Hello once again everyone. I guess I'll skip the sappy "I miss yall, what a great time I'm having, etc." I'm sure you all get the idea. As promised, here's what some of the food is like here:

This is the homemade ice cream shop on the side of the road in my village. They normally either have coconut or chocolate. Needless to say, I've become pretty tight with the ice cream lady... Well... until I brought some friends there after church and she goes telling everything she knows, "Eeey! You come two time today!"

...traitor.

Dragon fruit... kinda tastes like kiwi. Not too shabby, but I'd say its prettier than it tastes.

Huge jars of dried fruit (all kinds) at a border village in the mountains. It was really cheap, too. I wish I'd gotten a lot more than I did because it was incredible!

Same village... Tea, anyone?

Ah... Khao Soi Nua. (tender beef, delectable egg noodles, tiny little scrumptious onions, and some kind of sauce of love) To say that I like this stuff is like saying that I'd prefer not to have a cobra wrapped around my arm when I wake up in the morning.

Yea, yea... I know this isn't exactly food. But... red curry with duck and sticky rice is in a "thai" for first place with khao soi nua on my favorite thai dishes. So when I see a cute little duck swimming around... red curry comes to mind. I know... I'm heartless.

I've gotta be honest. I had no clue how pineapples were grown.

Jack fruit... these things are MASSIVE!

The guy said "Japanese, sweet, blueberry..." I figured it was some kind of donut. I was wrong. I bit into it and it had a jelly-like texture.

No clue. Didn't ask. I wasn't about to eat it regardless.

"Big Gulps mai? Chai... duur ghahn khrup!"

(Translation...)

"Big Gulps, eh guys? Alright! Well... see ya later!"

If you catch the reference, good for you... if not you're a loser and I can't help that.

Fried quail eggs. They taste just like other eggs. I had to get some because I thought the little cast iron thing they were cooking them on was just too neato.

Some kind of tapeoka with raisins wrapped in banana leaves. Tasty!

??? Meat on a stick next to some boiling sauce.

One Sabbath night when the Howells were gone we used the kitchen and made a nice American dinner. Well... the girls did. I had to prepare a sermon for the next day while they handled the womanly duties. :) I miss having my own kitchen and cooking all the time.

MSG... boo on MSG

Yes, this is actually yogurt with corn, kidney beans, and nuts in it. It's not too bad, but definitely not what I would think to put in yogurt.

This is my favorite fruit here... "Rampatans." They're very sweet. I don't know what to compare them to... maybe heaven?

Shrimp flavor coated and coconut cream coated peanuts.

Seaweed snacks... tastes a lot like... seaweed.

I thought it was odd that they don't refrigerate eggs here in the grocery store. (Or the market for that matter.) They've also got quail and duck eggs readily available.

Many of you have asked me about the beer. (Or "bia" in Thai) This is normally pretty much your selection. Chang is the cheap Keystone (but worse) of Thailand. Sigha and Singha light... I'd say it's the Budweiser of Thailand. (Two thumbs up) There's a few other random ones that you'll see sometimes. Heineken is huge here. Its about the only import that you see everywhere. I don't see why. (Hats off to their marketing people... must just be the really cool can.)

Good ole Legacy food: Brown rice, fresh veggies, some chicken curry of some sort, some kind of soup, nam pit (chili paste... I have twice as much hair on my chest in just two months because of this stuff!) , some tofu/chicken substitute stuff, more veggies.

This is a pretty typical meal for us.

More Legacy food: Brown rice, whole tilapia, some kind of soup, nam pit, and RAMPATANS!

All kinds of juices are available here at the grocery stores. And they're all the same price. These are my two favorites: Aloe Vera and Pomegranate. The Aloe Vera actually has chunks of the aloe vera gelatin stuff in it, too.

I feel like I overuse the word "interesting" when trying to describe things in Thailand. Can't think of another word for these, though.

Lays has a really big market share of the chips sold here. They definitely have some interesting flavors, though. The Nori Seaweed is actually pretty good. (Nice and salty) So far I've passed on the Hot Chili Squid.

This is at a place called iBerry. Its a trendy little spot in Chiang Mai that looks like it should sell vitaminWater and everyone should be sitting around playing on MacBooks working on their novel or something. Very tasty (and very pricy) ice cream with some pretty unique flavors. I wouldn't suggest Durian, though.

Longi berries. These grow everywhere around here on trees, so we get them a pretty good bit. Not too bad at all, but not my favorite.

Well that should cover the basics. If I run into anything else really unique or good I'll post them later.

I just got back from the mountains on a trip to visit a school up there, so I'll be posting again soon with that story and pictures from there.

I hope all is well with everyone back home. As always, feel free to shoot me an email sometime!

Much love,

Nathan Kimmons, Chiang Mai, Thailand