Foods new to us:

Rambutan – The skin looks like a red squishy ball with lots of green hair. It has kind of a grape texture on the inside and a very mild flavor. The edible portion is about the size of peewee chicken egg and includes a seed that looks like an almond.

Dragon Fruit – We ate two varieties: white and pink.  Most of the time this fruit was served in cut pieces, such as in a fruit salad or on top of a pancake.  It was tasty and looked appealing. We also tried a dragon fruit shake and concluded that this beverage taste like drinking cut grass.  We did not order it again.

Thai ice tea – This is a great drink on a hot afternoon or evening. We discovered that the secret is sweetened condensed milk.

Soy bean leaves – We had to do a bit of research to find out what we had eaten one evening at a vegetarian restaurant in Chaing Mai.  None of the restaurant employees knew the English word for the food so we went to the internet.  We discovered that we had consumed soy bean leaves fried in tempura batter, a very tasty food especially with a spicy sauce.

Eggplant – Thai egg plant looks nothing like US or Indian eggplant.  We ate two varieties: 1) size of large green peas and crunchy in curries and 2) soft golf-ball size and when cooked is very similar to summer squash.

Rice cracker with watermelon seeds — A sweet and spicy snack that has a texture similar to rice krispies bars

Seaweed chips – Lay’s Company makes a seaweed chip that is quite like a Pringles chip in flavor and texture. We tried this and decided once was enough.

Khao Soi – This is a very popular noodle dish in Northern Thailand and Thai folk told us that it even originated in Chiang Mai.  It is like a soup with egg noodles and served with many small bowls of additional ingredients for flavor varieties. Ingredients to add include red onions, pickles, boiled egg, soy sauce, and spicy sauce.