Food Blog August 1 - 2, 2007
1, August
Breakfast:
One cup light soy milk
One banana
One orange
Lunch:
Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
Green papaya and brown rice vermicelli salad
Dinner:
Spaghetti
Green tea, lemon grass flavor
One cup light soy milk
2, August
Breakfast:
One cup light soy milk
Two oranges
Lunch:
Fried rice
Green tea, jasmine flavor
Dinner:
Stir fry chicken with cashew nuts and bell peppers
Steam brown rice
Green tea, orange and mint flavor
Oh, that's a big Padek that you got there.
Nah, it's a tiny fish and has been diluted with fish sauce. I'm going to throw the jar away. I just bought it to try this year but don't think I can finish it. I haven't eat padek for years since I was allergic to in the US. It must be all the preservatives they used or how they made it in Thailand in order to sell the product in the west. I had no problem eating padek while I was in Laos though. No side effect at all, well at least I didn't notice it.
Speaking of padek. Did your family ever buy padek in Laos or Thailand? When we were in Laos we never had to buy padek since my Great-grandparents were from Banh Kern. There were plenty of fishes and salt in the area to make their own padek. When they come visit us, they would bring one or two gigantic jars of padek that would last us an entire year.
When I go to Laos the next time, I want to watch how they make padek.
No, we never have to buy padek, even in the US, my mom and dad both knew how to make it. I don't eat padek anymore, I get real bad rashes since the flu shot several years back. My mom left me a jar of padek, I kept it in my fridge.
I think most Lao people in the US know how to make padek and keep it under the stairs in the basement or somewhere.
My father tried to make padek once but my mother told him to not make it anymore. No one was eating it, except for him. Even my mother is somewhat allergic to padek. We all get rashes from padek. My mother can't eat kapi (shrimp paste) or else she wouldn't be able to sleep at night. She would be coughing all night. She has the same reaction to eating coconut milk. She is also allergic to preservatives used in bambo, mushroom, and all canned products. This started like last year when I was home and was told how to prepare food properly for my mother.
I wonder if this might have something to do with the annual flut shot. She was not like this until a few years ago when she started to make us go to the drive by flu shot event at the local hospital. I was the only one that didn't go since I was mostly healthy.
My youngest brother can't eat banana and few other things. He was not like that before. He would get rashes from eating a banana.
Maybe it's just urban legend. But a friend of mine almost died about three years ago after a flu shot. He thought he was having a flu like symptom and went to see a doctor who gave him cold medicine. Then a couple of days later his nose won't stop bleeding and his gum was bleeding. He was later diagnosed with a a rare blood disease called ITP (idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura).
It turned out that his immune system was attacking the intruders and kept on attacking the good guys. His blood cout was so low and has to be hospitalized for more than a month with a full blood transfusion. He was on medication and treatment for a year and can't use knife or shave or any sharp object that can cut him since he could bleed to death.
Now he said if he had to do it again, he wouldn't have gone for that flu shot. It was the firs time for him and he thought by getting a flu shot he could avoid the heavy flu season.