Wednesday 16 February 2011

Crabs etc


Right, let's get this out of the way. Generally, I wasn't totally blown away by the food in Cambodia. Now, this really comes down to two reasons:
  • I like my food spicy and Cambodian food is generally similar to Thai food, just without the chili - there's only so much coconut one person can take before you get to the point where you gag the second you hear about coconut - sorry if that was too much information on a Wednesday morning
  • change of environment, malaria tablets and dubious food hygiene tend to make you ill - and experimenting with food is just not on your agenda when you want to do more with your day than spend it face to face with a toilet - or running back to your hotel because, well, things are getting rather urgent.
Again, too much detail? I'm sorry, I don't know what's got into me. So there. We learnt that "fresh spring rolls" as opposed to "spring rolls" aren't fresh as in made this morning, but rather, not cooked/ fried... Not so nice when you're trying to limit your intake of raw vegetables... And walking around the food market will turn you into a temporary vegetarian. Seeing women sat with their feet amongst raw meat, flies flying around, no refrigeration methods, I tell you, I'm not usually squeamish but that turned my stomach a little.


To be fair, I think I'm being a little harsh here. We also had some pretty amazing food. My top food list is here below, from amazing to frigging fantastic:
  • 3/ breakfast at the posh hotel we won a 5 night stay in. Breakfast was simply gorgeous and I had a daily feast of eggs florentine, pastries, fruit and home-made muesli. It was like having a four course meal first thing in the morning. Lush.
  • 2/ vegetarian thalis. Now, I know you can get these in the UK in south Indian restaurants, but not at the same prices. Dirt cheap, but so so so good and filling. No dodgy meat in there, just plenty of veggie goodness. With Indian spices. And chili. My life is now complete.

  • 1/ Crab. Need I say more? In our parts of the world, eating crab is a rare treat, well it is for me at least. And half of the time, it's comes from a tin. Cambodia allowed me to savour and lick my little chubster fingers on a couple of occasions, and I think I will savour those memories for some time to come. Kep crab with Kampot pepper. You know sometimes you read celebrity columns where they get asked what their last meal would be? Well crab and Kampot pepper would be one of my starters. (Last meal, you're allowed more than one starter, well I would).


And finally, the star of the holiday. Not so much food, as it fits in more in the drinks category.

Iced coffee with sweet milk


This is like sipping on heaven. Honestly, just take my word for it. And I'm determined to make some here sooner rather than later. It can't be that hard, can it? Good strong black coffee left to cool down, mixed with lots of ice, and topped with a generous dollop of condensed milk. I'll let you know how it goes when I get round to making some.

6 comments:

Lucy in the Clouds said...

Some nasty mental images there but some delicious actual ones (except perhaps the crab, I couldn't eat something that was looking at me - I'm the same with prawns when they still have all their legs on!)

PS of course I'll enter you into my giveaway, you're one of my fave and most frequent commenters! xx

PinkCatJo said...

The thought of feet amongst raw meat is enough to make me reach for the sick bucket and become a vegetarian!

But that breakfast and the crab do look really yummy! x

Jennifer said...

Food is the one thing that would be difficult to me in lots of places, the hygiene aspect at least. I've been all round the world and have had many delicious foods, but i can't do odd meats or things that have been sitting round for a while.

tinajo said...

I love these photos, thanks for sharing! :-)

Pati from London said...

The food in the pics does look yummy!! Whenever I travel away from Europe, I always get tummy problems, though!... I think part of it is psychosomatic.... Your posts on Cambodia are very interesting. Thanks for sharing! x Pati

The Curious Cat said...

You always have to be careful with food abroad but it is so much fun experimenting and trying new things - that drink looks gooood and the crab! YUM! xxx