Dean's last meal before climbing Everest

Pad Thaiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!

Sending off Dean seriously took over a month, first it was him going away to 'Stoon'. To commemorate that we had two parties for him on two separate weekends... then, a couple weeks after we had to send him off again! This time it was because he was going away to 'find himself' by climbing Everest. (*cough* mid life *cough* crisis*cough*) So, Mike, Mavis and I got together with Dean for one more 'send off' to possibly eat some Western food that he might miss. Hmm... Hello Alberta beef? However, when we asked him what he wanted to eat, he wanted to eat Thai... um ok. This kid just can't get enough Thai food, he went 2 other times in the last week for it too. Whatever, it is all good.

We choose to go to Bua Thai Restaurant (10049 113 Street NW)*

Bua Thai is a tiny restaurant and I find the Thai food here a lot sweeter. I absolutely loved this experience, it is my favorite Thai restaurant in Edmonton so far!

Tom Yum Soup with Seafood.

For those of you not that familiar with Thai food let me give you a quick run through of this soup. Tom Yum Soup is hot and sour, the main ingredients are chicken stock, lemon grass, kaffir, lime leaves, galangal, lime juice, fish sauce and chili peppers. Then you can add seafood (the most popular thing to add is prawns), or you can add chicken, i love oyster mushrooms in it. I personally love lemongrass, when I was in Thailand I bought some prepackaged herbs for making tom yum soup. I realized that the more lemongrass you put in, the spicier the soup is. Another great use for lemongrass is in tea. Thai massages are the best and when you go to the spa they serve you fruit and lemongrass tea.

Pad Thai aka 'Phat Thai'

At this restaurant I found their pad thai very sweet and that is the way I like it. I love adding dried chili flakes to this dish as well when I get a chance so that it's sweet, savory and spicy!! What exactly is Pad Thai? It is a stir fry of rice noodles with eggs, fish sauce, tamarind juice, bean sprouts, green onion, tofu, shrimp and crushed peanuts. My two musts for Thai food is Pad Thai and Tom Yum. Yum!

Glass noodle salad with ground pork, cucumbers, tomatoes, cilantro (lots of it) with a herb vinegar dressing. I hate cilantro but this dish I crave sometimes! It's a very refreshing dish. I love it! I highly recommend it from Bua Thai. The first time I had this was when Sharon made me some and hers is so awesome. I cannot wait until she starts her cooking classes!

Crying Tiger Steak

Honestly, we ordered this dish because it sounded so fierce! To our luck it was delicious! This dish is a medium rare grilled flank steak and you dip it into a vinegar/herb dip. This dish is so tasty when the me

at is done right and it was tender and perfect.

Banana Leaf Fish Curry

... the next picture is of the banana packages opened up

This was spicy but so good. The fish was so fragrant with the banana leaf. My conclusion is that anything wrapped in a banana leaf is good. But watch out for the bones!

Green Thai Curry with Chicken

Green curry I find to be one of the most mild curries but at Bua Thai it was so spicy!!

Green Curry with Chicken, Chicken Green Thai Curry, Green Thai Curry with Chicken... whatever the order of the words are, it is all the same. It was served in a small little pot, this curry I find is one of the mildest but still super spicy. This is great when it is paired with coconut rice!

So as I am re-reading/editing this I realize that my grammar is the worst! I keep going from past to present tense and back to past... It is like I am trying to relive the experience right now at 10:50 pm on the Monday night... That is how good this place is.

Anyways, can't wait to see the pictures of you on the mountain with your hat Dean!

*not to get confused with Boun Thai Restaurant (10056 107 Street Nw) no worries I have pictures from Boun Thai as well.*