Saturday 23rd April 2011

BANGKOK - DAY TWO

I always eat breakfast as soon as I wake up. It was good to know that the other girls did too so we all bought our goodies yesterday and woke up with a full fridge!

I started with a cup of instant rice porridge.

I confused myself with the time zone and instead of waking up on time, I woke up two hours earlier than everyone else. When they sat down to their breakfast, I had a second breakfast!

Pastries from the bakery!

We walked in the sweltering heat to some new shopping malls, where we eventually had a late lunch in the food court. It was disappointing that the staff generally did not speak english so communication was really difficult, even when just trying to point to the picture of the food we wanted.

Mixed Meatball Noodle Soup - 45 THB

I know - this was about AUD$1.50!! It was just what I needed. A clear, light broth, different dumplings and lots of fresh chillies.

We had Pad Thai with Seafood again for a late afternoon snack.


It is so good to be on holidays with people who eat as often as I do!!

Are you ready?

Dinner time!

We found a little casual restaurant and decided to have dinner there as we were famished.

Thai Basil Beef


Kai Lan with Oyster Sauce


Thai Fried Rice with Prawns


Century Egg & Pork Porridge

This was our most expensive meal during the trip because it was in an actual 'restaurant' establishment. But still much cheaper than eating in a Thai restaurant back home!


I got this Glass Noodle Salad with Seafood to takeaway for supper.


Aah, Peppermint Tea, where are you?

Friday 22nd April 2011

BANGKOK DAY ONE

Woo! We stopped over in Singapore on the way for a few hours. We didn't have enough time to leave the airport since we had to clear immigration, grab our luggage and recheck it onto our next flight. So, we just stayed in the budget terminal and had breakfast.

Dim Sum - SD$2.5 per dish


Nasi Lemak - SD$3.5


I love it when my nasi lemak is served in fresh banana leaves. Back at home they usually serve it in some grease proof brown paper.

When we touched down in Bang Kok, I had been awake for close to 24 hours. The excitement kept me going though and once we checked into our hotel, we went in search of food!

Now, bear in mind the exchange rate we got for our Aussie dollars into Thai Baht.

1 AUD$ = 31.48 Thai Baht

In my mind to make it easier for calculations, I thought of it as for every 30 Baht I was spending, I was spending 1 Australian dollar.

We found a food court in one of the shopping malls beside our hotel and all headed to the busiest stall. When unsure in a foreign eatery, go with the stall that has the longest queue!

Pad Thai with Seafood - 70 THB

Woo! We paid just over two Australian dollars for this dish! We couldn't help but compare this to paying anywhere between $12-$20 for this back in Perth. Fantastic value! There was a generous amount of seafood - mussels, squid, prawns and juicy plump oysters. The seafood was cooked separately to the noodles and then laid on top so they were cooked just perfect. The oysters were soooo good!

While eating our pad thai, we noticed we were crunching a bit and on closer inspection, we realised it was these tiny little dried shrimps. I made sure to take an antihistamine!

Shallen and I also shared some fresh spring rolls that were a bit soggy. The 'skins' stuck to the plate and so the whole thing fell apart when we tried to pick them up. The dipping sauce was good!

Yen Chen had the Tom Yum Laksa with Glass Noodles.


For lunch, we ate again at the food court.

Noodles with Beef Balls, Liver, etc - 40 THB

Yes, this dish cost me a little over 1 Aussie dollar!! The serving sizes are smaller than I'm used to but it's just perfect so that I don't overeat.

Yen Chen had the Chicken Rice.


We walked around the entire day and were soon hungry again. We found an upmarket food court at the MBK shopping mall but we decided to go with the buffet we found for...

*drum roll*

59 THB

Yes, an ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT noodle and curry buffet for only AUD$2.


At first we thought perhaps the curries were vegetarian and that's why it was so cheap, but no, there was meat in some of the curries! You just had to go digging around for it.

Mind you, most of it was huge chunks of liver. Yum!


On the way back to our hotel, this street vendor was selling warm corn! I simply had to have some! He was making it by stirring in some sugar, butter and a splash of condensed milk. I asked for just butter.

A cup of warm corn with butter - 20 THB
Look at the kernels - they look like the've been
hand plucked and not simply cut off the cob!


A hotel stay would not be complete without ordering room service at least once!

Lobster Bisque - 140 THB +gst

Thursday 21st April 2011

YOSHIYA Japanese Restaurant
107 Pier Street, Perth CBD

I had lunch with a fellow workmate today as we were in the city. I was in the mood for some Japanese today!

We started with some miso.


My friend claims that Yoshiya make the best
California Rolls in the whole of Perth!


The sashimi was gorgeous. Fresh, delicate pieces.


We were given complimentary slices of watermelon for dessert.

I had to rush around in the early afternoon to get some errands done before heading home to pack for my long weekend trip to Bangkok. Woo!

The flight on Tiger Airways started off ok. I was settling into the five hour flight with my mp3 player and sudoku book. When the drinks service began, I waited patiently for the trolley to make its way from the front, all the way to us in row 20. I asked for vodka, apple juice and mixed nuts.

Five minutes later, the passenger behind me knocked my seat as I was reaching for my drink and I watched in horror as the cup tipped forwards and its contents spilled into my lap. I was seized with terror as I felt the cold liquid spreading throughout my lap. There was no where to jump to. No where to move.

Fortunately, the seats were pvc and of those passengers who saw what happened, none made a big fuss or laughed at me so I was able to maintain a slight amount of dignity as I stumbled to the toilets to try to dry myself. While waiting in line for the toilet, a girl told me that right after my accident, another passenger sitting nearby spilt his bourbon.

I returned to my seat and ordered a very much needed second vodka.

Dinner was Chicken Curry - not bad!


**I only just returned from the trip so posts will be up soon!**

Wednesday 20th April 2011

THURSDAY EASTER LUNCH...on a WEDNESDAY!

We decided to have our weekly lunch on Wednesday this week as a few of us (including me!) are off on our holidays on Thursday and won't be at work.

We had some fresh baguettes with goat chevre, spicy 'Too Hot To Touch' sauce and a jar of Teresa's Fig & Pepper Relish. Oh, and of course there were easter eggs, courtesy of our friendly courier, Hank.

Melinda's Noodle and Cabbage salad was awesome!


I made this Chicken and Vegetable Pie last night.


Rebecca visited us in the afternoon and brought homemade cookies!

Monday 18th April 2011

Today was my day off work and boy, did I manage to tick off alot of things on my to do list!

  1. Clean and do a water change for the aquarium ✔
  2. Give Simba a bath ✔
  3. Vacuum ✔
  4. Mop ✔
  5. A load of laundry ✔
All this while cooking dinner!

I spent a few hours making the stock for my soup with a pork hock, lemongrass, onion, beef stock, star anise, dried shrimp, soy sauce and fish sauce. Oh, and a generous dollop of sambal belachan. Delicious!

Spicy Vietnamese Noodle Soup
with Pork Hock and Beef Balls

Sunday 17th April 2011

After a wonderfully lazy day out today, I got home and made a quick dinner.

Spaghetti with a Tomato & Leek Sauce

Saturday 16th April 2011

Mum made nori rolls for me to take to Kong's 30th celebrations.

Salmon, Chicken or Tuna with Avocado and Cucumber

Friday 15th April 2011

Pork and Vegetable Soup with Pasta Shells

As usual, with lots of freshly grated pecorino and coriander.

Thursday 14th April 2011

THURSDAY DIY PIZZA DAY

We are loving the pizza oven we bought for work. Today we had a do-it-yourself pizza workshop. We made our pizzas and then queued for the oven. It was great! If only there weren't the phone calls and patients to interrupt us!



Garlic bread!


For dessert, Gail brought in one of Corica's famous Apple Strudels.


After work I got home and Mum had made some noodles. I had chicken marinating in honey and soy overnight so I roasted that and had it with some noodles. The chicken looks really black but it wasn't burnt. It's just the honey and soy caramelised on the skin of the chicken. Yum!

Mum's Seafood Noodle Stirfry with Honey & Soy Chicken

A weird combination, I know. Think of it as the best of both worlds.

Wednesday 13th April 2011

Breakfast
American Cheese Hot Dog with Tomato Sauce & American Mustard


Dinner
Seafood Laksa with Eggplant

Tuesday 12th April 2011

SPINACH, MUSHROOM & RICOTTA CANNELONI

In a bowl, I combined some ricotta, finely diced mushroom and
some chopped spinach cubes from the freezer that I thawed out.
Salt and pepper to season.


I made a rich tomato sauce with diced onion, crushed garlic, chopped parsley,
basil, a can of crushed tomatos and a dash of worcestershire sauce.


I cooked some canneloni tubes in salted boiling water
and then stuffed them with the filling.


Laid the canneloni tubes in a baking dish, poured the tomato
sauce over and baked in the oven for about fifteen minutes.


One word. Delicious.


I bought a bag of tomatos for only $1.99 so Mum was inspired to cook one of my favourites for my dinner. I found a bottle of Tobasco in the pantry that I forgot about and poured a generous amount over dinner. Gosh, I love Tobasco. Tobasco and eggs. Match made in heaven.

Mum's Bacon & Tomato Omelette