hong kong style stir fried noodles with seafood 港色三鮮炒麵 - part 3

From making Hong Kong style stir fried noodles with seafood 港色三鮮炒麵 I have about two serving worth of cooked toppings that I saved. I knew that I can improvise a couple of dishes from it. I used up all the stir fry noodles. My option is to drive to the store to pick up another pack or be versatile and use what I have at home. I chose the latter.

thai basil pork distilled

I have been gradually simplifying the preparation of making basil pork, but without compromising the end result. It is just the preparation technique that I distilled to facility the steps and to achieve consistent result.

summer dinner party - 2014

I held a dinner part for 4 guests a week ago on Sunday. Choosing between Western and Asian cuisine my out of town guest chose Asian.

an dong market 安東超市 - part 2

While I have written and mentioned my favorite Asian grocery store before I didn't have the photos I want to use in the blog posts. I really like this store and I would hope with my posts would help the exposure of this wonderful and yet under-recognized Asian grocery store on the East side of Portland, Oregon.

deep fried taro biscuits 炸芋頭餅 - part 2

I have been craving for some deep fried taro biscuits 炸芋頭餅. I picked up some clams and a package of taro.

tom yum goong with live pacific pink shrimps

I started seriously making Thai dishes recently. I have made 2 trips to Thailand in the last 2 years and I love the food there.
I have made a few variation of soup based on tom yum goong. What I use is driven what I have on hand. Unlike in the US in Thailand a shrimp tom yum goong is prepared with and served with a good part of the head. The heads bring a lot of flavor to the soup and by discarding them you discard the flavors that is there otherwise.

itty bitty dishes

To save time and effort very often I cook in larger portions than I eat in a meal. Very often I cook enough for two meals. Recently however I have been cooking in portions for one meal. It is a trade off. Cooking fresh dish tastes better while cooking bigger batch save time. There is a happy medium, however.

happy meals

No. It is not the other infamous happy meal. There are some meals that I just want to be very simple, may be low calorie. Something I can wipe up in a jiffy. They are my notion of fast food and read food, not food-like matter.

more home made thai meals - 2013 jan

Nearly 2 months after my trip to Thailand I still cannot have enough of a few dishes.

While I tried my hands on many of the dishes I had in Thailand, there are a few that I love and had made them many times. Practice make perfect.

soup noodles in thailand

Soup noodles are the ultimate comfort food for most Asians and I am no exception. They are so easy to make and you can prepare the broth and the ingredients in advance. Most versions are quite healthy and relatively low in calorie.

Here is a compilation of soup noodles I had in my recent trip to Thailand.

an evolution of basil pork - part 2

One of my favorite Thai dish is basil pork (moo pad kaprao). Not wanting to be corrupted by the Americanized Thai cuisine I actually ate very little Thai food in the US. I saved the enjoyment till I visited the country.
instead of buying ground pork I often just dice my own.

hot and sour steamed grouper

One reward in travel for me is expanding my experience with cuisine of different parts of the world. Often I come home with new perspective or just ideas for new recipe. Sometime I recreate a dish that I enjoyed during a trip. At another I take what I experienced and incorporate into dishes I already know (a sort of fusion).

My recent trip to Thailand is particular rewarding and I came home with a few dishes under my belt. Well literally too as I ate too much there. Amongst the great dishes I ate is this hot and spicy steam grouper I had while in Phuket Town. The cooking method is very similar to that of Cantonese cuisine of Southwest China (I have a post on this). The main difference is the garnish that are used - making this a Thai version of steam fish.

patong - thailand

Patong is one of the beach town that most tourist goes when visiting Phuket which is a peninsula in the South of Thailand. Phuket is quite hot and humid year round, even in the mid of winter when I visited.
promoting Thai boxing that night

golden triangle

We took a trip from Chiang Mai to the Golden Triangle at the Northern border of Thailand. It was an all day (12 hour) trip which involves may be 7 hours of driving. The itinerary includes stopping at a hot spring, the white temple, the Golden Triangle, and a short visit to a hill tribe.

one great thai meal

This is one of the many best meals I had in Thailand. I was walking towards the Chinatown area in Bangkok one day looking for a restaurant cookware supply. I happen upon this restaurant full of people. Needless to say it is a sign they must have very good food. There is no English signs or menu. Fortunately they have photos of all the dishes.

thailand open markets

I never miss a chance to see fresh produce market when I travel. It is so much joy to see all the unfamiliar ingredients as well as the familiar ones.

 Here is a collection of photos I took in markets in Thailand.

an evolution of basil pork

I have recently made a number of meals with the Thai basil pork. Gradually I tweaked the recipe to make it more healthy. There is nothing wrong with the original recipe that consist of mostly minced pork if you also have a vegetable dish to go along with it.

While it is very delicious but I prefer a dish with less meat and more vegetable

doi suthep - chiang mai

One of the best things I did in Thailand is renting a scooter. I did that in Chiang Mei and in Khao Lak. A scooter allowed me to get to places that would normally be difficult to get to. With a prepaid SIM card I could use my iPhone to figure out where I am.

 One day in Chiang Mei I went up the nearby mountain Doi Suthep that overlooks the city.

My DSLR lens failed very early in my trip but I managed to workaround the crippled lens in complete manual mode, stuck in a fixed aperture.

phuket town - thailand

Three nights in Patong was more than enough for someone who does not care too much for the beach and tourist scenes. I wanted to go and see something more cultural and historic. Phuket Town it was.

home made thai meals - 2013 jan

One of the best meals I had in Thailand was in a mid price restaurant in Bangkok near the Democracy Monument near the infamous Kao San Road. Had it not for the manager of the hotel I was staying I would never know about it. That day I set out to take a long trek to another restaurant which I read about when in the US. It would involve taking the river boat and then the sky train that requires switching a train line. I was delighted when the manager told me there is a restaurant of similar quality withing walking distance.
democracy monument - some fraction of the red shirts were staging a rally that day