Baboons and Raccoons ~ They Both Taste Good

Yesterday, after finishing up with Ariana's class at Bristol Community College and running some errands, Ariana and I decided to stop at the House of Thai in Wareham to fill up our very empty tummies.

Typically, we would have gone to Naughty Dawgs in Fairhaven. The service may not be the greatest there, but the Coney Island dogs with mustard, onions, and celery salt ~ especially the celery salt ~ and the sweet potato fries are quite yummy. Not only that, the food is at bargain prices.

But, we've already done Naughty Dawgs for several weeks straight. It was now time for something different. And seeing that it was summer since the last time we went to House of Thai, we figured that we were due for some good, inexpensive Thai food.

Just like Naughty Dawgs, House of Thai is a small, hole-in-the-wall place with only 3 or 4 tables. However, House of Thai has a much better ambiance.

Last time we were there, 2 kids (most likely those of the owners) were sitting at the table closest to the TV, watching a cartoon movie about the Hulk and Captain America while coloring and drawing.

This time, the TV was silent. Ariana and I were the only ones there.

As with last time, we were greeted by Alex, the manager who also did double duty as waiter.

Alex was an interesting character. He was covered in ink from Sinners and Saints, the tattoo shop next door, and equally appreciative of the ink that Ariana and I sported. He also had our type of humor ~ quirky, but with an intelligent edge.

Ariana and I were disappointed that the House Punch was not available at the time. While I am not a big aficionado of fruit punch, this punch was the bomb. (And I bet it really would have been super with some vodka added to it!)

It was made with all natural fruit juices. You could even see little bits of fruit floating in your glass. Definitely not the Hawaiian Punch crap found on supermarket shelves.

With the House Punch not being available, Ariana settled for an orange soda, no ice, while I had a cup of Thai tea.

It was hard trying to decide what we wanted because everything looked good. But we finally decided on the Chicken Satay, Shrimp Fingers, and Crab Rangoons for appetizers.

Alex first brought out the Chicken Satay with the peanut sauce and the Shrimp Fingers with the sweet and sour sauce. Oh! How tasty everything was.

Then Alex brought out the Crab Rangoons, which I called Crab Baboons. That prompted on Alex's part a discussion about how some people have trouble pronouncing certain words.

He had one customer who could not pronounce "Rangoons," calling them "Raccoons" instead. Alex's reaction to that was "Do you want the ones with the mask or without?"

Like I said, he had a quirky sense of humor.

(By the way, when doing a spell check on "Rangoons," one of the options that came up was "Raccoons." Funny.)

Following the discussion on mispronunciation of words, the conversation then turned to meditation. I was surprised that Alex also had used the Holosync meditation CDs from Centerpointe.

We both compared notes on the meditation CD series, and we both had very good results with them. And like me, Alex had gotten away from meditating and was seriously considering returning to the Holosync CDs.

Alex also tried to convince Ariana that she should seriously give the meditation CDs a shot. Ariana was agreeably polite, but definitely had no intention of trying meditation.

All the while, Asian pop music was playing on the restaurant's stereo system. One song in particular caught my attention. The words were in some Asian language ~ maybe Thai or Laotian ~ but the tune was definitely Paul Simon's "Mother and Child Reunion."

I mentioned that to Alex. Shortly afterwards, I could hear him telling that to the kitchen staff and then singing the song in English. In the meantime, I sang the chorus to Ariana, who probably did not appreciate that brief lesson in popular music history.

Finally our entrees came out. I got the Shrimp Skewers while Ariana got the Sweet and Spicy Beef. Not being one for veggies, Ariana picked out all the green veggies from her dish, turning her colorful dish into one of varying shades of brown.

I took the green veggies and added them to my already colorful and tasty dish.

At this point, we were stuffed. We had only gotten part way through our main meal and still had unfinished appetizers. But who could pass up dessert, especially when the offerings were fried ice cream and mango sticky rice?

Ariana was going to order the fried ice cream. But because the machine was not turned on to make the fried ice cream, there was going to be a 20 minute wait. So, Ariana wound up having the same thing I did ~ mango sticky rice.

Oooh! How heavenly that dish was with just the right amount of sweetness with a delightful hint of coconut.

As stuffed as I was, I ate my entire dessert. Ariana barely made a dent in hers before turning it over to me.

I struggled with her dessert before I finally had to capitulate to my overly stuffed stomach and ask for a take-out box for the dessert.

Ariana and I always seem to do this ~ order far more food than we could consume in one sitting.

However, part of the fun of eating out was having tons of yummy leftovers to bring home with us.

I could never understand why some people would complain about the large restaurant portions and try to order only what they could consume at the table.

To me restaurant leftovers are an extension of the dining out experience, especially when it's not food that I enjoy on a regular basis. I love bringing home leftovers and getting another meal or 2 out of them.

Anyhow, Ariana and I were stuffed when we were done eating at House of Thai. I felt as though I needed a wheelbarrow to wheel me out the door and to my car.

As we were getting in the car, I asked Ariana which she liked better, the Baboons or the Raccoons. Ariana preferred the Raccoons, while I couldn't make up my mind which I liked better. Both were very tasty.