A Lunch fit for a (Thai) King

Finding myself with a whole trout (de-boned) in the fridge and a jar of white rice in the pantry, it was only a few steps and a couple dollars before we had the fixings for a quick jaunt to Southeast Asia.

I seasoned the fish, coated it in corn starch, and dropped it (gently) into a pan of hot oil. The salad was just what I love about Thai cuisine: fresh vegetables and herbs coaxed into a finely tuned balance of sweet (palm sugar), salty (fish sauce), hot (Bird's Eye chilies), and sour (lots of lime juice). Crispy skin, warm rice, cold salad, it was a flavor punch directly to the palate.

And in that odd way that only certain cuisines (S.E. Asian and Japanese, in particular) are capable of, we felt totally satisfied and not a bit full. Ready, in fact, for dinner.