Ivy turns 23

Monday was teacher Ivy's birthday, so we went to an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant to celebrate. The dining area at this place is just a great big open-air space filled with at least 100 picnic tables and benches on a concrete floor. Up in front is the buffet - a good 200 sq foot area filled with rows and rows of options for stuffing oneself. One buffet line, which stretches about 50 feet, is full of all raw meats, seafood, tofu to be cooked on the "barbecues" set up on each table.

These round metal contraptions (below) have a shallow moat filled with broth, encircling a searing hot dome in the middle and the whole thing is heated by red glowing coals piled underneath. The experienced members of the group instructed me on the best plan of attack...

One of our "barbeques"

First, herbs, vegetables, meats, spices and noodles are gathered from the front and added to the broth. While these cook into a hearty soup, you go back up to the buffet and load up plates of raw meats (chicken, pork, livers, chicken feet, fishcake, squid, etc.. marinated in all sorts of different sauces), bring them back to the table and leave them with the designated cooker in the group who sits at the table, sticking hunks and slabs onto the hot dome to cook.

The rest of the group, meanwhile, is loading up plates of all manner of prepared dishes (fishcakes with fried sweet basil, springrolls, thai meatballs, salads, fried rices, bowls of tropical fruits, spicy green mango salad, sushi rolls, wonton things, grilled pineapple and onion on skewers, spicy noodle dishes, vegetable stir frys, and on and on) to snack on while the main event is cooking. Once every square inch of the table is filled with a plate or bowl of something edible, everyone sits down and the binge begins. To all of you Corvallisites, this place gives our little Evergreen a run for it's money. AND it's only 100 baht ($3 USD) for a full night of gorging.

the table at the start of the night



One aisle of raw nibbles to cook
(on the bottom right are tubes of tofu that you just squeeze into your soup. I avoided these.)



birthday girl on the left, obligatory thai karaoke station behind
and me, grumpy because I've been told to stop eating for 30 seconds