About christao408

An expat American who moved to Bangkok in 2005 with his partner (now husband). Life is a grand adventure and each experience is worth having if for no other reason than to remind us that we are alive.

Shanghai Style Minced Meat with Pinenuts in Sesame Pockets

Posted on 15 August 2010 by christao408

One of my favorite places to find recipes is Joanne Choi’s Week of Menus website. That’s where I found a nice recipe for Minced Chicken with Pinenuts served with Shao Bing, something like a Chinese sesame pita bread. The chicken is prepared in a Shanghainese style with ginger, oyster sauce, and water chestnuts. The Shao Bing, something that you can buy ready-to-bake in the US, was an unfamiliar bread I would have to make from scratch since I am here in Thailand.

The Shao Bing was a bit of a mystery. Examples of it on the internet varied both in size, shape, and even technique. I pulled three different recipes from presumably reputable sources, compared them, and decided to try the one from Ming Tsai on the Food Network. After all, he’s Ming Tsai, so how could I go wrong?

The ingredients are pretty basic: vegetable oil, flour, yeast, baking powder, water, sugar, sesame seeds, and salt and white pepper.

You basically make three components to the dough: the first is a roux, a mixture of equal parts oil and flour, heated until the mixture thickens a bit. The second is a sponge, a relatively wet mixture of flour, yeast, sugar, baking powder, and warm water, which is allowed to sit and begin to rise. The third is a dry dough, a combination of just water and flour.

After letting the sponge rise and the dough rest, you combine them and knead until completely integrated. After another rest, you roll the dough out to about 1/16-1/8th of an inch. The oil-flour roux is spread on the surface of the dough. Despite following the recipe carefully, I found the roux was too runny – I’m not sure why this happened but it proved to be problematic.

Roll the dough into one-inch thickness, then cut into four-inch lengths. You can see that the roux was running out the ends. The subsequent instructions involve sealing the ends, rolling the dough thinner, folding it into thirds, basically creating what amounts to a typical pastry dough with alternating layers of dough and fat. The instructions for doing this confused me. Take a look:

Place 1 of the rolls seam-side up and seal the end using a small rolling pin (this will prevent the oil paste from escaping). Fold the roll into thirds, so that the seam is covered. Then roll this tripled roll into a flat dough about 5-inches by 2-inches. Fold this piece into thirds. The stack should be about 2 by 3/4 inches thick. Flip the piece over so that the seam and fold are on the bottom. Cover and set aside. Repeat the process for the remaining rolls.

Huh?

I did the best I could, but wound up with roux everywhere and too much flour on the dough. I sprayed one side of the dough with water and pressed it into the sesame seeds. These were baked in a 350 F oven for about ten minutes on the bottom side, then flipped over for another five minutes.

P1050799

The interior of the resulting Shao Bing looked like this, with distinct layers. The flavor was too floury and it was difficult to really open them like pita pockets. Maybe too many layers? After this meal, I tried cooking a leftover bread in a toaster and spreading it with peanut butter. Worked out much better then!

The second half of the dish was the filling you are meant to stuff into the pockets. The original recipe calls for chicken but I used a mixture of chicken and pork for more flavor. Instead of coarsely chopping whole pieces of meat, I used ground meat. It was marinated in a mixture of garlic, ginger, sake (substituted for Shao Xing wine), and soy sauce.

The other ingredients are a mixture of chopped celery and water chestnuts, pine nuts, and a sauce composed of more Shao Xing wine (or sake), oyster sauce, soy sauce, and sesame oil.

The meat is fried, then the celery and water chestnuts are added, then the sauce is added. Add the pine nuts when the mixture is finished. That’s all it takes.

For the final result, serve the Shao Bing with the minced meat mixture, stuffing it into the bread like you would with a pita. The dish was tasty, although the Shao Bing was a bit floury. In absence of the bread, you could actually use lettuce cups, which would be very nice, indeed.

I’ll need to try a different recipe for Shao Bing and see what the results are. The other two recipes I have for Shao Bing have different ratios of oil to flour for the roux. This recipe I used was 1:1 and the result was too thin. Another recipe is 3:2, which would be thinner. The final recipe, the one I think I will try next time, is 1:4. Amazing how different they are, no?

Changes in Income Force Re-evaluation

Posted on 13 August 2010 by christao408

What makes me happy? Certainly it is not the material things in life that make me happy, although there is some comfort that comes from having them. On the whole, my life is pretty much free of a consumerist bent. But there are certain things I want in life that come with a price tag, especially the ability to travel to visit friends and family now that I live an ocean away from them.

It was with interest that I read this recent New York Times article about consumers finding ways to spend less and still find happiness, a topic that has long fascinated me.

Amid weak job and housing markets, consumers are saving more and spending less than they have in decades, and industry professionals expect that trend to continue. … On the bright side, the practices that consumers have adopted in response to the economic crisis ultimately could — as a raft of new research suggests — make them happier. New studies of consumption and happiness show, for instance, that people are happier when they spend money on experiences instead of material objects, when they relish what they plan to buy long before they buy it, and when they stop trying to outdo the Joneses

That rings true, especially the part about experiences being more fulfilling than simple objects. There are plenty of things I’ve bought in life that I later realize I don’t use often, I don’t appreciate very much, or that I wouldn’t miss if I didn’t have them. But there are few trips I’ve taken, nice meals I’ve eaten, film festivals I’ve attended, and books I’ve read that haven’t left at least some impression on me, some residual amount of enjoyment that I get to relive each time I think of them. Of course, the Times’ article goes on to note that the possible exception to this finding is that purchases of clothing are more likely to continue to thrill the purchaser each time they are pulled form the closet, a finding with which Tawn might all too eagerly agree!

These questions about happiness, spending, and the relationship between the two arise at this point in my life because in the past two months, Tawn has made a change from full-time work to part-time, seeking a new sense of direction and an opportunity to create some balance in his life, including the time for more yoga practice and spending more time with his parents.

That reduction in our household income has already been felt and likely will be felt more in the months to come as we learn what the full impact is of losing a good chunk of the income we were used to. That reduction in salary was one of the reasons that I traveled solo back to the family reunion in Kansas City last month, in fact.

We’re speaking regularly about this transition and its effects on us, sharing our feelings and concerns and regularly reviewing our financial situation to avoid undue stress caused by unexpected bills. This is a good thing and I’m confident that we’ll be able to survive fine with less income and will hopefully find that the free time is beneficial and brings happiness in ways that money and things cannot.

Still, every so often I worry a bit. Will this mean I can’t do the travel I want to? Will that mean fewer of the experiences that I enjoy? Is that something I’m willing to give up?

In reflection on all these questions, I recall a chapter from the Chinese philosophical treatise, the Tao Te Ching.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 44
Translation by Stephen Mitchell
Fame or integrity: which is more important?
Money or happiness: which is more valuable?
Success or failure: which is more destructive?

If you look to others for fulfillment,
you will never truly be fulfilled.
If your happiness depends on money,
you will never be happy with yourself.

Be content with what you have;
rejoice in the way things are.
When you realize there is nothing lacking,
the whole world belongs to you.

Let’s see if I can keep focused on this message in the months to come, to remember that there is nothing lacking and the whole world already belongs to me.

Religious Intolerance

Posted on 11 August 2010 by christao408

Remember the pistachio pudding entry a week or two ago? It was the one about how I bought powdered pudding mixes for some Christian missionary friends up in Chiang Mai. After cross-posting that entry on facebook, one friend took a thinly-veiled swipe at organized religion, making a potentially hurtful comment on my profile page that could also be read by the missionary friends. This bothered me.

After a conversation with the friend who made the anti-religion remarks, he apologized for any offense and asked me to remove the comments, which I did. But I was left pondering his remarks in a broader context and wanted to put those thoughts down on paper, as it were.

There are many people who have suffered discrimination and persecution at the hands of organized religion. As a gay man who continues to struggle for my right to be married to the person of my choice, I fully understand that there are people whose faith is pitted against my rights.

There are also many people who think that all organized religion, regardless of faith, is a sham. Books such as Richard Dawkins’ “The God Delusion” lay out a comprehensive argument why belief in a god is irrational and is bad for mankind. Being a rational person, I fully appreciate the points people who argue against religion make.

There are also many people who have deep faith in one religion or another, people who are my friends, family members, and loved ones, whom I know to be good people who give deeply and generously of themselves, their talents, and their time, people who are not predisposed to impose their beliefs upon others, and who have been great supporters of Tawn and me and our struggle to have the same rights as any members of society.

There are many people who have a deep mistrust of people of faith whose faiths are different from, but as equally deep as, their own. Hateful, ignorant comments fly from the mouths and the fingertips of Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, and Buddhists about members of other faiths. Witness the recent fuss over the building of a mosque in close proximity to the former World Trade Center in New York City.

I am a person who was raised in a family of faith and who struggled with the contradictions between the teachings of that faith, the teachers of that faith, and my own position in the order of things. I am a person who many years ago arrived at a comfortable answer to these contradictions, an answer I do not choose to share here on Xanga because I think it is a personal answer. Most importantly, I am a person who believes deeply in the freedom both of speech and of religion. So I find myself in a middle ground that I feel gives me the perspective and the right to say the following:

We need to rein in the religious intolerance.

Regardless of your beliefs, whether they be for a particular religion or virulently against all religion, there is nothing to be gained and no benefit to berating another person for his or her beliefs or lack of belief. Bashing others over the head will not win them over to your side of the argument. It won’t even make them stop to reconsider their own side of the argument. All it does is increase the level of hostility, vehemence, and distrust.

I encourage people to have serious, thoughtful discussions about ideas of importance. Questioning one’s faith is a powerful way to make it stronger and is also a powerful way to come to new realizations about its failings. Questioning others’ faith can be done in a way to both educates ourselves and creates shared connections with people of different ideas and backgrounds. But I don’t see any point to blatant and often ignorant religious intolerance, except to further your own anger.

There, I’ve said my peace. Back to writing about food.

Food in Hua Hin – Seafoodies

Posted on 9 August 2010 by christao408

As I mentioned in the recent entry about my weekend in Hua Hin, the people whom I was there with, Tawn’s colleagues, are foodies. Specifically, they are sea-foodies. I’ve never seen a group of people remove quite so much crab meat from a pile of shells in so short a time as this bunch of diners. As for me, I really enjoy seafood but there’s also a point where enough is enough, especially back-to-back meals of the same things. Let me share with you what we ate, so you can appreciate it, too.

Our main meal was at a popular local restaurant in the heart of Hua Hin town, an unassuming place that looks more like a loading dock with tables. “Loading dock” would actually be an accurate description, because it is adjacent to the fishermen’s wharf. Unlike such piers in some corners of the world that have become tacky tourist spots, these are the unassuming working jetties where the fishing fleet comes to offload their catch of fresh prawns, crabs, fish, oysters, scallops, and other delicacies of the deep. Based on my experience, there are few places where you can find seafood more fresh than the fisherman’s wharf.

Tables are placed on a series of extentions to the main dock, a series that seems rather haphazardly added on based on an expanding clientele.

The entire family (or families) seem to be at work, with youngsters sorting out fresh shellfish with each order that is placed. Half the main floor area is a series of tanks which are filed with different types of creatures depending upon demand. This being low season, only about half the tanks had occupants. I have no idea what the “spot babylone” is.

Clams with garlic and basil. Very sweet meat.

Fried squid. Instead of cutting these into rings, this restaurant cuts them into strips. A bit overcooked, I thought.

Lump crap meat, scrambled eggs, and green onions with tumeric and curry powder. My favorite of the dishes.

Hoy jaew – a crab meat sausage wrapped in tofu skins and steamed then deep fried. I wrote last month about a restaurant we went to in Chonburi that is famous for these. Entry is here.

Raw oysters. These were large and very briny tasting, not as clean a taste as I enjoy. Garnished with a very pungent herb, salt, lime juice, and toasted shallots.

Steamed crab, anyone?

Boiled prawns. The crab and prawns were served with a super-spicy dipping sauce.

Two of Tawn’s colleagues enjoy the meal. Looking behind them you can see the various seating areas, each with a tent roof. The solid roof structure way in the back is on the land, which is where all the holding tanks for the seafood are.

After the seafood dinner, we went to one of the night markets in Hua Hin. The traditional night market is on the city streets and is very crowded. There is a new area that has been set up that is a bit more park-like and focuses on the arts. There was a live band playing in a small ampitheatre, a food court area, and lots of vendors selling everything from paintings to clothing. Above, a pair of Tawn’s colleagues posed for pictures. Picture taking was a big part of the weekend.

At the night market I ordered some coconut ice cream served with sticky rice in a hollowed-out coconut shell. The meat of the coconut was cut loose with a little device so that I could eat it with the ice cream.

The next day…

Did I mention that picture taking was a prominent activity?

The next day after class we stopped for lunch at another seafood restaurant before driving back to Krungthep. I didn’t take any pictures because, well, it was pretty much the same menu all over again. I did take a macro photo of this fried prawn head, though, because I thought it was kind of interesting.

The restaurant we went to was in a small fishing village on the south side of Hua Hin. Interestingly, the tide was out, leaving the whole fishing fleet beached.

Thai fishing boats are very colorful. So that was my weekend in Hua Hin with Tawn’s colleagues. Very fun opportunity and I’m glad to have had it.

Happy First Anniversary

Posted on 7 August 2010 by christao408

Coming hot on the heels of Federal District Court judge Vaughn Walker’s ruling that California’s Proposition 8 unfairly discriminates against gay men and women in their right to marry the partner of their choosing, the timing of my first anniversary of marriage to Tawn seems quite appropriate. Yes, it was a year ago today that a group of family and friends gathered in a courtroom in Iowa and Tawn and I exchanged vows and started our life together as spouses.

Not wanting to get into a tangent about legal issues, as I’ve written on the topic of same-sex marriage rights many times before, I’ll simply say that I agree with the gist of the 136-page ruling: My having the right to marry Tawn does nothing to diminish the value of any different-sex marriages, but denying me the right does me grievous harm while doing nothing to benefit the interests of the state.

Having just celebrated my grandparents’ 67th anniversary, I am hopeful that medical technology will progress to the point that Tawn and I, too, have the opportunity to reach such a milestone. Realistically, of course, I’ll be happy if we get thirty or forty years. Most importantly, though, I will focus on just enjoying each day we have together.

Happy anniversary, Tawn!

The full entry about that wedding is here, for those who didn’t see it and are interested.

Role Playing in Hua Hin

Posted on 6 August 2010 by christao408

By profession, I am a trainer. I have a wide range of background experience but people development (and managing people development) is where my heart and skill lies. When Tawn’s boss found this out, I was invited to join part of their team for a weekend training session in Hua Hin. Their industry is Public Relations, their training was about creating client value, and they needed someone to play the role of a prospective client for some of the training exercises.

Glowing lanterns (in a vaguely northern Thai style) in the early evening.

Hua Hin is a popular beach resort about a three-hour drive southwest of Krungthep (Bangkok). It is the home of His Majesty the King’s beach palace and so is a much cleaner and more desirable place than, say, Pattaya. In the past few years Hua Hin has also become much too popular and is now overgrown with high end hotels and fancy resorts. In other words, it has gone upscale and lost the inexpensiveness and carefree charm that made it a fun getaway spot for locals. Still, it retains its good weather, nice ambience, lovely beach, and tasty seafood. So who was I to refuse an all expenses paid two night trip to a beach resort there?

Beach, pool area, and the restored 90-year old teak house, right.

I’ll write more about the food in the coming days, but let me share some pictures of the resort. The resort, called Baan Talay Dao (“Home of the Sea and Stars”) centers around an authentic 90-year old teak wood house in which the training was held. It is a smaller resort, family owned and operated, and has probably been in operation for years and years. With the sprucing up of the rest of Hua Hin, it looks like they made a lot of effort sometime in the past few years to freshen up the resort’s facade and it now has a “boutique” look and feel.

Private villas – note the grotto with the Virgin Mary in it, which you don’t see all that often here in Thailand!

The property includes a combination of town-house style two-story buildings along with individual villas closer to the beach. The buildings are well-maintained and the landscaping is very lush. Inside the rooms, though, you can see the age of the facility. Not because things aren’t well maintained – they are – but simply because of the amenities offered and the roughness of the construction. I’ve seen this a lot in these boutique resorts in Thailand and that is why the price is $50-150 less a night than, say, the Intercontinental, the Sheraton, or the Marriott.

The townhouse section of the resort faces a reflecting fish pond and some beautiful trees.

There is a full-service restaurant downstairs from the teak house and you can either sit in the shade underneath or out in the open air overlooking the beach. Their breakfast buffet is pretty impressive for a small resort and the dinner I ate the first night – a curried seafood dish called hor mok talay – was one of the best things I’ve eaten this month.

Hua Hin is on the western side of the Gulf of Thailand hidden against a ridge of mountains on the narrow isthmus that is shared between Thailand and Myanmar. The benefit of this ridge of mountains is that the frightening storm clouds that blow over them tend not to drop their rain on Hua Hin, instead continuing up the Gulf and gathering more force before dropping their rain closer to Krungthep. This made for some very pleasant (and pleasantly breezy) late afternoons and early evenings as I enjoyed the relatively cool temperatures and watched the clouds, excpecting them to let fat drops of rain fall on me in response. Thankfully, this didn’t happen.

The path to the beach.

The two days of training were pleasant. I had met most of Tawn’s colleagues on several occassions before (he wasn’t at the training, though) and so it was a pleasure to spend more time with them. Not only did I learn a lot about the PR industry, which was fascinating, but I discovered that as a group they are the biggest foodies (sea-foodies, to be precise) I’ve met in Thailand, which is why I’ll write about the food in a later entry.

Pistachio Pudding

Posted on 4 August 2010 by christao408

In the hours before I left the US to return to Thailand, I completed some shopping for Ron and Kari. Ron and Kari are missionary friends up in Chiang Mai, Texans who have lived in both Thailand and Kenya for their missionary work and who are accustomed to suffering without the comforts of home. Before leaving, I asked them what I could bring back for them and the answer was Jell-O instant pudding mix.

The market I stopped at had a wider selection of flavors with the house brand, so I loaded up on French Vanilla, Chocolate, Butterscotch, and other flavors. Then I came across pistachio. It wasn’t on their list but I decided to buy a couple of boxes for me, for memory’s sake.

Normally I’m against processed foods, particularly those with an ingredient list as disturbing as what you will find in a box of instant pudding mix. Sugar is the first ingredient, followed by different types of starches, followed by a whole host of multisyllabic compounds that fall generally into the “sodium” category. But I decided to get some because of the fond memories I have of my paternal grandmother making pistachio pudding when I was a child, spending time down at her mother’s home in the 1,000-person town of Cole Camp, Missouri.

We would spend time down in Cole Camp each summer, playing in the backyard and the park across the street, going on trips to the creek where we would wade in the water and spend a long time holding fishing poles but not catching any fish. And somewhere in those memories is the memory of pistachio pudding, cold, creamy, and bright green with little reconstituted chunks of nuts, served after dinner.

Making a batch this week, the smell and taste and texture were all as I had remembered them, although the memories were more enjoyable than the actual eating of the pudding. I guess over time our tastes change, even if the memories don’t.

Misuse and Abuse of Language

Posted on 2 August 2010 by christao408

Even as a native speaker, I recognize what a messed-up langauge English is. Because of that, I have a lot of sympathy for non-native speakers. When I really need a laugh, I’ll stop by Engrish.com to see some of the ways in which the English language has suffered at the hands of non-native speakers, particularly in Japan and China. One lesson I draw from all this, though, is that one shouldn’t use a language if you don’t really know what you’re doing.

This gets me to wondering about people who cross the line from innocent mistakes – of course a non-native might easily write “corn poops” instead of “corn pops” on a breakfast cereal sign – to intentionally disregarding a language, using it more for decorative purposes rather than for communicating. I’ve written before about the dangers of getting a tattoo in a language you don’t understand. What about those who choose to use language for interior design but obviously don’t understand it?

Case in point, the “pan Asian” restaurant RockSugar at the Century City mall in Los Angeles. Owned by the Cheesecake Factory chain, the entry to the restaurant is decked out with Buddha statues (which, if you really want to get to the heart of the matter, are objects of veneration, not decorative items to place by the front door) and “exotic” looking Thai script. The Thai phrases appear in odd places, vertically along some of the outside walls (note that Thai isn’t written vertically), in random phrases on their website, and in the entry vestibule, pictured below.

Wow, looks exotic, huh? Boy, I bet I’m about to get some authentic Oriental food here… maybe I can get a slice of green tea cheesecake afterwards.

Putting aside the fact that these are nonsense phrases, much like some of the entries at Engrish.com, they are also written in some absurd out-of-order combination of font sizes that makes it harder to follow in Thai than it is in the English translation, above.

I understand the fascination with other cultures and who wouldn’t want to open a restaurant featuring a mish-mash of Asian cuisines? But perhaps in doing so we could use a little bit of cultural awareness and sensitivity in the process of designing the interior of the restaurant? Is that too much to ask?

Before and After Pintxo

Posted on 30 July 2010 by christao408

With twelve hours to spend in Los Angeles between flights, tapas at Bar Pintxo wasn’t the only way I spent my time. As I mentioned, Gary was kind enough to shuttle me around the west side of the city, checking a few items off the to-do list and engaging in a wild goose chase to buy a DVD for a friend in Singapore, only to discover after stopping at a few different stores that the DVD hasn’t been released yet. Yea for iPhones…

Funniest airplane-related site: a Southwest Airlines gate that is right next to a public area between terminals 1 and 2 at LAX. It looks like the wingtip almost hangs over the wall. One wonders what happens if he pulls into that gate just a wee bit fast.

Gary’s magnetic personality attracts the reflection of palm trees at the Westside Pavilion.

We also stopped at the Century City shopping center, where I had my first chance to see the new AMC Theatres. Back in the mid 1990s I actually managed the old AMC Century 14 that used to be at the front part of the mall. Even then, plans were afoot to build a new mega-cinema but I had not been back in the five years of so since the new cinema opened. This cinema (or, at least, the old one but I think it still holds true for the new one) is where many of the who’s-who of Hollywood, especially the power brokers, come to see their films. On any given weekend evening there would be a full log at the Guest Services counter of passes that had been approved by AMC’s film department for studio heads, movie stars, directors, etc.

There was also no shortage of people who were not on the list who would try to pull the “do you know who I am?” routine to try and score free tickets or, worse, free tickets and seats specially reserved for them. Pathetic, when you think of how much money these people have.

One person who was always a charmer, though, was Faye Dunaway. Somehow she got hold of my name and then would call and ask for me. She never asked for free tickets and I don’t recall her asking to reserve a seat for her. She just wanted to make sure we would save a ticket so she could get into her movie, and most of the time it was for a matinee performance when there was plenty of room anyhow.

“Hi, Chris? It’s Faye,” she would say as if we were the best of friends. “Look, I’m circling around downstairs looking for a parking space and I’m worried there won’t be any tickets left when I finally get upstairs. Of course I’ll pay for it, but can you set a ticket aside for me?”

“Sure, Ms. Dunaway, it would be my pleasure.”

After dinner we strolled the few short blocks from the restaurant to the Santa Monica Pier, which was quite crowded despite it being an overcast and chilly evening. I asked if anyone wanted to ride the roller coaster which, I might add, is only a kiddie coaster. Nobody was brave enough!

Food in LA: Bar Pintxo

Posted on 28 July 2010 by christao408

On my way back to Bangkok, I had a twelve-hour layover in Los Angeles. I’m super-fortunate that Gary seems to have an infinitely flexible schedule (although he swore that if I had been in town the following day, he wouldn’t have had any free time) and an inexplicable willingness to spend the afternoon running me around town.

I also really fortunate that Gary and W are such foodies and do all the legwork of trying and evaluating restaurant, so that when I stop by for a brief visit they always have the perfect recommendation. Tuesday evening’s recommendation was Bar Pintxo, a Spanish tapas bar in Santa Monica. We were graced with Steve’s presence, as he had a break in his globetrotting and drove up from the OC to join us.

The restaurant is just a block from the beach, conveniently located near the Third Street Promenade. They have a happy hour until 6:00 and we managed to sneak in just beforehand and order our first round of drinks and some of the tapas specials.

The restaurant isn’t very large and is built around the kitchen area. It is very cozy with tall tables and bar stools and bottles of wine and a huge mirror adorning the walls.

Of course, one must start Spanish tapas with some sangria, right? This red wine concoction was very good, not too sweet.

The happy hour specials include 6 pintxos (“pinches”) for $6, so they loaded up two platters for the four of us. The platter above has crimini mushrooms stuffed with mushroom mousse and manchego cheese; fresh tomato and garlic; and huevos rellenos con vinagreta vasca, deviled eggs with a pepper and onion relish in a vinaigrette dressing, all on grilled bread.

The second platter had Serrano jamon (ham) on grilled bread with olive oil; chorizo Bilboa (spicy sausage) with cherry tomato halves; and tomato conserve and manchego cheese, all served on grilled bread.

The pintxos were all very tasty, a nice variety of simple but bold flavors.

W continued the ordering with frisee and shaved manchego cheese dressed with a quince vinaigrette and served on a flatbread.

Next came a paella with razor clams. Very nice and clean flavors.

You can’t order tapas without ordering tortilla espanola, the Spanish style frittata with egg, potatoes, and caramelized onions served with a side of aioli.

We also ordered the brocheta de cerdo, mojo verde – the pork loin skewer with vegetables and a herb and lemon pesto. The pork was nice and juicy, although the meat itself didn’t have a lot of flavor. The sauce, though, packed a punch.

Me enjoying the meal.

For dessert we shared a plate of churros with a chocolate dipping sauce. This was pretty unexceptional and the sauce was like thick hot chocolate, not really thick enough for dipping.

The arroz con leche, rice pudding with fresh peaches, was much nicer. They bruleed the top slightly, adding a nice texture. And of course rice pudding is a favorite of mine.

The service was friendly although not super-attentive, the atmosphere was convivial, and the food was tasty. Just what I needed before a long flight back to Thailand.

christao408

The adventures of an expat American who moved to Bangkok for his husband.

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