French Fries!
We took showers, drank Thai beer, and rested up. In the
evening we were offered a traditional Lao meal,
including the smallest peppers I have ever seen.
"Try one," I was told. But I noticed only about 1/3 of
the Thai folks at the table took one. I decided my
stomach was ready, having eaten Lao food for the past 2
weeks.
I put the tiny pepper in my mouth (it was smaller than a
pinto bean). I crunched down, and felt my face slowly
catch fire, moving from my mouth up my cheeks, like
hot lead seeping through my veins. I knew I wasn't
going to die, but the thought did occur to me!
After about 10 minutes, the burning died down. By 15
minutes, I was ready for another one (NOT!). When I
asked what kind of pepper they were, I was told that it
was a wild pepper, picked in the hills. When I asked if
folks ate them regularly I was told by the young man
getting married, "I like to eat them when I'm driving
and I get drowsy." Yep, that would wake me up, too!
As the evening wore on, we drank more beer and
firewater. We were served some freshly roasted
peanuts, which we were eating with chopsticks. I
watched as the Thai folks took 2 peanuts at a time. I
asked, "Has anyone ever gotten 3 peanuts with a pair of
chopsticks?" "No, it's never been done." That was all I
needed (and the alcohol). For the next hour I tried and
tried to pick up 3 peanuts, one on top of the other, with
my chopsticks. Much to my surprise, I finally did it!
"Look, I've got 3 at once!" Heads nodded in admiration
of the "round-eye" who got 3 peanuts. Didn't anyone
take a picture?
