I finally understand what High Tea is all about

Time flies. It has been a year (!!) since our ROM. Only a while ago, I invited all of you to re-live my ROM with me, and now I am blogging about our ROM anniversary. I think it's brilliant that this year has passed in a flash, because it just means that I am loving every minute of being married to Li Li (I hope she does too).

To make this a memorable day, I decided to bring her 25km away from my home (think living in Jurong West and going to Changi) just to drink some tea. For all who are interested, this place is called the Author's Lounge in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Bangkok, which is also the very first luxury hotel in Siam.

It's a classy old-style British-colonial type lounge that has the garden setting as they illuminate the place fully by sunlight. We were the first to arrive, but before we knew it, people from all over the world (including Thais of course) have filled every seat, turning the lounge into a bustling indoor garden with waitresses zipping around balancing pots of tea and three-tiered snack trays. It is interesting to note that there was an international crowd who came specially to have this authentic afternoon tea experience. Which tourist would spend half a day in their short vacation soaking in a lounge on a Sunday afternoon when they have 1001 other things to do in Bangkok unless this place is really famous?

Poor pianist was almost banging his fingers in vain in amidst noise produced by the chatty crowd

High tea is, in my humble opinion, the defining relaxing activity of taitais, especially after a tiring dose of retail therapy. I am trying to convince my wife that she can become a taitai here, and what better way to start?



Relaxing like a true Thai-Tai

 Of course, no high tea is complete without tea. We chose the most expensive tea on the menu and it did taste very refined. But to be honest, I would prefer a cup of icy cocoa from the shop opposite my office any day.


So finally, to the food. There's nothing much to say here, as I am going to show you the full menu of our traditional high tea set followed by a montage of the actual spread.

The place was great, service was excellent, ambience was fantastic, but was the food great? Errr..... it was ok, but probably forgettable is the apt word to use. Everyone has a soft spot for warm buttery scones with a dollop of clotted cream/jam followed by a sip of hot tea, but assorted sandwiches, cookies plus a single mouthful of panna cotta and a similar serving of creme brulee did not leave any note in my head that I should come back in the future for more of the same food.

Back for more pictures? Maybe. Haha...

At the end of the day, I think both of us felt that it wasn't too steeply priced considering the entire package, and it did give us an actual feel of what the Duchess(es) in Europe do in their afternoons while waiting for their husbands to come home for dinner.



Oh ya, we were under a palm tree too!

Moral of the story? High tea is NOT about the food, it's more about the company, and about how you sit back and relax over a book and some decent snacks. The Author's Lounge sure made it happen.

Deliciously yummy slab of pork collar on caramelized onions topped with spicy Thai green chilli salsa

There's actually a lot to blog about. My mom's trip, my company (currently spending more than earning in optimistic preparation for booming growth in the next couple of years) and the nitty gritty details of my wedding (which I have not finished organising ridiculous number of photos), but for now, it's the season of cooking, and I am very honoured to be sharing with all of you the self-created dishes which I am personally very proud of. The thing is, all of you should try these dishes, as they are simple -- requiring only fresh ingredients and an oven.

This time, I made a deliciously yummy thick slab of pork collar over caramelized onions and topped with a spicy thai chilli salsa. I chose pork collar because meat tends to dry up really quickly in the oven, and too many of my trials have resulted in my chop literally taking on the texture of a shoe (really!), so I realised pork collar would do the trick, as it is marbled with nice but not-obscene dollops of fat, which keeps it tender and moist. Directions below serves 2:

For the pork:

1. 2 thick pieces of pork collar, preferably ard an inch thick, 250g each
2. 1 big french onion, dice a quarter in to small cubes to marinate the pork, slice the rest for baking
3. 3 cloves of garlic, diced for marinating
4. Dried rosemary
5. Paprika powder
6. Salt, black pepper and olive oil, the mainstays of almost every dish
7. A small drizzle of balsamic vinegar

It's important to flavour the pork way before you cook, preferably overnight, and it's dead simple. Put some olive oil in a bowl and at your preference, put in all the ingredients above and mix until it gives a thick red marinate. Slam the pieces of pork many times with the back of a knife to tenderize them before massaging them in the marinate.

For baking, pre-heat the oven to 200degC, lay your baking tray with the sliced onions and put the pork on top. Bake for approximately 40minutes until onions are deliciously caramelized and pork is cooked through.

The thai chilli salsa is simply a twist from the sweet pepper salsa on my earlier post (you can just scroll down to view it). Instead of using sweet pepper, I used green and yellow thai chillis (think Nam Phrik Num from Northern Thailand, just more Western style) because they are more fragrant and pack a spicy punch. I also used lemon juice as the acid instead of balsamic vinegar for added freshness.

Put all the elements together with a smash of salad greens of your choice (rocket again for me) with some lemon olive oil dressing and enjoy this wholesome meal which will cost you a bomb in the restaurant.

My latest masterpiece

There are so many elements and layers of flavour to this dish. The freshness of the greens, sweetness of the caramelized onions, moist-ness of the collar and spiciness of the chilli salsa, it tastes fantastic and different in every bite!
PS. Thank you Li Li for helping me with the greens!

The BEST Baked Potato Salad

Li Li is here, and it just means that every week we will spend some time creating good home-made meals using our loyal salad spinner and mini-oven. This also means that I have a chance to turn ideas into reality, like this warm pumpkin salad and this easiest cherry tomato salad.

This wonderful baked potato salad is another result of a multitude of concepts in my mind after watching an obscene amount of food-related shows on telly these days (most current craze being Top Chef). To make things less complicated for all of you, I am essentially breaking this recipe down into 3 simple mini dishes, and at the end of the day you just have to put them altogether and tuck in! The stated ingredients feed 2 hungry people.

1. The base of this salad is of course, baked potatoes, to make this, you need:

• 4 large potatoes, washed, cut into cubes and seasoned with
• dried rosemary
• paprika powder
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• a dash of balsamic vinegar (which is another backbone of this dish)
• medium-grade olive oil (do not use extra virgin for baking!)

You need to bake the potatoes at approximately 200degC for 40minutes until nice and soft.

2. I like my salads to have a non-veg element, a carb and of course, greens. I believe you can use any salad leaf, but I recommend rocket, basil or watercress, which in this case, I again chose my favourite- rocket:

• 100g of wild rocket, washed and then dried with a salad spinner
• a dressing of 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, 9 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil (1 part acid 3 parts oil), plus some salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Just toss the rocket with the dressing and it is good to go.

3. This is what I have been wanting to do for a long time, a very nice and sweet salsa-like baked sweet pepper salad. This is what I consider as the X-factor for the dish, and it's not very convenient to make, but here goes:

• 3 bell peppers or ora, preferably with different colours so that the salsa turns out pretty, kept whole
• medium-grade olive oil to sprinkle over the peppers before baking
• for dressing at the end, you will need a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar, some salt and black pepper plus a good tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

The key to this dish is to literally burn the peppers in the oven until they are wilted, hence forcing out all the natural sweetness in them. They also become really soft and fluffy, like over-ripe peaches. After baking them for about half an hour (or more if you find them not soft enough) at 200degC, remove their skins and seeds, leaving only the flesh. Tear the flesh into nice 7mm (approximately) strips and dress them, you're ready!

Before I proceed to plating, which is the easiest thing if you have taken the trouble to complete all of the above, I'd like to introduce the non-veg element of this dish.

Smoked Salmon! I added 2 large pcs per serving, however, you can go vegan and do without this, or you can go the sinful indulgence way of frying some steaky bacon/pancetta to complete the meal.

Finally, plate the salad with all the goodies you have already prepared.

The Best Potato Salad!

With a final cracking of black peppercorns, here's the final result.

Spear your fork through a tiny bit of everything and enjoy yourself.

This is my proudest creation yet, do try this at home and I am sure you will not regret!

The Stranger in Bangkok finds himself immersed in the realm of Thai spirits

When one thinks about Thai movies, Mr Tony Jaa springing around smashing baddies comes to mind. But the next thing that pops up would probably be the internationally-acclaimed horror flicks like Shutter and more recently The Coffin. My local friend tells me that the reason why Thai horror stories are so real and spine-tingling is because they are created by people who have genuinely embraced the idea of ghosts for many generations.

Which brings me to my point of this post. There's this small exhibition hall (called TCDC) on the top level of the Emporium in Sukhumvit which never fails to mesmerize me. This year, it has held a showcase for Japan's dying art of bamboo weaving, followed by introducing Thai creative design commercial products to the public. This time, it took things up a notch and transformed itself into a creepy spiritual realm.

I brought Li Li and my mom here with a casual mindset. To me, it was supposed be a day of fun at an upscale shopping mall with a walk through the interesting exhibition followed by chilling out at a chic restaurant with some wicked Italian food. However, the organisers really caught us cold. Beyond that sliding door you see above is complete darkness, so dark that I did not dare to step forward. It was like something would appear and scare the crap out of us at any instant. Anyway, with some difficulty, I eventually led the 2 ladies through 2 turns in the darkness before a decent amount of light greeted us again.

The first part of the displays was really ok, perhaps they were warming us up before the real thing came. This was the only section where I could bring myself to snap some pictures.

The exhibition ended with a section with all the mystic Thai spirits, which were so freaky I did not want my camera to have anything to do with them. Imagine a lady's head with flowy long hair and only her internal organs (a flashing beating heart and intestines included) hanging off her neck. Worse thing is, she was floating around in circles in the room, catching people by surprise, resulting in an exhibition littered with shrieks of fright. I attempted to look for this particular's pictures online to put on this post, but I gave up prematurely as the images spooked me out again, sorry guys. If you are really interested, please google Kra Sue and see what you get. Much sympathy is offered to the security guard at the exhibition who was dedicated to follow Kra Sue on her journeys to ensure no one got hurt.

There was really an element of relief when we finally stepped out of the showcase, where we were greeted by a DIY desk, and guess what they were teaching kids to make...

A BLOODY SEVERED FINGER. Come on, give me a break!

BOO!

Re-visiting the Grand Palace and celebrating the arrival of a new toy

A quiet 2 weeks on the blog front for me. My wife is here with my mom, who went back to Singapore to celebrate my niece's first month yesterday. I finally have some time to breathe. Wasn't easy trying to juggle working while keeping my mom entertained in a country where she cannot even find 1 TV channel with programmes she could really understand. She resorted to day-after-day of shopping therapy to curb her boredom, but anyway, I hope she enjoyed herself. I am just dropping by to say hi to my dwindling number of readers in case you are wondering what happened to me.

Last Saturday was Chulalongkorn Day (King Rama V of the Anna and the King fame), and I took the opportunity to re-visit the Grand Palace, this time with my mom. Although she would enjoy herself infinitely more bulleting around like a high-speed train in the Ratchaprasong shopping district (where the red shirts proudly occupied for a couple of months a while ago), I think the visit wasn't too shabby as well. Please have a look at the Grand Palace pics on my FaceBook profile here.

On a personal note, I got my company and I a new toy to play with, a mini photo studio! Just the thing I need to take nice pictures of the countless spare parts we sell (without any knowledge of how to set up a real photostudio myself), and I can conveniently use to take any knick-knacks I have too. I am pleased.

Here's a preview of the picture the studio can produce, with a G10, with no photoshop at all. Anyone needs studio-quality pictures of small products for your marketing material? Courier it to Bangkok and I can help you!

The Stranger's first experience of a Cosplay Extravaganza

Sorry my dear niece, a lot of blogging ideas welled up in my mind today after some mental block, so you can only be at the limelight of my blog for a couple of days. It's been too long since I talked about something interesting in Bangkok, I shall do it now before my audience start knocking my door requesting me to change my blog title!

After giving a raving review of Paradise Park, I think I should do Seacon Square some justice. Seacon Square is the mall that has served me well over the past year, being only a short walking distance away from my dwelling. Also, it is currently the 2nd largest mall in Bangkok after CentralWorld (with the burnt-down-but-reopened fame). To give Seacon Square some credit, it's been going strong amidst the immense challenge from Paradise Park just 200m down the road, and over the past months, it has organised event after event in its huge foyer to keep customers interested.

One week, a mall is transformed into a bird park.

Before we know it, it's become an ancient Thai market

This week, it got even more exciting!

COSPLAY FESTA!!

To be honest, I do not have any idea what Cosplay is all about. I only know that there will be people dressing up like Japanese comic book characters and people queueing up to take pictures of them, so I just grabbed my G10 and strutted over to take a look. After walking around experiencing the whole Cosplay excitement, I am proud to say that my theories about Cosplay is largely accurate, however, there were a few revelations:

1. There's an obsession with green hair, what's about green hair anyway? There are so many other colours around!
2. The ladies who were into Cosplay were all young, but not exactly the prettiest.
3. 90% of the dressed-up girls wore braces, what's with the teeth of Thai ladies, all too crooked or are they all so vain and rich? Anyway, I wore braces before too, =).
4. Lastly, despite owning one of the best digital cameras around, I seriously felt like a beggar just now. It doesn't feel good when someone 15 years younger than you is taking pictures using a camera with lenses the length of a bazooka while you are snapping away with the BEST DIGITAL CAMERA IN THE MARKET.

Proof of how small my G10 felt, I was almost embarrassed to take pictures.

Ok, I think I should get to the things you are interested in and show you some pictures. I have arranged a montage as well as 2 of my favourites:

Well, I have more. I took some pictures of the cutest looking character and I wouldn't keep them from all my dear readers.

I had a good time. I hope Seacon Square hosts the next Cosplay Festa as well, in the meantime, I will look forward to the up-and-coming National Cheerleading Competition!

Greetings from Uncle in Bangkok

Firstly, I have to apologise that for the past weeks, there has been nothing interesting happening in Bangkok itself for me. After my wedding, it's just been ceaseless amounts of work and mounting problems in the office to take care of. Shilei did make a brief visit to pick my mood up a little, but that's about it. Things will not get much better, as I will soon need to start renovating my new warehouse and welcome my company's peak season all at the same time.

On a personal note, September 2010 had been one of the most happening months in my life. After turning 29 on the 7th with my church guys and Candra by my side, I had back-to-back wedding banquets on the 11th in Singapore and on the 18th in my native Kuching. I think this effectively gives me the title 老公, which sounds unbelievably old in any sense.

However, things just do get better and better don't they? Rather unexpectedly, I officially became an UNCLE (叔叔）on the 29th, when I only expected the arrival of my long-awaited niece early this month. I scoured around on FB and I have not seen any pictures of her online yet, so.... you've seen her here first, thanks to Li Li!

She looks just like those little bolsters you see in Kiddy Palace with a cute head popping out.

As I did not have consent from the adults to show their faces, I just use this pic to portray fatherly love.

Miss No-name-yet is only 1 day old, she needs a lot of sleep!

I have enough new old-sounding titles on my head all of a sudden, no more please, just for a while yeah? I'm turning 30 soon, just let me savour the last bit of my youth ok?