Posted on 5 March 2011 by christao408

So far it has been a busy weekend, so much so that I haven’t had the time to read subscriptions or to write any posts. This one wil have to be a quick one, in fact, because there’s a lot to do this Sunday.

This morning I’m trying a recipe for Red Velvet Cupcakes that uses roasted beets instead of red food coloring. Actually, it uses canned beets but I went ahead and roasted my own beets since that is easy enough to do. I like the idea of not using the food coloring but I also think a beet cake should be very pleasant, in the same way that a carrot cake has a moist sweetness that comes from the carrots. We’ll see how it turns out.

I’ll leave you with a photo I took last Sunday while riding through the park near the Queen Sirikit Convention Center. In a shaded hollow there is a statue of Buddha, surrounded by trees and looking towards a large lake. Beyond the park, condominium towers have risen and the scene struck me as being an interesting combination of both the peacefulness of nature and the intrusion of modern urbanity.

Anyhow, I hope you are having a fun weekend.

Chinese Poetry

Posted on 4 March 2011 by christao408

Checking my Gmail this morning, the daughter of a high school friend and his wife sent me a message. “Hi! Stuck with Chinese homework. Have to write a poem.” I think she was using the chat feature as an excuse not do her homework. “No worries,” I replied. “I can help.”

After a few minutes of thinking, I responded with the following poem. It is Chinese. Kind of.

Chinese Poem

There once was a siu mai

All covered in sauce.

My brother didn’t want to eat it

So I said, “That’s your loss.”

Picked up by my chopsticks

and dunked in some soy,

The tasty steamed dumpling

brought my tummy lots of joy.

That’s all the creativity I can muster today. Have a good Friday.

Food in Bangkok: Goose at Chua Kim Haeng

Posted on 3 March 2011 by christao408

The final day we were showing our Singaporean guests around, we decided to pile into taxis and travel halfway across the city for some famous Chinese five-spice goose from Chua Kim Haeng restaurant.

This restaurant has been around for decades with two adjacent dining rooms on Pattanakan Road, which is what Petchaburi Road turns into as it heads east of Ramkhamhaeng. They have recently opened another branch.

Jasmine rice.

Gaeng joot gradook muu – Slow-cooked clear soup with pork ribs and daikon radish.

Gapow plaa pad haeng – fried fish maw stir fried dry with green onions served with a sweet chili dipping sauce on the side.

The main course: braised goose, known as han paloh. “Paloh” refers to the cooking a dish with Chinese five spice, but this is a general term in Thai. Each restaurant has its own specific recipe for what those spices are and in what combination.

Chua Kim Haeng is famous especially for its dipping sauce, a combination of vinegar, garlic, and yellow chili instead of the usual green or red chilies. The sauce has a flavor almost of pickling spice and contrasts well with the rich flesh of the goose.

Goose innards. Can you name the parts? Liver, heart, gizzard… yummy!

The Singaporeans loved it. Of course, this is a Chinese style restaurant so they must of felt right at home. In fact, one of our friends ran into someone he knows, another Singaporean who was traveling with his family, sitting at the table next to ours. Small culinary world, isn’t it?

Seafood in Yaowarat

Posted on 1 March 2011 by christao408

While our Singaporean friends were in town a week ago, I went with a couple of them to Yaowarat, Bangkok’s Chinatown, for a nighttime seafood dinner.

The streets are no less busy once the sun sets as impromptu restaurants – movable feasts, really – open up on the sidewalks. Seafood is the specialty of the neighborhood, with several well-known sidewalk vendors offering the freshest seafood available in town.

A dozen river prawns, simply grilled. The flesh was sweet, the only thing needed was some spicy homemade sauce of chilies, fish sauce, and lime juice.

A plate full of crabs, steamed and cracked for our easy eating. The prawns, crab, and a plate of fried rice were all the three of us needed for a tasty and surprisingly affordable dinner.

As we finished dinner and headed back to the friends’ hotel, I noticed the moon, just a day or two past full, lost amidst the bright lanterns of Yaowarat.

Baking with a Banneton

Posted on 28 February 2011 by christao408

On my trip to the US in early December, my friend Mabel gave me a gift she had been holding for some time: a pair of banneton. These wicker baskets are used by the French when proofing bread dough – after it is shaped and is undergoing its final rise before baking. At some point in the past I had mentioned that I’d like to find some banneton and when she saw them, she purchased them for me. Since December I’ve had the opportunity to use them a few time and thought I’d share the results.

The video is here, a nice, succinct two-and-a-half minute piece. If you cannot view, pictures are below. Link to the video is here.

The banneton is traditionally made of wicker, although some modern ones are made of plastic. The purpose of the wicker, though, is that it wicks moisture away from the surface of the dough, making for a better crust.

Proper flouring is essential, otherwise the dough may not want to leave the cozy nest of the banneton once it is finished proofing. After reading a few online baking sites, I decided to go with the suggested mix of all-purpose wheat flour and rice flour. This worked very nicely and I’ve had minimal troubles with sticking. It was also a neat way to use up some leftover rice flour.

After removing the dough from the banneton, you can see the lines left by the wicker. A few slashes to help the loaf expand and then slide it into the hot oven and onto a baking stone.

The end result is very beautiful and, I must say, rustic-looking. Not sure to what extent I can tell if the crust is really any better. I create a steam bath in the oven with a small tray of boiling water, so the environment is going to be about as conducive to a good crust as this home-use oven will allow. Nonetheless, Tawn and I have been enjoying the results, especially when it is time for panini! Thanks for the thoughtful gift, Mabel!

Curbing Our Walking Space

Posted on 26 February 2011 by christao408

After writing about some potentially good news for pedestrians in Bangkok, I have to strive for some karmic balance by writing about something else what is currently underway that is impinging on the foot-friendliness of a soi in my neighborhood.

“Soi” is a word in Thai that is often translated into English as “alley”. It means a smaller street, often not connecting, that branches off a major road. The neighborhood I live in is in the midst of a veritable maze of sois, some of which have footpaths (sidewalks) and others of which don’t. One main soi on which I regularly have to walk has undergone some road construction this past week that ended up with a pedestrian unfriendly result.

This particular soi is called Thong Lor Soi 9, indicating it is the ninth soi off a larger street called Thong Lor – which is itself a soi of Sukhumvit Road, Sukhumvit Soi 55, to be precise. (Confused yet?) Soi 9 parallels a small khlong (canal) that is really more of a drainage ditch with some stagnant water in it. There isn’t much space and when you walk along it you have to be careful of passing traffic. Thankfully, though, there is a wide dirt shoulder that you can step onto if you become concerned about the passing vehicles.

Two weeks ago when I saw workers shoveling gravel along the khlong side of the soi, I was optimistic that perhaps they would widen it just a bit, making a little more room for the many pedestrians who walk this soi from the residential area to the main street where all the shops and markets are.

Unfortunately, the plan was not to widen the street but instead to add a curb along the side of the existing street. Not that I’ve seen it happen, but perhaps they are suddenly concerned about vehicles ending up in the ditch like some pilot of a South African 737. Or, more likely, they are trying to channel rain water into the storm drains (concrete rectangles with metal grates in them in the picture below) instead of into the khlong.

The net effect for pedestrians is that now you really have to walk in the street. An easy step off the street now involves stepping over a curb and onto uneven ground, increasing the risk of tripping or ending up on your butt in the khlong.

From a pedestrian perspective, the best solution would probably be to install a wide pipe in place of the khlong and pave over that area with a wide footpath. They did this on part of Sukhumvit Soi 38 (above) and it is beautiful. Yes, there isn’t as much greenery although that could be addressed in several different ways. But you do have one of the widest, smoothest footpaths in the city, complete with ample curb cuts.

I’m curious to see whether Thong Lo Soi 9 ever receives similar treatment. For now, I’ll just have to be that much more careful when walking along the soi.

50km of Skywalks to be Built in Bangkok

Posted on 24 February 2011 by christao408

Bangkok has a unique street-level culture. Footpaths overflow with food vendors, hawkers, beggars, and motorbikes. Sometimes there is even room for pedestrians. This sidewalk chaos is simultaneously the charm of the city and the bane of its residents’ efforts to get from place to place. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has announced big plans to move the pedestrians above the crowd onto a 50-km network of skywalks.

In the future, it seems we will all be computer animated!

Dubbed the “Super Skywalk”, this network would connect existing Skytrain stations with nearby businesses, much in the way the Ratchaprasong shopping district is connected to both the Chidlom and Siam stations. Ambitious in scope, the skywalks would not only follow all existing Skytrain lines, they would also trace new paths above busy streets like Thong Lo, Asoke, Ramkhamhaeng, and Whithayu (Wireless).

Map from the BMA showing the proposed Super Skywalk network.

The entire network is slated to be complete in four years, with the first portion, 16 km following the Sukhumvit line from Nana station to Soi Baring (Sukhumvit 107, end of the extension to the line that should open later in 2011), set to open within 18 months. Interestingly, some of the sections such as Thong Lo and Ramkhamhaeng follow routes Bangkok’s governor has proposed for a monorail line. There has been no explanation if those plans are still underway.

The pedestrian bridge built under the Skytrain viaduct, heading east from the Asoke station.

I’ve written previously about various pedestrian bridges being built to connect to Skytrain stations and I’m certainly not the first person to think that a wider network of skywalks would encourage more use of the mass transit systems.

There are many questions to consider, though. Will these new skywalks be kept clear of vendors? Some of the elevated footpaths near Siam Square often look like a repeat of the sidewalks down below, minus the motorbikes. Also, will the skywalks result in diminished business for the vendors along the street or even for regular, fixed businesses? Considering that the governor has also proposed creating designated spaces for the vendors similar to Singapore’s hawker centers, perhaps this is part of a larger plan.

It will be interesting to see if and when this project actually is built, what the effects are. Original article in The Nation newspaper.

Why They Don’t Teach a Three-Point Turn in Flight School

Posted on 23 February 2011 by christao408

This photo came as part of an email my father forwarded to me. As a former employee at a major airline, many of the humorous emails he receives (and often forwards) are related to his former industry. I didn’t take the time to fact-check this one, but I found it funny enough to share with you as a bit of midweek levity.

According to the email, the pilot of this Boeing 737-200 (an aircraft that is pushing 30 years old if not older) was departing a small airport in South Africa during the night to ferry the plane back to Johannesburg. The pilot got confused on the taxiway and reached a dead end without the room to turn around. His solution was to engage the thrust reversers and back out of the dead end, trying to perform a three-point turn.

Unfortunately, he backed the plane into a culvert alongside the taxiway. To make matters worse, he tried to get the plane back onto the taxiway by throttling up the engine. The end result was that the engines ingested all sorts of rocks, dirt, and other debris since they were resting pretty much on the ground. The damage was such that the cost of repair exceeds the airframe’s insured value and so the craft will be written off. No word what happened to the pilot.

Of course, silly things happen all the times. Back in August 2005, a mechanic at United Airlines’ San Francisco maintenance base accidentally retracted the main landing gear on a Boeing 747, resulting on the plane resting on its tail. Fortunately, no structural damage was caused and the plane was back into service after a thorough check. No word on what happened to the mechanic.

Saturday Cooking Part 2

Posted on 22 February 2011 by christao408

Whereas Saturday morning was spent at the Seagull Cooking Cafe helping break in their new cooking school, Saturday evening was spent at the house of Khun Nat, co-editor of the website catandnat.com where some of my entries are cross-posted. After he started editing my pieces and discovered our common interest of food, he suggested we cook together. Our first venture: Hearty Italian Sunday Gravy based on a recipe from Cooks Illustrated.

This over-the-top tomato sauce usually calls for six cuts of meat and half a day by the stove. Thankfully, the CI recipe cuts that down to just three cuts (ribs, sausages, and meatballs) and just a few hours, most of which is in the oven. In addition to preparing the sauce, spaghetti and a salad, Nat prepared an angel food cake. Not wanting to waste the egg yolks, we also prepared two batches of ice cream: one banana and the other raspberry.

I did not go to the trouble of shooting everything, simply because I was being put to work. But here is a video showing the highlights of the afternoon and evening. If you cannot view the video embedded in this entry, the link for it is here.

Raised in New York City, Nat moved here in his mid-twenties and has been here ever since. He is one of those fortunate souls who got to design his kitchen from scratch and it is perfectly laid out to have lots of people involved in the cooking. Off to the left is a seating area where guests can relax and talk with the chef. Very useful arrangement, if only I had another few dozen square meters in my condo!

Iron Chef New York prepares the tomato sauce after browning in the meats in a skillet. The secret behind the rich flavor is that you sautee the onions until they start to brown and then add tomato paste and cook it until nearly burned. While this may seem too far at first, it concentrates the flavors and nicely caramelizes the sugars in the paste, and it ends up adding an incredible richness to the sauce.

After adding crushed canned tomatoes and cooking for a while, you add the ribs and sausages to the sauce and let them bake, covered, in the oven for two hours.

Starting ingredients for the meatballs: Italian parsley, egg yolk, bread crumbs, buttermilk, chili flakes, salt, and spices.

Nicely shaped (golf ball sized) meatballs.

Nat has a half-dozen or more beagles, all of which are very cute. They must have been tortured by the wonderful smells coming from the kitchen!

Fry the meatballs until browned.

Busy kitchen as Tawn and Cha handle the wine, Nat keeps an eye on the meatballs, and the angel food cake rests upside down on the concrete countertop.

The finished meatballs with nice browned bits on the outside, ready to add succulent flavor to the Sunday Gravy.

After the first round of cooking the ribs and sausages in the sauce, we agreed that it needed more liquid so added some water. Then added the meatballs and let them finish cooking.

Beautiful angel food cake. I really should make these more often. They are fat-free and very showy and satisfying desserts, especially with some fresh berries spooned on top. We went for homemade ice cream, but berries would have been nice, too.

Keeping with the Italian theme, a nice mixed salad with cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, salami, feta cheese, and olives.

The meat piled on a platter, ready to serve. Too bad Xanga doesn’t have a smell-o-blog feature.

The final product: whole wheat spaghetti served with rich sauce and three types of meat. Oh, this was good. I hate to rub it in, but you really missed out!

A slice of heaven. Didn’t photograph the two types of ice cream, but you can trust me that they were tasty, too. Is there room in my kitchen for an ice cream machine?

Bangkok’s Top 50 Street Food Stalls

Posted on 20 February 2011 by christao408

Food in Bangkok. While my blog covers a wide range of topics, “food in Bangkok” would be a fair summation of one of the major topic areas. About the same time that I started my “Great Eats in Bangkok” video series, covering various types of food that you really must try while you are here, I had the fortune to be introduced to the author of the newly-released book, Bangkok’s Top 50 Street Food Stalls.

Enjoying a pre-dinner drink as I waited for guests at Soul Food Mahanakorn, the owner handed me a copy of this book and asked if I had seen it yet. Thumbing through the well-organized pages, each of which lists another great street food vendor, I expressed my admiration. At which point, Jarrett introduced me to the author, Chawadee Nualkhair, who was dining at the table just behind me.

I know what you are thinking. “If ever there was a book I would have bought Chris for his birthday, this is it.” Right? Of course you would have. No need, now, since I already have a copy. You can get one from local Bangkok bookstores.

It turns out that Khun Chawadee is the person behind the useful foodie website Bangkok Glutton. A Thai who was raised in western Pennsylvania state, she has split her time between the US and Thailand for the last fifteen years. Bangkok’s Top 50 Street Food Stalls grew out of her desire to eat great Thai food when here, combined with the usual apprehension most foreigners have when approaching Thai street food. We’re unsure what the food is, what the specialties are, how to order them, and how to eat them once they are served.

Khun Chawadee’s book does an excellent job of laying all that out in the picture-rich pages. There’s even an explanation of the seating arrangements, what condiments and utensils are on the table, and whether or not there are restrooms at the shop. Talk about handy information!

After a few email exchanges, Khun Chawadee invited me to join her for lunch at a Muslim restaurant in Banglamphu, the shady older area of the city located between the Chao Phraya River and backpacker headquarters Khao San Road.

After I arrived at our designated meeting spot more than a half-hour late (note: river taxis are not as fast as you might think), Khun Chawadee led me on a brisk walk down Phra Athit Road, around a few corners, and down the street. Our destination:Aicha Rot Dii (“Aicha Good Taste”) Restaurant, a literal hole-in-the-wall that many people would pass by, not realizing what good eats are inside.

From the street side of things, all you see is a narrow walkway passing a food vendor. But if you walk in, you pass a long row of prepared food that opens into an interior courtyard, clean and relatively well ventilated. The menu is Thai Muslim, meaning mostly southern Thai style food. Much of the influence comes from Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and India and beef is the meat of choice.

Our meal included an oxtail soup that was wonderfully gelatinous. Unlike western-style oxtail soups, which are often tomato-based and very hearty, this soup had a clear broth with fried shallots and herbs and was very light but full of flavor.

We tried a noodle dish called guaytiaw gaeng nua, a curried beef noodle soup. The noodles are hidden under this spicy curry broth but the beef was very tender. The curry was very nice, too.

We tried two rice dishes, khao mok gai and khao mok nua. The name “khao mok” implies “buried under a mountain of rice”, so the dishes are chicken and beef, respectively, served with a heaping portion of a biryani-style rice. Of the two, I thought the beef was better. The sauce, which at first glance you might fear to be a horrendously spicy chili sauce, is actually made with cilantro, lime, and sugar and is very sweet and sour. The rice itself was a little disappointing, lacking in flavor compared to other khao mok dishes I’ve had. The beef, though, was very tender and flavorful.

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The seating place is friendly to foreigners with large pictures of all the dishes on the wall with their names in both English and Thai. You can pretty much just point and eat. Beverages run the range of sodas, waters, and some Thai juices. Be sure to bring your own napkins.

This was a pleasant discovery. More pleasant was the opportunity to meet Khun Chawadee and learn a bit more about what drives her passion for Thai food. Find out more about the book at Chawadee’s blog. She’s also on Twitter as @bangkokglutton.

christao408

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

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