience an Erik M.-composed, all-out Thai feast should tempt at least a few of you, right?

Besides, what's a better antidote for Easter ham and lamb overdoses than a jolt of authentic Thai at TAC?!

I'd love to get the opportunity to meet a few of you. I appreciate the poor timing but, if any of you have the opportunity to join us, please do.

HI,

I would like to participate. Fortunately my family will be well feed around 2 PM.

Regards,

Erik M. wrote:** Yes, it is an odd date for this sort of thing, but it is all that our schedules allow.

Let's see, meet Bridgestone while having a terrific Erik M orchestrated Thai meal or stay happily married........................Thinking, thinking...........

Sorry, can't make it.

Enjoy,
Gary

Finally an upside to being single! I'm so there!

May I please claim 2 spots?

leek wrote:May I please claim 2 spots?

They're yours.

E.M.

One for me, please.

Sonja Foxe

SGFoxe wrote:One for me, please.

Great.

That leaves one space...

E.M.

Please add my name to the list.
Thanks.
Jyoti

jygach wrote:Please add my name to the list.
Thanks.
Jyoti

Great.

Done.

--------

My apologies to any stragglers, but we are fully booked now. And, unless there are any last minute cancellations, the only remaining business we have here is the post mortem examination.

Seeya.

E.M.

Thanks to Erik M for setting this amazing meal up. Good people, great food all in all a wonderful time. It was great to meet Bridgestone and his brother, I'm going to try to bring the kids to Honey1 tomorrow night!

The only downside is that all my food options for today seem sad and pathetic by comparison.

Oh boy, last night's dinner was a real treat. I will let someone who was a more careful annotator provide serious details, but we had delicious dish after amazing dish.

It seems frivolous to name "favorites" with so many different flavors, but I really was knocked out by the curries, one a pork variant on a recipe Erik culled from the Thai equivalent of Good Housekeeping (whose name I asked seven or eight times, but I swear, I cannot retain the sounds of Thai words. If I saw it in transliterated roman characters, it might stick) and the crab curry, built from a curry powder Erik made himself. Both were amazing layers of flavor, and I find myself wishing I could keep going back to taste them more and try to work out the complex interplay of sensations.

As always, it was also a pleasure simply to share a meal with fellow LTHers, although I was kind of pinned in and didn't get to chat much with the far end of the table.

Thanks to Bridgestone for providing impetus for this event, and copious thanks to Erik for sharing his passion for this food and his considerable efforts in setting up the event.

Food Wow. People Yes.

Thanks so much!

I have no idea how to upload the pictures ... from the artisanal potato vodka that bridgestone (note to crrush -- b-stone's a dude) gave to Erik M, the rice/spinach pancake appetizers through the mango sticky rice desert ... & the lagniappe of swedish candies

Great job Erik M.

Thank you

Sonja

I tried to give this menu as much of a Southern Thai emphasis as possible. The photos below were kindly provided by Bridgestone's brother, CubsFanFoodie, and show our entire meal, duplicate and triplicate orders notwithstanding. The items labeled in blue were special requests.


khanõm kûy châi : pan-fried chive dumplings


sà-té kài : satay skewers (chicken)


kûng châe náam plaa : raw shrimp marinated with lime juice, fish sauce, garlic, and chile


sômtam puu maa : papaya salad with raw blue crab


tôm yam kûng mai náam (náam sãi) : sour and spicy soup with large freshwater prawns


kaeng mũu tay poh : tamarind curry with pork loin and water spinach


khài jiaw phàk ruam míit : omelette with mixed vegetables


phàt phrík sà-tàw kûng sàp : spicy, minced shrimp and bitter bean (Parkia speciosa) stir-fry


puu phàt phông kàrii : : crab stir-fried with curry powder*


khâo nĩaw má-mûang : sticky rice with mango

My thanks to those in attendance; I hope that you had a good time.

My thanks to the kitchen and waitstaff, especially Itti, the principal owner of TAC, who was kind enough to cook the soup and the crab for us at my request; it was a smashing occasion, really.

And, lastly, my thanks to Andy; you rock.

E.M.

* This dish was prepared with a special Southern Thai-style seafood curry powder that I created for the occasion.

Erik M. wrote:
phàt phrík sà-tàw kûng sàp : spicy, minced shrimp and bitter bean (Parkia speciosa) stir-fry

Oh yeah, how could I forget this one... there was a bit of talk about how stinky the beans were (these were the ones that were supposed to have an asparagus-like aromatic aftermath as well, no?) but that stinky wasn't the reaction I had. In fact, I don't really recall the smell, but the taste was very complex. My taste vocabulary is woefully inadequate, but these were a very interesting experience. At the moment I'm recalling a distinct "green" note, but also layers on top of that that mostly recall richness as much as any specific flavor.

Sorry I can't be more clear in the retelling -- you'll have to order them for yourself somewhere! (They may not be for everyone -- but I'm one who is not a huge fan of "funky" flavors, and this was well within my boundaries... or maybe I like them more than I thought?)

HI,

The crab in Erik's curry sauce was not spicy, it was very memorable with layers of smoke tinged spice. I was in the fortunate position of eating sparingly the hotter foods. By the time the crab arrived, everyone around me having feasted well on the foods I simply tasted were now full. Once everyone else had their knuckle of crabmeat, I was free to mine the head and other bits for curried crab. For me it was the most memorable dish of the meal.

Glad Bridgestone's visit allowed me an opportunity to try this new curry from Erik. Thanks!

Regards,

It was a pleasure meeting Bridgestone and I am grateful that his visit served as the catalyst for this wonderful dining experience.

Erik, thank you for coordinating this dinner. I adore Thai food and loved the opportunity to be exposed to dishes not commonly seen on menus such as the marinated raw shrimp and the papaya salad with raw crab.
Every dish on the menu was carefully chosen and then enhanced by Erik's shopping for special ingredients such as jumbo prawns and crab.

The food alone would have made for a delicious dinner. However, combined with Erik's knowledge about Thai food which he generously shared with us, the dining experience can only be described as superlative.

I can't add too much to this post by now but I still needed to get in a few comments and thanks.

It's been said a bunch but I still want it to be said by myself: Erik M. really pulled out the stops and helped create an incredible meal for us. Each dish was individually stunning but the careful choice of dishes made for a perfectly balanced meal, too. I literally savored every bite.

I also savored all of the interesting and enjoyable conversations during the evening. I had a wonderful time meeting up with a great group of LTHForum posters. I'm already looking forward to the next time that I get a chance to meet up with some of you!

Thank you, Erik M. and thank you everyone else.