Curious Notions

Yesterday, I took my little to see a performance by the Mermaid Theatre from Canada. Should really click on this link to see images from the show. Those images are exactly what you see during the show. It kills me that they’re puppets! The puppeteers dress like ninjas so you can’t see them in front of the black backdrop and a black light to make the puppets that are painted with fluorescent paint pop. After the show, you get to meet the puppets in lighting. They’re mostly carved from foam and covered in fabric, then painted. It didn’t look like a puppet show at all but rather a digital projection. Pretty cool. It’s too bad you can’t take pictures in the Paramount.

Kate took her little to the same show. She’s in Houston for a while for work and she brought up another Houston high school friend of mine. After the show, we both dropped off our littles and then met at her place with Alex and her roommate, also a high school friend Brooke. We all picked up foods from different places, plopped down at her kitchen table, and had a impromptu high school reunion perfect for busy girls. ALL of us except for the two Houston girls have not seen each other for MONTHS and we could just sit down and quickly catch up in an hour and a half’s time.

I took a picture of our 4 different meals. I’m not very tall and this was the best I could do before we devoured our meals.

Kate

Brooke

Alex

me

This weekend, I continued on with my quest for the Madam Mam’s Kee Mao replacement (I broke up with Madam Mams). I’m no where near close. So far the closest is Thai Passion on Congress. There are two locations.. It’s been a full year since I first discovered this place with Will. Since then, I come here after nights out drinking. Not only is it decent tasty Thai, it opens late. We usually roll in there at around 3AM after the bars close. I forgot to take a picture of my food when I was there last weekend as I was exhausted. But yeah, if you’re in Austin. Go to Thai Passion for good Kee Mao. Don’t go to Madam Mams :)

Last weekend I tried two new Thai places (had Thai three times in one weekend!)

First. I tried SATAY on Anderson with Si Nae and Aaron. I rate it BEST ambiance. It’s the only Thai place I’ve had that actually tried for ambiance. Had the Kee Mao (of course). Eh. Over priced. 11 dollars? It shouldn’t be more than 7 or 8 dollars. Also, no Asian people. That’s a bad sign for an Asian restaurant. The Kee Mao was alright. I wouldn’t go back; it’s not worth it.

The second new Thai place I tried is on Sixth Street. Called, Thai Tara. WORST Kee Mao I’ve ever had and I’ve had plenty. It was bland. Not spicy. No taste. Mush. I tried this new place with Nam and he wasn’t too impressed by his food either. He ordered some kind of seafood dish with clams and imitation crab. He also introduced me to Tom Yum . I enjoyed the soup but I haven’t had Tom Yum before so my palate isn’t as discriminating as Nam’s. It’s a hot and sour soup… had lemon grass in the broth. I enjoyed the broth. I wouldn’t ever come back here either. Oh yeah, no Asian people eating there as well.

Here’s some crappy photos I took with my cell phone. I really need to get a new camera.

The Tom Yum

Tom Yum again

Yucky Kee Mao at Thai Tara

Nam’s seafood dish.

So I haven’t found a replacement. I have 2 fellow Madam Mam’s followers who have told me they each found a place that not only rivaled, but blew Madam Mam’s out of the water. Ashwin told me about a place in Plano (I’m trying to talk him into ordering me some takeout when he comes into Austin this weekend) and Chris told me about a place in Houston that I will try to visit in a couple of weeks.

I know the easy thing to do is to just go back but I have way too much pride. I would go back if I hadn’t told them I wasn’t going to.

Quest continues.

We usually get fed by drug reps for lunch at work, but last week they missed 3 of the 5 work days and this week they didn’t have anything both Monday and Tuesday.
Monday, I met up Si Nae and her friend, Stephen at Thai Spice in hopes to find a replacement for Madam Mams.

Promising! No lipstick on the glassware!

They have a salad bar that comes with lunch entrees. I guess it alleviates the much higher prices than Madam Mams.

Serving much much smaller than Madam Mams. Actually, the smallest serving I’ve seen for a Thai restaurant, and I’ve been to many.

We all had the Kee Mao. Mine with chicken, hers with beef, his with pork. I found it tasty. Not spicy enough. I like mine with mushrooms. Never had it with broccoli or tomatoes before so that was different as well…. It’s not the same. Neville left a comment on my Madam Mam’s entry telling me I shouldn’t end a relationship after one bad day…

I can’t help it if I’m quite prideful.

The search continues.

Last night, roommate picked up dinner for us at Triumph Cafe. We’ve driven by it before since it’s literally down the street from where we live and speculated about it. Finally tried it. I thought it was going to be a sandwich shop, turns out to be a Vietnamese restaurant. He said there’s also coffee and a bakery there. Odd. I must actually go in one day to check it out. He had the pho, probably not as good as Pho Danh. I had stir fried soft noodles, eh.. not that great. But the cheesecake was delicious. The food was okay but I am still curious about the actual place. Must go back one day and actually check it out in person.

Anyone who knows me at all knows my passionate love affair with Madam Mams that started when it first switched management in 2001/2002 and BECAME Madam Mams. Since then I’ve turned many a friend to loyal impassioned patrons. I’ve written it praises in between 2001 and 2005 in my previous online journal to the point of one of my out of country friend insisting I take her to this Madam Mams. There was a semester in college where I would go weekly with my then boyfriend, weekly with Michael, weekly with my brother and weekly with Jon. Up to 4 times a week, I showed my face. Even after I graduated and moved further from campus, I’ve managed to average once or twice a week.

I’m that fricking loyal.

I’ve loved the pad thai at first and then alternated between the different curries and finally stayed true with the F5 flat noodle. Well, Friday before I drove an hour outside of Austin to spend the night/visit Brandi at her new home, I went with my former roommate (whom I’ve introduced to Mams) for my second (and hers as well!) trip that week and we had our usuals. Midway through our meals, we noticed that we had lipstick on our glasses and disturbed, we complained.

Now, Mams however good her food is, is not known for her service. But we expected a little bit of an acknowledgement. First they claimed that the glasses were in fact, clean because they pulled it out of the dishwasher; it must be a stain. We countered that that does not make it clean. They insisted that they cannot be held accountable for “dirty” glassware. When we asked for a small discount, (a measly 10 percent would have us believing that they at least care for their patrons). They said we were being unreasonable if we expected a discount for something wrong with our drinks. They said their policy is to only discount if something unsanitary were to happen with their food.

Naz countered that well, how do we know our plates are clean? They just shrugged. Finally, I told the manager how much I love their food and how often I come. He agreed that I come all the time. I told him I’ve been coming there longer than he had been managing. He nodded. I said the way he is dismissing us makes me not want to come back anymore.

To which, he said “That is fine. We have customers.”

That marked the end of our 6-7 year relationship. Admittedly, I’m a bit heartbroken.

I guess this means I must learn how to make their F5 just so.

Asswipes.

A couple of weeks ago I met up my friend Nam at our pho place (Pho Danh at Braker Lane) and had asked the roommate what he wanted me to bring back to him.

Humorously, he asked for a vermicelli sandwich. Those of you who know what vermicelli is (thin noodles) would laugh as well! So traditional Viet food can incorporate vermicelli BOWLS or Banh Mi’s (Vietnamese Sandwiches). I think he got confused.

Anyway, at Pho Danh, I learned that unlike a lot of pho restaurants, they ONLY have pho and no other Vietnamese dishes (vermicelli bowls or sandwiches). So after I ate with Nam, we walked down two doors and into a restaurant that had just opened called Exotic Thai. I recognized the man who gave me the menu right away. He had been a waiter at Madam Mams. I’ve had him as a waiter for a good five years.

I asked him if he had waited at Mams before and he answered in the affirmative. He left to start a new restaurant and this restaurant is his baby. Wow! I bought my roommate the Pad Thai and he sang it praises (he hates Madam Mams because of an incident he had several years ago).

I finally tried out the restaurant on my own with the perfect person to try it with. Si Nae and I share the same addiction not only to Madam Mams but also to the same exact dish. The F5 with flat noodles (Ke Mao).

So she ordered for both of us. We got the Ke Mao. Hers with beef and mine with chicken.

The guy brings it out for us and we both deducted some points for portion size (a lot smaller than Mams). Then we ate into it and after maybe the 5th bite we looked at each other horrified. It was FRICKING hot. Both of us can handle pretty spicy stuff. She’s Korean and I’m Vietnamese for goodness sake. We ended up inhaling our food so we didn’t have to taste it and 15 minutes later we booked it to Coco’s for milky bubble tea to relieve our burning mouths.

Mams wins. We’re never going back. Some photos from Exotic Thai.

Fellow Mams patron

Cute salt and pepper shakers

Ke Mao with chicken

Tomorrow? Making beer batter fried shrimp (for my first time).

I’ve been feeling domestic since the beginning of the weekend. Aside from the cooking, I did dishes, 3 loads of laundry, cleaned the kitchen counters, my bathroom counter, hung up clothes and vacuumed. On Saturday I went over to a coworker’s house and spent 6 hours helping her paint her bedroom. I think it’s the nippy weather.

Anyway, I have a 7 o’clock patient tomorrow and feel like I should work out for the first time this year. Wooooo. I’m on some sort of kick here.

Peace out!

Edit 9:46pm: I’m not going to work out. I’m actually going to lay down and watch Dateline. Damn. This week! I’ll work out for the first time this year this week. Peace out for real.

I went to Houston last weekend to visit family and friends. Thomas took me to a new Thai place which he said was his favorite in Houston. Tony Thai. I had the Chicken Kee Mao. It was a little sweet for me and I am still very partial towards Madam Mam’s Kee Mao (also known as the “F5 with flat noodles”) in Austin.

Photos courtesy of Thomas. I make sexy faces sometimes. They have a water wall. I appreciated that. I really do love Thai food and can eat it everyday.

After dinner we went to see a documentary which I’ll write about in a little bit. We ended our night with other boys at Pub Fiction in Midtown Houston. I have yet been before that night. Loved the vibe and the people. Diverse group of people and an awesome band and DJ mixed fun dance songs. I like.

Photos again courtesy of Thomas. The one of them pointing at each other? Have you seen Superbad? Remember when one dude went to the other dude, “I love you, man” and then tapped him on his nose and said, “boop!” Yeah. Boop!

Last week before seeing Lars and the Real Girl, (My favorite movie so far of 2007) as part of the Austin Film Festival, Dave, Kym, and I ducked into the Hideout on Congress. I was told about the Hideout the weekend before and lucky me found it not but days later. Hideout is a very Austiny coffee shop. They also have a theatre in the back that I’ve yet to experience. I had a spinach and cheese croissant and a mango freeze. Delicious. The croissant was cheap. 2 something.. drink was 3 something. Affordable and cute.

Dave had the Amy’s ice cream. Kym had the ham and cheese croissant.