Tuesday, December 15, 2009

It's An Asian Thing

My name is Jan and I'm Asian. Thai to be exact, in case you were wondering. However, even though I'm Asian I don't really know how to cook anything Asian. In fact, I have a neighbor who cooks Asian food better than I do. I'm getting better though, if you want to compare it to never even wanting to eat Thai food growing up. That's right. My poor mom always made Thai food for my dad and herself while also making my brother and me "American" food. Now we both really enjoy Thai food and I wish I knew how to cook a few more dishes.

This brings me to this funny bottle of soy sauce. Don't you love it? It's for housewives. There's a good sized Asian store near our house. It's a hoot to visit not just for the different things they sell, but also to read some of the labels. Now I actually use quite a bit of soy sauce in my cooking. I don't know anything about what brands are good or if there is even any difference. I just want some soy sauce. I usually call my mom, but when she's in Thailand I can't just call at anytime. There's a fourteen hour time difference and she's usually sleeping after figuring out the time difference. So I walk down this aisle and I kid you not, soy sauce has almost an entire aisle to itself. There isn't just soy sauce. There's dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, and even black soy sauce. Then they have thick soy sauce and sweet soy sauce. Really? What's a girl to do? I have no idea which one to get. Then I see it: House Wife soy sauce. I'm a housewife so why not. It looks normal. It's on sale. And there's "No Preservative Added." Whatever that means. I'm not up on that kind of stuff. I buy it since it looks good to me. Some of the labels on the soy sauce I can't even read. Maybe that means that they are better? Who knows. Well, I am home with my soy sauce and it looks good and tastes good. Maybe I'll have some Asian recipes to share in a bit. :)

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh, my fellow, Asian-homeschooling, Mama, Jan!!! I CAN SO RELATE!!!! You go to Pacific Ocean, but what do you buy?! What would Mom buy?! I wish I knew how to cook Chinese, so you could teach me to cook Thai. I miss you, Jan!

Unknown said...

I miss you too, Tina! Too bad we never got a chance to cook together.

Lorida Burkholder said...

I've been following your blog for a little while now and I was fascinated to read that you are Thai. I am living in Thailand right now as a missionary and eat tons of Thai food. I can totally identify about all the soy sauce. There are whole aisles of soy sauce here in our stores! I really like your photography. i am a photographer myself...you can check out my website...meephotonitnoy.blogspot.com have a great day.

Lorida Burkholder said...

I live in norther Thailand, Chiang Mai. What part are you from?

MarshaMarshaMarsha said...

I wouldn't have guessed Thai. Well, I have no idea what I would've guessed so why not Thai? :)

I always use Kikkoman soy sauce... mostly because that's what my mom always used (she's Korean). The only time I use a different brand is when I'm making a soup... apparently there's a particular variety you use for that sort of thing.

Oi. Now I'm hungry. And for Thai food rather than Korean-- how weird is that? Panang Curry makes my mouth water. Yum!