Thai Jarearn Express

   I am, if nothing else, a man of simple pleasures.  Witness the spicy bowl of udon noodle soup (on the menu, it comes off as spicy "uduong" soup) at Thai Jarearn Express on College Street in Lewiston on a cold sunny day in January. The chunks of chicken are tough.  The carrot slices and few bits of broccoli are irrelevant.  But the noodles are pleasingly al dente, not overcooked and mushy.  And the hot, spicy red broth -- well, that's what it's all about.  

For the first few bites, it is overwhelmingly spicy.  But I forge ahead and it starts to taste better, maybe I'm numbing to it a bit.  And then, maybe a third of the way into it, I pass some sort of barrier, like a runner whose muscles start releasing the right chemicals, and the flavors become blissful.  The heat is there, but now sitting lightly atop some deeper range of flavor.  The undertones seem, to my untrained palate, to taste of peanuts.   I slurp away on the broth, plucking out the noodles with my chopsticks, warming from the inside out, feeling the lightest sweat break out on the top of my head.  I can't get enough of it.  Happy and warm, smiling like a child with a new toy.  

Megan laughs and takes my picture.  

I'll be back.