Hello friends! Today we are eating Thai Cucumber Boats from Vogue Entertaining  Oct / Nov 1989.  This recipe comes from an article about Thai Cook Joe Bangkok.  Apparently back in 1989 people couldn’t be arsed learning how to pronounce Asian people’s names properly. I mean why bother when you can just give them some rubbish Anglicised nickname?   Welcome to 1989, the year the Berlin Wall came down, the Velvet Revolution happened in Czechoslovakia, tanks ran over protesters in Tiananmen Square and casual racism was alive and well in Sydney!  But enough sniping, there is a whole lot to be happy about with these Thai Cucumber boats!

These are pretty much my perfect idea of hot-weather food.  A couple of these with an ice-cold beer on a hot summer night is pretty much my idea of heaven!

Thai Cucumber Boats – The Recipe

To make it even easier, I used rare roast beef from the deli and did not sauté the onions as per the recipe.  My version means there is no cooking involved in this recipe! Perfect for summer!   I also sprinkled some chopped-up peanuts over the top of my boats for some extra crunch!

Of course, you could just slice up the cucumbers and place the rest of the ingredients on top.  TBH, cutting the cucumbers into boats was fiddly and took quite a bit of time. However, then you would lose the delightful retro kitsch of the boat!

Also, keep the scooped-out bits of cuke for another day!

The Perfect Soundtrack For Your Thai Cucumber Boats

I am currently reading The Shards, the new novel by Bret Easton Ellis which is set around the same time as this recipe was originally published.  Now, whether you love or hate BEE is not a topic for discussion here.  What I do want to mention is that the book is absolutely crammed with musical references.  So much so that  I was inspired to make a playlist so I could have the soundtrack playing while I was reading  I went to Spotify only to find that many people had already done just that.

My favourite is this one (pictured below) which lists every song in the order it is mentioned in the book.  If you like 80s pop / punk  / new wave you will love this playlist.  Mind you, there is also a lot of garbage on there too!  But I can heartily recommend, on your next hot summer night, make these Thai Cucumber Boats, put some beer on ice and crank up this playlist.  It will take you right back to the 80s!

As for the book, I am about 5 hours into what is a 23-hour-long audiobook so I’ve got a long way to go yet!

Hopefully, the good weather holds and I can have another evening with the Thai Cukes and The Shards playlist soon!

Have a great week!