Papaya Salad - Lunch on the street - One of my favorite meals

 

This is our Cook in her outdoor kitchen
Note the usage of the tree to store things

Sometimes we bring lunch from the condo or other times I go to the street to buy lunch and bring it back to the office to eat in our Air conditioned Office.  Last week the Air Conditioner in our office were being cleaned at lunch time.  So we decided to eat on the street at lunch time.

This is Papaya Salad with Sticky Rice

The street vendor where we purchased this and ate is about 50 yards down he street from the church offices.  We call her the Isaan lady because she cooks food from the Isaan.  Isaan is the word for the Northeastern part of Thailand.  Many parts of Thailand have here own types or specialties with respect to food. 

Papaya salad is made by chopping up green papaya and adding tomatoes, dried shrimp and spices to give a unique flavor. The cook mashes it all together in a large mortar and pestle (see picture above).   It can be very spicy.  For Sister Meeker's benefit we ask for mild.  Still plenty hot for Sister Meeker and it is just fine for me - still got some kick in it but not hot enough to make your eyes water or your nose run.  Note the Fanta Green and Fanta Orange Pops.  I walked another 100 Feet beyond the sidewalk restaurant to buy the pop at 7/11. The Green pop is best described as Bubble gum flavor - but actually the can describes it as fruit flavor. 

Cost of the Meal ... 14 Baht for each pop and 60 Baht for the Rice and Salad.  That works out to be less than 3 dollars. It was a awesome lunch and the street side venue was not too hot on this particular day.