Lately, I’ve been going through a lot of old photos from my ye olde travels. This one from Koh Tao was filed under a folder named “SPRING BREAKKK!!!” All the Ks and exclamation points are totally necessary. During my trip to Thailand, I learned several important things:
- The best fruit smoothies come from Thailand. They have the freshest, sweetest, most wide selection of tropical fruits I’ve ever tasted. Jamba Juice has nothing on them. More importantly, they go for about $1 to $2 a pop. I can’t even buy an orange for a dollar!
- I’m not made for beachside dinners around sunset. Doesn’t it sound nice to have dine on the beach and while the sun slowly descends into the horizon? Sure, if you don’t mind the 1000+ mosquitos that are buzzing around your legs. I was downright mauled by mosquitos during that dinner. You know what was my travel buddies’ best mosquito repellant? ME. No matter how many layers of poison I sprayed on myself, those pesky critters came for me.
- I can’t handle the whole monsoon season thing. Would you believe it if I told you that the photo below was taken only 2 hours before I took the photo of the dinosaur cloud? No, I didn’t feel the urge to pull a Gene Kelly “Singin’ in the Rain” number here.
- Full Moon Party = overrated. All I remember is walking on the beach until 3 or 4 a.m., drinking out of a bucket of the cheapest, nastiest booze mixed with Coca Cola and a lot of ice. It was not a shining moment for me. There’s a reason why I have been thinking about Thailand recently. I’m part of the Food Bloggers Central Facebook Group, and Nagi at Recipe Tin Eats came up with a great idea for us to do a blog hop and try another blogger’s recipe. I was paired with Michelle from Vitamin Sunshine. Michelle is based in Kuala Lumpur, and I can’t tell you how jealous I am of all the tropical food she gets to play with all the time. Going through Michelle’s blog, the post that immediately grabbed my attention was her photo journal of Bangkok street eats. I miss the sight of fresh tropical fruits lining the streets. From afar, it looks like a wall of wonderful bright colors. I left my heart in Southeast Asia. To rekindle the fond memories I have of Thailand, I decided to make these Fresh Spring Rolls with Shrimp with a few modifications. First, I added pickled vegetables, mainly because I enjoy the tangy flavors they add to spring rolls. I used this pickled vegetables recipe of mine. I also made a peanut dipping sauce instead of the almond version from Michelle’s recipe. Peanuts give off a slightly sweeter taste than almonds do, and sweetness is I want in my dipping sauce. Finally, I added strawberries because, well, why not? It’s spring, and I’m just happy that strawberries are sweet again. Let’s throw in some seasonal fare into these delights. Friends, these spring rolls are legit. One bite, and it took me back to my tranquil, yet mosquito-filled, time in Thailand. Thanks, Michelle!
TOOLS + INGREDIENTS USED
22cm rice paper wrappers: These are fairly large wrappers. Don’t buy anything smaller because it will be difficult to try and bundle all the filling into the spring rolls. You can find them online, at Asian markets and occasionally in the Asian sections of major supermarkets.Light soy sauce (生抽酱油): You can also use tamari if you are on a gluten-free dietRice vinegar: Not to be confused with seasoned rice vinegar, which usually contains sugar and is meant to season sushi rice.
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