To be Fair

Last Breakfast at Asoke

It was the last morning before I flew back to Bangkok. As the warm sun rose above the brocoli farm, the village chief came roaring in in his trusty old blue Toyota truck, and brought with him the spread of breakfast the villagers have prepared. The folks of Asoke eat only two meals a day to uphold one of the five principles of Buddhist practice. One at 10am and the other one at 5pm. I followed suit so that I could experience their life completely.
The breakfast, or more accurately brunch, is an explosion of nature's gifts. Totally vegetarian and fresh and organic, from an assortment of rice and cereals to fresh frutis and vegetables from the farm, I just did not know where to start.

As usual there is no less than three types of cereals, from glutinous rice, brown rice both polished and unpolished, white rice and barley and sometimes beans. The bags of drinks in the background are freshly squeezed tangerine juice, water melon juice and freshly made soya bean milk. The small bottles are local coffee (as lethal and kidney-threathening as the Malaysian type). The large pot contained cabbage stirfried with chewy hard bean curd and garlics and herbs. Another pot is a common dish in Asoke of stir fried mock mince meat with brocolli. The brocoli here is exceptionally sweet and soft, not bitter and hard like i used to eat back home. My favourite is this special stir fried "sweet vegetable" 甜菜, like how the locals call it.
The stems are very sweet and slim and have got small purplish flowers. Its gravy is perfect to go with the rice. Here we mostly eat with hands or with just a spoon from a big plate on which we pile our food. Then of course a big plate of freshly cut fruits and vegetables such as cucumber, lettuce, herbs, garlic and carrots, fresh papaya and bananas. The lettuce was cut fresh from the garden by the chief personally. And to satisfy the curiousity of my readers who are too familiar with my bananaphobic, I did eat two banana during the one week I am here.

posted by Vegie @ 10:23 PM