I’m late to the game, but I remember the very brief, cotton ball-sized splashes that erupted after Barack Obama and Tim Walz released their “summer playlists” on Spotify. While Obama’s was, as always, suspiciously hip, Walz’s felt more real, especially since most of the songs, like an Adam Sandler playlist, were firmly ensconced in the 70s and 80s (also: Steely Dan? Unexpected).
In the spirit of Tim Walz’s playlist, I wanted to release a list of the songs that I’ve been listening to this rainy season, as it (hopefully!) winds down to a close. I have only forgotten my umbrella once this year, at Yogatique (don’t take it, it’s mine), so here’s to my lowest lost-umbrella count in the past decade!
- “Red Eye” – War on Drugs: I still listen to this song. It’s still one of my favorite songs.
- “Shake Some Action” – Flamin’ Groovies: I am meh on the original version. I like the other version that I can only find on Detroit Pirate Radio’s YouTube for some reason.
- “Vampiro” – French Police: I discovered this song by accident, which explains why it’s relatively new (and by new I mean 2021).
- “Love Song” – Sara Bareilles: This song has personal significance to me. Not explaining further.
- “You Only Live Once” – The Strokes: I discovered this song via my sister.
- “Apple” – Charli xcx: Same.
- “Kid Charlemagne” – Steely Dan: See I’m just like Tim Walz! Also, this song is hilarious.
- “Save it for Later” – The Beat: I also listen to this song all the time. Still one of my favorites.
- “Ghost Town” – The Specials: Self-explanatory?
- “A Thousand Miles” – Vanessa Carlton: Yes, I rewatched “White Chicks” recently. What about it?
As you can see, this list is a big mix of elderly-Gen-X-born-during-Nixon’s-presidency energy, plus I-listened-to-a-lot-of-New-Order-in-the-80s, with a soupçon of “I’m-trying-to-be-with-it-and-have-some-rizz” flair (yes I know that’s not how you use rizz). It’s a bit of this-and-that, seemingly strange and disparate elements, all mixed up together in one playlist for when I’m on public transportation and someone looks like they might want to ask me a question.
Not surprisingly, I love to mix and match with my food, too. There’s a whole genre of Thai food known as “mieng”, which involves, yes, mixing and matching different available ingredients to create your own little edible leaf “cup” of deliciousness. The most famous type of “mieng”, arguably, is “mieng kum”, always attributed to Princess Dhara Dhevi while ignoring the fact that it’s nothing like what the original dish would have been — a wrap featuring fermented tea leaves, and VERY MUCH an acquired taste. Frequently you will find mieng kum in markets and in restaurants already made up, but honestly, isn’t all the fun in making one up yourself?
There’s also a whole sub-section of “mieng” which bears no relation, flavor-profile-wise, to the “royal Thai”-ness of mieng kum with its sticky sweet sauce. It’s “mieng” [insert whatever ingredient here], where [name your protein] is mixed with other things like diced lime, ginger, peanuts and chilies and wrapped in leaves of some persuasion to be drizzled in either “jaew” (a spicy Isan sauce for meat) or seafood dipping sauce (for, er, seafood) or both. It’s like a “choose your own adventure”, but for every bite. It’s my absolute favorite thing to eat right now. Do I want more chilies or less? Do I want to include dried shrimp? Do I want to try to use every sauce currently languishing in my refrigerator? It’s your call!
Restaurants, particularly hotpot ones in Isan, offer pages and pages of “mieng” options including grilled pork collar and salt-encrusted grilled tilapia. But my favorite go-to meal is possibly the easiest of all of these: it’s canned sardines, but I am not picky — I’ll even do canned tuna. I eat this every week at least once, but I love it so much that I never take a proper picture before I start in on it. Honestly, with all the ingredients spread out in front of me when I’m hungry, it makes me feel positively giddy with all the possible combinations. It becomes even easier if you buy your own Thai seafood sauce instead of making your own!
So here, in the spirit of generosity, is our recipe for “mieng pla tuna”, but you can easily substitute this with any canned fish that you have on hand. Get mixing and matching!
Mieng Pla Tuna
Serves 4-6 Prep/cook time 5-10 minutes
- 2 cans of tuna, packed in water, drained
- 1-5 jinda or chee fah chilies, de-seeded and sliced finely
- 1 shallot or ½ small red onion, chopped
- 1 tablespoon of ginger, julienned or cubed
- 1 tablespoon of roasted peanuts
- 1 green onion, sliced finely
- Handful of white rice noodles (optional)
- Cilantro leaves for garnish
- Lettuce leaves, washed, for wrapping
Seafood dipping sauce:
10- 15 small bird’s eye chilies (vary depending on your desired spice level)
5 cloves garlic, peeled
2 coriander (cilantro) root
3 tablespoons fish sauce
3 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons sugar, preferably palm sugar
Grind the chilies, garlic and coriander root in a mortar. Once pulverized into a paste, add the fish sauce, lime juice and sugar, and keep blending until it forms a sauce-like consistency.
Mix first six ingredients in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, mix ingredients for your dressing, taste, and adjust accordingly (everyone has different tastes when it comes to this). Once you’re happy with the dressing, add it to your tuna and mix together. Taste and adjust seasoning as you like.
Serve immediately with lettuce leaves on the side and cilantro leaves on top, and a serving spoon on the side. When you’re ready to eat, simply take a spoonful of tuna, place it on a lettuce leaf (or half a lettuce leaf, if they are big), wrap it up with your ingredients and a dollop of sauce and enjoy.
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