Yes, it is a commercial holiday, but I’ll wish you a happy Valentine’s Day nonetheless.  Having a day when we put extra effort to tell those we love how special they are, is a good practice.  Doesn’t need to be a dozen long-stem roses involved, nor an overpriced card.  But a small gesture, a peck on the cheek, and an “I love you” goes a long way to making the world a nicer place.

Two days before Valentine’s Day Tawn and I headed to the flower market – a large wholesale district in the old city that is busiest when the sun is down and is very much worth visiting next time you are here – to buy some flowers for a media event he had scheduled.  The sheer quantity and diversity of flowers available is overwhelming.  Blocks and blocks of stalls and shops with the freshest and most beautiful flowers.

If you ask me to name a thing I really like about living here, one answer would be the easy availability of inexpensive flowers.  Having fresh flowers in the home adds so much beauty and here the flowers are dirt cheap… no pun intended.

For Valentine’s Day we met a group of friends for brunch at Beccofino Trattoria on Soi Convent.  Many thanks to blue_beau, who included a very nice write-up of the restaurant in a recent blog entry.  He’s one of my dining resources here in Krungthep as he has good taste and really looks for quality, not just high prices.

Above, Tawn and Chai enjoy a glass of wine before we order.

Beccofino Trattoria is the smaller branch of a restaurant over on Soi Thong Lor near our house.  They offer a daily set menu for lunch Bt 360 for a four-course meal including their antipasto buffet plus coffee or tea that is a real bargain.  Set menus are a rare thing in Krungthep, a real shame in my opinion as they are one of my favorite ways to eat.  You get to try the chef’s specialties in reasonably-sized portions at a nice price.  What’s not to like?

The bread basket includes a homemade olive focaccia bread that is wonderful.  Dip that in a bit of extra virgin olive oil and you practically have a meal right there.  But don’t fill up on the bread as there is a nice antipasto buffet.  About ten different platters, small enough quantities that you’re ensured freshness.  Asparagus, various cured meats, melon with prosciutto, fresh mozzarella with the drab Thai tomatoes, and beef carpaccio on mixed greens.

There were two choices of soup: mushroom or pumpkin.  I had the pumpkin which was very unusual.  Instead of being sweet, which is often the case with roasted squash soups, this one was salty.  But it was more of a sea salt sort of flavor instead of a “salty because of too much table salt” taste.  Topped with a dash of olive oil, it really stimulated the appetite.

There were several main courses from which to choose.  Four pastas, three or four fish dishes, and another three or four meat dishes.  We ordered a variety, all of which were well prepared and beautifully arranged.

Grilled salmon with mashed potatoes.  The potatoes were excellent.  The salmon was cooked a bit too much for my taste, although Tawn ordered the dish and he likes his salmon dry.

Brian had the spaghetti with meat sauce and spoke highly of it.

Ken had the fried sole in a butter and herb sauce, which he really enjoyed.

I ordered the beef tenderloin cooked medium-rare, which was the tastiest steak I’ve eaten in Thailand.  No kidding.  It was perfectly cooked, tender, and well-seasoned.

The dessert situation is a bit lacking.  A choice of ice cream or sherbet on the set menu, which is okay for a set menu.  But I looked off the menu and there wasn’t much else there.  A tiramisu, which I didn’t try this time, and a Sicilian dish that I did order, but just seemed to be ice cream with candied fruit mixed into it.  It wasn’t anything special.

Still, for Bt 360 (about US$10) the meal was an excellent value.  We brought two of our own bottles of wine, corkage at only Bt 250 each (about US$7).  Brian brought a Monsoon Vineyards Shiraz which he and Geng picked up at the winery in Hua Hin.  Like all Thai wines, it is very one-note.  Drinkable, but not yet mature.  I brought a bottle of Ridge Vineyards 2004 York Creek Zinfandel.  Lovely wine.  I really like Ridge Vineyards’ wines and there is a good story to tell about them that I will share with you one of these days.