Loi Krathong is Thailand's most beautiful holiday. It is best known for floating Krathongs in banana leaf cups on the closest river or lake. Each year little Anna would stay up late the night before and then get up early to finish making her own banana leaf cup and Krathong, much like American kids carving a jack-o-lantern and making cookies for Santa all at one time. Then that night as Loi Krathong began, Little Anna would take her banana cup and Krathong to the Chanthaburi River where she and her friends would set them on the river and watch as they floated away with our sins from the past year.



My mom would never go with us. She would always said she didn't have that many sins and wasn't worried about it. I think she just liked having some time to herself which is hard to come by in a house with twelve kids. We were taught that the banana cups would take our sins away because we were Catholics, but Loi Krathong is a Buddhist holiday and so most Thai would say that they are ridding themselves of their "bad luck" by putting it into banana cups.

You can see pictures from last year's Chiang Mai Loi Krathong festival here . Many festivals also feature an illuminated boat procession.

Loi Krathong is soooo beautiful! Many people wear red costumes. Here is a picture of Anna in her grownup Loi Krathong clothes:

Ooooo — creepy! No, we don't celebrate Halloween in Thailand, but we do have lots of creepy movies. Here are some posters from some Thai horror classics:


Oooo, scary!

No tricks just treats at True Thai this Halloween. Stop in and let us see your costumes!

If the Zagat Twin Cities' Top Ten rating was our treat, I'm a little worried about what tricks may be coming Anna's way! But no tricks for you at True Thai this week: just the usual great tasting treats.

There is no Halloween in Thailand. If you are in Thailand or will be there on Saturday, many cities will be celebrating Loi Krathong with a festival. [In Thai, วันลอยกระทง, also spelled Loy Krathong in English.] It usually comes in early November but it is early this year because the twelfth lunar month came early in 2009.

I will write more about Loi Krathong this Sunday but right now I'm busy figuring out what to give trick or treaters. (I'm thinking persimmons.)



Better for you than candy, and just as sweet.

Omigosh I can hardly believe it! Rick Nelson says that I don't know why I'm surprised — I've got the award hanging on the wall. I guess I should have read the letter that came with it!

Who got the top rankings in the annual"America's Top Restaurants" guide ($15.95) in the Twin Cities?

The top 10 food rankings (in order, from highest to lowest) are:

OK, maybe we are not first but we are on the list. All of these restaurants are famous in the Twin Cities. True Thai is very honored that Zagat thinks we belong on a list with these outstanding restaurants. I'd like to do better than #10 but for those of you who do not know, #9 is Wolfgang Puck's restaurant.

But next year, True Thai will do better. Anna will have her entire restaurant staff working out at Los Campeones gym, training to beat Wolfgang Puck.

I.don't.think.most people realize that the potato was unknown to most of the world until the Spanish conquistadors brought them back to Europe from Peru. Almost immediately chefs from around the world began to develop recipes featuring potatoes.

The British celebrated their National Potato Day last February 3. Peru celebrated their most famous vegetable on May 30. The Irish celebrate taters every March, but South Dakotans celebrate National Potato Day in August while Coloradans spud out in September. Williams, Minnesota, has been celebrating the lowly tuber every October since 1953. To their credit, spud loving Minnesotans in Williams have their own Potato Parade, complete with contests for best potato sculpture and spud decorating.

The potatoes shown above are not from Williams but as you can see potatoes have great potential for art. You might want to warm up your pumpkin carving skills by working on a potato!

Thai cooks mostly use potatoes in curry dishes. At True Thai Restaurant our Magnificent Masaman Curry combines potatoes with peanuts to create a heavenly comfort food.

But our most popular potato dish is one we i