Last Tuesday, my dinner group went to Bangkok Garden, our favorite local Thai restaurant. I love the back room, with its beautiful wood-carved walls and life-size Buddha statues, as well as the elephant statues. But this time, we sat in the front room, which was bright and sunny from the large windows.

I love Thai food, but I always have difficulty determining what to order when I want to try something new. The menus don’t say anything about the seasonings included in any sauces, they just list the meat and vegetable ingredients, and the staff, most of whom are Thai immigrants, usually don’t communicate in English very well. Last week, though, our server, one who had served us before, spoke better English, so I thought it would work out better. She had advised me to ask for a teaspoon of spice, so the dish would be a little spicy but not overpowering. That evening, it didn’t work out, unfortunately. It was too hot for me to eat, so I took it home for Dan.

Luckily, Barbara had ordered Pad Thai, because her usual curried seafood special was not on the menu that night, so she shared it with me. It was quite good - so good, I printed out a recipe for Pad Thai from the Food Network. I’m going to try it tonight. We’ll see how it goes