This may be basic stuff for all you Le Cordon Bleu graduates out there, but Mark Bittman is always a great source for ideas... and most of the stuff is available if not thriving here in LOS... no anchovies, however, in Isaan that I can find.

http://www.nytimes(dot)com/2009/07/22/dini...;pagewanted=all

Link does not work -- try this --

http://www.nytimes(dot)com/2009/07/22/dini...;pagewanted=all

My last try and screw the dot:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/dining/22mlist.html?hpw

jazzbo,

Great, thank you!

-O

That's fab, thanks.

Although there is only one mention (#4) of asparagus, a lot of the asparagus crop grown around Khon Kaen and Kalasin goes to Japan according to USDA crop reports... which is why the quality is so good... if you use the 'Print' or 'Single Page' option on the right at the start of the article you can get a nice print out.

I've also noticed 2 kinds of cauliflower in the markets: Scrawny/dirty and white/full like in the USA... one of these days I'll try the scrawny stuff. I just noticed today that a young woman in one of the stalls selling imported shitake and enoki mushrooms from PR China... my next purchase after I clear the refrigerator... I bought a half kilo of snow pea pods from her today. Cute... but I saw her in an argument with someone last week and she is one tough cookie.