TOD: Favorite Thai food was a place in Florida where I used to live. It was called Thai Cafe and I was taken with the food that I ate there five times one week. I became friends with the owners, Sam and Nancy, and both were exceptional cooks, but both had different styles. So, I learned a lot about Thai cooking from eating their food.
Favorites included meats cooked with basil leaves, Masaman (spellings vary, cold also be musaman) with carrots and potatoes plus meat in a coconut curry, a series of volcano dishes that were as hot as the name implies, and anything with plenty of vegetables.
Nancy's trademark dessert was what she called Thai donuts, pillows of rice flour dough fried to a sizzling hot. When served, they might still be too hot to touch. But never greasy. They came with a vanilla-lemon glaze with peanuts that you dipped them in. Sheer perfection.
