Farang Princess Eats Frog

No this is not the story of the princess and the frog.  This is the story of a foreigner “princess” eating frog.

Well the story begins with me, and American foreigner arriving in Thailand to teach for the year.  Being a foreigner, especially a woman in Thailand is not common, and especially Ubon, as compared to Bangkok or other cities with more English.

Thai people are always very happy to meet me, and quite truthfully one of the most frequent comments or conversations I have include some saying ‘suay’ or ‘beautiful’.  The comment comes form both men and woman, although most frequently older women love fussing over me.  It is as though I have suddenly become a celebrity, half the time in Thailand I feel like some special foreigner princess.  Hence the “farang”, foreigner, princess.

At times it is a bit embarrassing, but overall it’s rather fun to receive such a friendly and flattering welcome. 

As a farang, one of the kind welcomes I received was from my fellow teacher Busaba.  She kindly took me out to eat, invited me to her home, as well as her second home in Phibun.

 I had already visited Phibun once and really enjoyed myself, but I was soon invited again and with promises to be shown how to make pad thai and fresh spring rolls, I could hardly decline. 

The second visit, I stayed over.  I even had my very own cottage! It was lovely, I felt very pampered.  We spent much of the day cooking, but it was fun! 

 Preparing rice to cook in bambo.

 My first spring roll.

 Busaba loves to cook!!

 Rice cooking in the bamboo stalks.

 Roll them.

 Fry them.

 Eat them. The spring rolls surely did not disappoint. 

And neither did the joyous meal. 

 That evening we shared all the wonderful foods with neighbors, and then they returned the favor by inviting us to dinner at their home tomorrow.  One of the sons also asked if I had eaten frog!  He said they would be sure to catch some in the field tomorrow!!! Eeek!

The following day after class with the students we also made Gratong's which are made out of banana leaves. 

 Banana tree 

My Gratong!

 Then floating the Gratong and making wishes. 

Alright now back to the frog that I'm sure you are curious about. For those of you that know me.  I am not a big fan of dead things. Dead fish, disgusting. Road kill, so gross it often sends a shiver down my spine.  I like the taste of meat, and don’t normally have to see dead animals or them being killed, so it’s not too much of a problem.  But when food has eyes and legs….. little different.

The next day though with a smile on my face I learn a Thai phrase, can now say “Wan nee, Chan ja gin gin gop” “Today I will eat frog".

 Yup it's a frog.

Here goes nothing little guy!

And so I ate frog! Luckily being kindly invited to meals, and cheerfully welcomed into a new culture though helps a lot when you are offered a very strange food.  I wanted to thank my hosts, as well as have this unlikely experience, so I ate the frog even as it little eyes looked at me.  As it turns out you can eat all of a frog, and they don’t really taste too bad, especially the legs.  Still though I think one frog is enough for me, but there you have it the famous farang princess ate frog.