HELLO LOVELY READERS!!!  are you still out there?  sorry i’ve been kinda quiet this summer.  i’ve been traveling some, completing a new project i finished earlier this month, and working on my sun spots ~ i mean, tan!

i’ve really missed posting fun recipes.  this blog motivates and inspires me to get in the kitchen and make healthy, clean, delicious food every single day.  and while i’ve been definitely cooking some healthy food this summer, i’ve also eaten out…A LOT.

hello, restaurant food.  i have a bone to pick with you.

why, oh why, does there have to be the saltiest, sweetest, bacony-est, most garlic aoili-laden dish after dish on the planet?  whatever happened to letting fresh ingredients shine?

i really noticed this when i came back from THE most life-changing, taste bud exploding, gut-healing, culinary experience of my life.

THAILAND.

i was there to sing, but the food, and the people, stole my heart.

i have lots of pictures, but let’s focus on the FOOD.  here are some pictures, which will not do the real things justice, i’m fairly sure.

i’ll start with this pretty little nugget of vitamins and sweetness.

this, my friends, is a mangosteen.  here’s what it looks like on the inside.

it looks like garlic cloves, but it tastes like a mild orange, with a creaminess, too.  the day i had these, i woke up with a terrible cold, and by lunchtime, i was really feeling horrible.  i had about 4 or 5 of these things.  couldn’t get enough.

next…some kind of perfectly prepared green or yellow curry.  not too hot.  just perfect and so fresh.

a plate of amazing deliciousness.

next plate: mind you ~ this is a cafeteria where the musicians at this festival were served buffet style ~ and for free.  and the food looked and tasted amazing.  and HEALTHY!

the soup in this pic is tom yum.  great name for it.  i don’t know who tom is…but yummmm.

fresh veggies in all the dishes.  that’s sweet and sour there at the top.  i don’t think there’s any meat on this whole plate, if i remember correctly.

and that jasmine rice is perfectly cooked ~ sticky but not too sticky. and those little flower-looking wheels on the bottom left are sliced baby corn!  what a great idea!

here’s that cafeteria..

so classy.  just one of the beautiful places we got to eat every day in thailand.  this is where the buffet was served every day at the university.  it’s a little cafe nestled in the middle of a rain forest.  truly exotic.

and this is mango sticky rice, accompanied by the largest slice of mango i’ve ever seen.

it’s just what you would imagine ~ the comfort food of rice pudding, with sweetness and fruity flavor, and very rich and filling.

this is a gorgeous pot of boiling broth, placed on a hot plate in the middle of the table.  and you order the meat and veg you want, and it comes to you in separate bowls.  you add the food to the pot and start spooning it into your own bowl after only a few minutes of cooking, all while chatting with your friends.  it’s a great, family style, “healthy fondue”, i like to call it. and i love it.  i want to do this at home!!!

that was probably the best curry any of us has ever tasted.

and this is the best tom yum soup any of us has ever tasted.

and this is duck soup.  that strange looking spongy thing is duck liver.  i ate around that but did try a bite.  it was delicious but i was too interested in everything else around it!

fried prawns.  juicy, flavorful, amazing.  the shells were soft and edible, kind of like soft-shell crab.  you can’t see this from the picture, but this table has a view of the amazing beach.

now i want to move on to what i had for breakfast every morning…

so simple.  so perfect.  flavorful broth with rice and some kind of protein (fish, chicken or pork).  add your choice of condiments ~ very healthy ginger, cilantro, garlic, spicy stuff too.  i felt amazing every day, all due to this soup.

and with it, a salad bar of sorts.  fresh veggies and beans with a light dressing.  there was also fruit and an american breakfast display, with eggs and toast, etc.  i never even made it to that side.  this side was too good.

moving on!  this was a spread made for us when we performed at a school in the middle of nowhere.  do they eat like this for lunch every day?  it was incredible.

those are ribs, i do believe.  wow.

i even enjoyed the snacks in thailand.  this is a 7-11 store, stocked with fun-flavored seaweed nori sheets.  i tried ALL of them and they were so good.  apparently you can get them on this side of the world.  i need some right now!!!

offerings at a buddhist shrine. but i like to think that they’re all waiting for the subway in this picture.  adorable.

thank you for going on this little trip with me.  just posting these pictures makes me thailand-sick all over again.