The great thing with Thai food is that instead of dried herbs they use a lot of fresh herbs and spices and fish sauce. The aromas are sensational.

Since 95% of Thais are Buddhists, they leave religious offerings of fruit at the base of a Buddha statue with burning candles, incense and the like in restaurants. There is a peacefulness that this brings as you lay witness to the scene. You will also often find photos of their much loved and long serving King.

You could re-create a Thai space in your dining room by adding the smell of a subtle incense and making the lighting softer than usual. If you don’t have a light dimmer try lighting the dining room with some candles or lamps to create a lovely ambiance.

If you can get hold of some Thai classical music this would be lovely for background sound – or at else some other oriental-inspired music.

Thais don’t generally use chop sticks to eat – rather a fork and a dessert-like spoon but if you want the Asian touch (Thailand is in South-East Asia) feel free to provide each guest with a pair of chopsticks. Consider a wooden or bamboo place mat at each guest’s place.

As a centerpiece to your table you could fill a long shallow bowl with water and place floating candles atop. You could also try to purchase some exotic looking flowers. On my trips to Thailand, orchids and the like have adorned the table settings. The whole experience of eating is pure pleasure.

For starters you could serve one of their delicious soups like a hot and spicy Tom Yum Goong (spicy and sour prawn soup) or a Tom Yum Kai which is similar but with chicken.

You could also serve Thai fish cakes, spring rolls in rice paper, curry puffs, satay chicken or deep fried chicken wings – with dipping sauce of course.

For main – stir fries, whole fish, Thai curries (green, red, yellow, Masaman, etc) or the ever popular noodle dishes like Pad Thai or Pad See Yu. Don’t forget the steamed rice served in a covered rice bowl in a central position on your table, so people can help themselves.

A platter of fresh exotic fruit or a mango sticky rice dish is wonderful for dessert.

You see, there are just so many recipe choices for your Thai meal. I would suggest checking the Internet for free recipes or getting hold of an easy Thai recipe book.

Most of the ingredients you will need are easily available at your local Asian specialty food store.

If you have ever eaten in a Thai or perhaps a Vietnamese restaurant, then you have probably seen an interesting orange colored beverage in a tall glass go by with a waiter or waitress you’ve often wondered just what kind of drink this might be. You’re pretty sure it’s a Thai drink after all, you are in a Thai restaurant! What you have seen is called Thai Iced tea. It doesn’t look much like any tea that you are probably used to seeing. But, it is tea! It’s just prepared in a different way that you may not have heard of before. It looks intriguing, and it tastes wonderful, and is very welcome on a hot summer day, or whenever you are eating hot, spicy food.

Normally, Thai restaurants are not too giving when it comes to their recipes. But, the recipe for Thai Iced tea wasn’t too hard to come by. It is such a staple Thai beverage that almost anyone who knows their Thai food can tell you how to prepare it. The type of tea that is used in Thai restaurants is called Lapsang Suchong and it can be found on the internet. You can also use any good quality black loose tea and end up with the same results. You will need around 2/3 cup of black tea leaves to make two glasses of Thai Iced tea.

You’ll also need 1 and 2/3 cup of good-tasting water, preferably purified, 1/2 cup of sugar, and 1 1/2 cups of evaporated milk, which is the amount that is in a 12 ounce can of the drink. Add to the recipe ingredients a few pieces of kitchen equipment, such as a teakettle or a large cooking utensil to boil water in, a large tea strainer, or you can go Asian for this recipe and try to locate a traditional Asian tea sock! Have ready a pitcher that can take the heat of boiling water, and a long spoon for stirring.

Place the water into the kettle or utensil and bring it to a rolling boil. Remove the water from the stove’s heat. You don’t want the tea to boil, as this would make it bitter. Add the 2/3 cup of black tea leaves to the water, and stir them with the long spoon to make sure that they have all been covered with water. You want the tea leaves to steep for 5 minutes. When 5 minutes have passed, it’s time to strain the tea into the pitcher, and remember, it needs to be a pitcher that can take the heat, for that tea is going to be very hot. This might take a little time, as 2/3 cup of tea is quite a lot to strain. Poor the tea through the strainer a little at a time, and when it begins to fill up with wet tea leaves, you can stop and remove the tea leaves, and then began to strain the tea again.

Fill the two glasses with ice cubes. Take the tea pitcher, and pour the cool tea over the ice, but do not fill the glass all the way to the top! You want to leave around one fourth of the glass empty up at the top. Get out the evaporated milk, and slowly pour it into the top of each glass. You will need either a straw or an iced tea spoon to drink Thai Iced tea properly. Some people like to mix the milk into their iced Thai tea right from the start. Others enjoy sipping their sweetened tea through the layer of milk. It all depends on how it tastes best to you, and it’s fun to experiment with both ways!