On fire

I'm burning, burning, burning with just the sensation of eating a perfectly normal Thai chicken & veggies meal with rice, expertly prepared by my brother's girlfriend, Kaew. No chili was involved, but the Thais have a way of making things lethal anyway. Our puny, Norwegian digestive systems fail when faced with just a hint of the strong, spicy goodness that is Thai cuisine.

My brother told me he once went with Kaew to one of her friends' apartment, where the girls will meet almost daily to chat, shop, chat, prepare food, chat, eat, then chat some more. Apparently, this is what they do most of the time. Anyway, he made the mistake of tasting some of this homemade food, and was crying like a little girl before he'd swallowed the first bite. His mouth was on fire, and he couldn't taste the flavor of anything for days.

The Thais are very particular about what they eat. At restaurants, us Westerners will happily stuff face with a bland version of Thai food and think it's the greatest meal we've ever had, but Kaew will wrinkle her nose and pick at the food as often as not. My brother claims, with just a hint of exaggeration, that food's not considered fresh to her unless it was killed within the last hour...

The remains of what Kaew made and we ate.