Oh..The Food We Ate

On our trip to Destin, we had sampled a couple restaurants that are on the Must-Eat list. (Don't you love that list? Must-Eat..Who can resist a must-eat list.) With trying to do a budget travel that doesn't compromise the experience, I planned our trip down to the hours.. Yup.. I'm crazy that way. Asked Mr. Rojo. I had a spreadsheet on what we would do and eat each day. Well, I like to know the plan but we didn't necessarily stick to the plan. In order to save some doughs, we plan to eat out during lunch and cook our own dinner at the condo. I chose easy meal for dinner like Hamburger Helper, Taco Dinner Kit and Publix Chicken on my menu.

On the first day, we arrived later than we thought. So the lunch was McD along the way. Then dinner was Publix chicken. Nice and easy plus with a long drive from GA we didn't want to bother with cranky kids in the restaurant.

Our first stop on the list was McGuire Irish Pub. We went there right before lunch so we didn't have to wait at all. The first thing you will notice when you walk in is thousands of dollar bills on the ceiling, on the wall and everywhere else around the restaurant. It is a tradition started with friends of the owner gave him the dollar bill and signed his name. The owner then put it up on the wall. And one by one now they have almost half a million bills on their wall. Amazing!

The food was amazing! I had cornbeef and cabbage.. Oh. It was so yummy and huge. I didn't think I could finish it but I did! The cabbage had sweet taste the compliment with the cornbeef perfectly. Mr. Rojo got Fish and Chips.. By far I think it was the best Fish and Chips I have had. It was crispy enough but not too hard. The breading was perfectly... Yum-O... Also make sure you pay attention when you ready to freshen up and head to the bathroom. See the sign? Better read before heading to the Men room or you thought.

The next morning, we went a bit further toward Seaside and stopped by the famous Donut Hole. The food was great and the donuts was even better. After a big plate of brunch and a full dozen donuts, we were ready to roll and check out seaside.. Check back later for posts on what we did in Destin and beyond!

Five Finds for Friday - Food Blogs

I love to eat but I have to admit that I am not a cook by nature. I cook out of necessity. So I always surf and check out other great food blogs for inspiration and recipes. Here are my top five finds for this week.

1. Lunch Nugget - A great blog for any family looking for a more creative and heathtier way to pack lunch for their school-age kids. I love the picture for each post since I'm such a visual person. I won't even look at any recipe that doesn't have the picture. So this is my life-saver blog.

2. Thai Table - A great Thai recipe site with step-by-step instruction. I cook Thai food once in a while. Just because sometimes I feel like it. And no, I am not a great cook for Thai food so don't ask me to cook Pad Thai for you. Sorry, not all Thai people can cook. Or should I say my Thai food standard is very high so if I can't make it taste like what I ate in Thailand then I won't bother.

3. Closet Cooking - I found this blog via Cheap Healthy Good. A great simple blog with great photo and recipe. The simple cooking is my kind of cooking.

4. Steamy Kitchen - Jaden's blog for the modern asian food with great simple recipe is not a new blog that I just found. I have been following her for a while.

5. Chez Pim - I'm so so behind in the Blog world. I'm sure everyone knew about Chez Pim's blog but I just recently discovered her via my fellow Thai blogger - Oakmonster's Den.

13 Thai Food I Miss

It's true that there are a lot of Thai restaurants in the US. But I have to break the news to all Thai food lover that the variety we have here is nothing compare to the food we can eat, consume, stuff-till-you-hurt in Thailand. Here are just some of the Thai dish I really miss.

1. Thai Boat Noodle (Kuay-Tiaw Ruea) - This is my favorite noodle dish. The traditional dish was originated from the way they sold this noodle by way of boat. Hence, boat-style noodle. The dish is spicy and tasty.

2. Thai Ox Tail Soup - The muslim influenced dish from the Southern part of Thailand is always on the top of my to-eat list whenever I go back to Thailand. The soup is clear not as stewy like the caribbean style (I do love that as well). The taste is more sour and spicy. The meat is so tender that it falls off the bone.


3. Streamed Curry Cup (Hor Mok) - My favorite to-go food in Thailand. It's convenient food that I can eat so many of them in one sitting with just rice. Made from fish, coconut milk and basil leaves and steam in the banana leaf cup. Oh.. How yummy!


4. Steamed Shrimp with Glass Noodle (Koong Op Woon Send) - This delicious shrimp dish is cooked in the clay pot with glass noodle seasoned with soy sauce, oyster sauce, whole peppercorn and topped with green onion, chinese celery and cilantro. It seems like an easy recipe but hard to pull it off. In Thailand, I don't bother to learn how to cook this dish.. Just have to find the best restaurant for this one.


5. Thai Rice Noodle with spicy curry (Kha-nom Jeen) - Fresh rice noodle topped with curry and fresh vegetable. This dish can be had in various way depend on what kind of curry you like. We have fish curry (Nam Ya), sweet curry (Nam Prik), spicy Southern style curry (Nam Ya Pak Tai). It's also perfect food for people on diet since you can load it up with fresh veggies of basil leaves, bean sprout, cabbages or other kinds of vegetable you like.


6. Flash-fried Morning Glory (Phat Phak Boong) - A quick dish for a late night meal. It's a very quick and easy dish that is best when eat while it's still hot.


7. Stir fried Rice Noodle (Pad See Ew) - This is one of the popular dish in Thai restaurant here but they have it all wrong. Pad See Ew in Thailand doesn't have any other veggies in there.. No broccoli or pepper or onion. The real Pad See Ew is a really simple street food in Thailand. It is made with rice noodle, egg, pork, garlic, dark soy sauce, and chinese broccoli. It's easy recipe but hard to make it taste good. The taste should be on the sweet side and a bit oily.. Yup.. It's so good that it's so bad for you.


8. Southern Thai Rice (Khao Yum) - This is my favorite breakfast when I was a kid. We were from the Southern part of Thailand and there are several dishes that you can't find it anywhere in Bangkok. Khao Yum is part of the Southern food. Basically, it's the rice salad with boo-doo sauce on the top. The topping for Khao Yum has a lot of nutrient in there including fruits, veggie and seafood. It's all-in-one dish. The taste can be very distinctive and might not be for every taste buds. But this is my childhood dish. I miss it dearly.


9. Sweet Stewed Pork & Egg (Kai Pa-Lo) - A chinese dish that I have had since I can remember. It's good for especially for the 2nd or 3rd days after it's been cooked. We used to boil more eggs and dropped it in for later days. Perfect with steam rice.


10. Thai Sukiyaki - Thais are pack creatures. We like to stay in group especially when we go out and eat. Sukiyaki is a perfect get together meal. But it might make Americans feel uneasy when you have to dip your food in the pot that share by everyone else. You will think that we don't want to eat something like hot soup in Thai's hot tropical climate..but you will be surprised.


11. Liver Salad (Tap Waan) - Another side dish that you can typically see serving with sticky rice. This is another Thai salad dish with young liver. The liver has to be cooked at the right temperature for the perfect soft and sweet taste. It's not easy as liver can give a real bad taste if you don't know how to cook it.


12. Chicken and Rice (Kao Mun Gai) - This one dish wonder is my favorite.. You will notice now that I have more than many favorites. I can't pick just one. It will depend on the mood. This is a rather simple dish.. The rice is cooked in chicken stock and make it rich-fatty taste and then topped with chicken. Served with chicken stock soup and ginger&soy bean sauce.


13. Thai Fish Cake (Todd Man Pla) - This side dish is served with spicy dipping sauce and garnish of cucumber. The fish cake are made from soft fish, green beans, and starch.

OH.. Boy!! I'm starving!!! What are the food you would love to have right now?

WW - Would You Eat This?

This is an Elephant Trunk Clam we saw in Hong Kong seafood village. Does it look appetizing?

Songkran in Atlanta

This past Sunday we headed down to Decatur for a Songkran Festival in Thai Temple in Atlanta. Songkran is a traditional Thai New Year that celebrate by all Thais on April 13 and the festival is lasted for 3 days. It likes a Christmas of Thailand. People will go home and celebrate with their families. The festival in Thailand is a combination of religious practice and party. In the morning, people will normally go to temple to give the offering to the monk and receive the blessing from the monks. Then they will go out and celebrate by giving water to each other. In my youth years, it was all fun. We would pack a water balloon and waited out by the street and threw it to the pass-by pedestians or vehicles. It was a fun and wet day indeed.

We went to Wat Buddha Bucha (which is the only Thai temple I know in Atlanta area) for the Songkran festival this year so that my kids will get to experience Thai culture. I have to say that I was overwhelming with the crowds and we didn't get to spend much time there. The place was rather small. I guess being from Florida where there are a rather large group of Thais there. The temple there has more supports and donations so they can build a rather authentic Thai temple that reminds myself of Thailand.

In the morning, people lined up to offer food and other necessary items to the monks and receive the blessing. We walked around to check out some of the local Thai food. I was rather disappointed at the quality of the food. The taste wasn't as good as I expected. Plus the varieties are minimal at best. However, I managed to pig myself out for the whole morning. What can I say.. I can eat anything even if it's not that great!

Persian Teahouse & Mediterranean Cafe

This week I have been on the world tour for lunch time. Normally, I pack lunch for work (not by choice but more by necessicity). However, with the cold snap this week along with the laziness that build up in me we have been ignoring our lunch we packed in the past few days. And when we eat out, I love to eat in the ethnic food restaurant rather than typical chain restaurant. It just makes me feel a bit more like I'm on my little vacation.

I'm a very easy eater. If it doesn't taste so bad, I will probably eat it all. So I'm not a really good food critic.

First stop for this week is Papoulis Mediterranean Cafe. It's a good size, quick bite Greek cafe. The food is fabulous especially Gyro Beef & Lamb. The cucumber salad that comes with it is fresh and tasty. The deco is nicely done with a huge map of that part of the world on the wall. There is little corner with cook book, snack, cheese and other ingredients that you might find in a Mediterranean market there. Plus the price is very reasonable ranging from $3-9 depends on what you order and how big your appetite is that day. It's a quick escape to a little Greek in the middle of the South.

Our second stop of the week is Darvish Persian Teahouse. What a great place to try the authentic Persian food and take in the real atmosphere of the Persian Teahouse. The decoration puts you right in the Persian teahouse. Ok.. I have never been to one but a co-worker who came from there said it's pretty close. I just felt like I have stepped into another world away. Now, it doesn't mean that the deco will be the only thing that will impress you. The food is ... fabuuuuuuloussssss. I ate and ate till I felt the pain.

We went during lunch on the weekday and they had the buffer all-you-can-eat for $7.99. Great price considering what we had. I started off with Rice and Gourmet Sabzi (a blend of green herbs), Gheimeh (tomato stew), Kashk-o-Bodenjan (a delicious blend of eggplant in a golden sweet onion) and grilled veggie. Then I moved on to the real heavy stuff. The Kabob-e-Kubideh (ground beef), Kabob-e-Barg (tenderloin) and Joojeh Kabob.. Yum yum.. I finished up my meal with Hot Persian tea. It had an amazing aroma. That wrapped out our perfect meal.

If you go during weekend evening, you will get to enjoy the entertainment as well. I haven't tried that yet but you bet that it is on my to-do list already.

What can be better than trying a little bit of different cultures without breaking the bank! I know that it can't compare to the real experience but at least it gives me the taste of what is the real experience can be magnified once we get there one day. :)

A day in Bangkok...

Well, not literally just a day in Bangkok. I couldn't just go back to Thailand and only spend a day in Bangkok. Most of you might ask why it took me so long to blog about Thailand. Truth be told, there are so many great places in Thailand that I'm at the lost and don't even know where to start.

Last year, we went back to Thailand to visit my family. This is something I try to do every two years. I would love to be able to do it every year. But tickets for 4 can run around $4000 so unless I win any lotto anytime soon this will have to be bi-annual trip. Each time when we go back I try to plan several small trips to visit many parts of Thailand.

Thailand is an amazing place to visit. We have different flavors to please various taste. There are beaches in the South, mountains in the North, city in Bangkok, old ruins in the Center. I can go on and on.. Plus you can't go to Thailand and not be overwhelmed by the varieties of food you can get. We are Thais and we love to eat. I'm not food expert I will leave that up to my friend on her blog (kelly-licious).

This trip is no different. I have a long list of things to do and buy, places to visit and food to eat. Of course, families to visit is on my list as well but that's a given. :)

As soon as we landed (right around midnight) and by the time we left the airport which was around 2AM, we headed to my family favorite chinese restaurant, Nguan Lee. It's one of this place that has no fancy deco just plain tables and chairs. Gotta put food on the first priority to have energy to do anything else. :)

I had planned a few places to go in Bangkok this trip. My husband has been there 3-4 times but it will take more than that to experience Thailand to the fullest.

We headed to Royal Thai Palace and Wat Pra Kaew (Temple of Emerald Budha). Being Thai and living in Bangkok for over 20 years, the last time I was there I was 10 years old. So a lots have changed. This was our second attempt to go there. Last time, we didn't know that he had to wear long pants. You can't wear short, flip flop, or sandal. And I believe for female you should dress properly to show respect to the place.

It was a typical weather in Thailand.. HOT.. So I knew that we won't be spending too much time in there. We picked up a headset for self-guided. I'm not a history buff so I will take any help I can get. The visit was long enough to wear everyone out. One thing to keep in mind when going to Thailand. Whatever you plan to do, plan to accomplish maybe even less as heat will get to you sooner than you think.

The next stop on our list is 'Muang Boran - Ancient City'. It's located just outside Bangkok. You probably couldn't tell where Bangkok ends and where another province begins. It's all blended in together these days with all the people moves to our capital city. To get there, the best advice I could get is to hire a taxi or mini van. There is no easy public transportation.

Plus when you are in there the place is so huge, you can't really walk from one to another. You can rent a bike. It will be a nice exercise giving it isn't a hot day (which is highly unlikely for that to happen here). My sister arranged the van to pick us up and we headed there. It was nice to learn about different histories in different parts of my country. This is like an overview of what we have to offer in Thailand regarding our historical locations, architectures and many more. The owner does put a lot of thought into building this place.

They also created an environment that takes you back to the traditional Thai lifestyle. It's a quick way to learn more about Thai culture in one trip. We had lunch at the shop that sits by the canal. One of my favorite dish - Boat noodle (Kuay-Taew-Ruer).

There are several other places that we didn't have time to visit this trip. Plus I don't want to temple out my husband by visiting all the temples in one trip. I think to really enjoy and appreciate what we have to offer, we need to take our time and not just rush through the place just to get it done. That being said, it's easier said than done when you had 2 young children with you that kicking and screaming for the A/C. :)