Thai fusion – the timeless present moment

December 31, 2016

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The year is ticking towards its end, and every second to it is slowing down and capturing the best moments and discoveries the year brought. I am sure there was at least one little thing in each of your life that brought you a smile, an honest laughter, emotion, astonishment, desire, inspiration or just pleasure in one of the moments of 2016. I hope in the end of 2016 you can point one or two things for which you can be truly thankful and which motivate you to jump into the New Year with peaceful mind, good vibes and hope for even better, brighter and more successful.

As for myself, I am grateful for the inspiration of 2016, that helped me write and share some moments here from time to time. I am grateful for the great circle of friends and relatives around me whom I could share my discoveries with during the year. I am grateful for all the surprises, new colours and feelings this year brought. I am grateful for the possibility to discover and taste great food throughout the year and finding new exciting places to go to. I am particularly thankful for all the fruitful travels this year brought, including the new cultures and people I had a chance to meet.

I am especially thankful for my first trip to Asia, Thailand, which threw myself into a new sense of knowledge, awareness and taught me to slow down a little, not long for the past or the future, just be in this moment, release the mind and just enjoy every minute of the being.

Thai food….There is just no one word to describe the great variety of tastes and fusions this food brings. Its an absolute heaven of street food, therefore as soon as you get out to the Bangkok streets, you can smell this amazing clash of various spices, sweet and salty in the air!

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Which ever street you turn to – you will always meet people cooking fantastic dishes that you might be experiencing for the first time in your life. You feel that hot spicy and busy vibe in the street, its not posh resto type dining, but the opposite – you just go around, explore, smell, see and pick! its so uniquely cultural and ofcourse for a random European might seem too urban, not enough hygienic or etc. But you can’t simply miss it!!! Cause its the business card of Thailand!

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Of Course the most popular meals around are the thai curries with coconut milk and seafood or pork or chicken, Pad Thais, fried rice, spring rolls! And they are all amazingly good and not expensive!

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A great discovery was the endless variety of thai desserts, that are made using local great fruits like mangos, passion fruits, pineapples etc! The best for myself was the fried banana! And the most popular local one – mango sticky rice. Its not for nothing there are plenty of thai cooking books in the world – the food is worth a sin!

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I could go on and on about this great gastronomic journey and I could definitely call it a discovery of 2016. However, the greatest experience was actually not the food itself but these people in the streets making it, the peaceful smiles in their faces while cooking, their engagement in the each minute of the process, their openness to the reality, their angerless eyes. happy-thai

So overall, in these last hours of 2016, I wish everyone and each of you – to slow down a little, to just relax a bit and experience this timeless moment of now! Happy New Year 2017!!!

Agne

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