An orgy of truffles

So after my extremely long drive to dinner, I found out that it's the first day of a three week truffle festival at Biscotti. My dining companion practically lives at this hotel and knows both the Maitre D' and the Chef (a lovely young Italian from the Piedmont region).

We got the full treatment when a domed dish bearing multiple knobbly lumps of black and the coveted white truffle is grandly presented to us. When the glass dome was removed, we could smell the rich, earthy aroma. The truffles had just arrived 3 hours ago, fresh off the Thai Airways flight from Rome - they originated in Piedmont, very close to the farm where the Chef grew up. I have never seen this amount of fresh truffles close up.

We kind of went overboard when we ordered - probably due to massive hunger after the long traffic jams.
Crusted Mullet Eggs with White Truffle, Mashed Celeriac, Robiolino Cheese Fondue
Truffles and a slightly running poached egg in a savory crust. It was divine. As with all the later dishes, the Chef came out and shaved a very generous portion of truffles over my dish. He just kept on shaving. I think I benefited from my girlfriend's most favored client status.

Roasted Turbot with Black Truffle, Braised Endives, Jerusalem Artichokes and Tomino Cheese Fondue
I have to admit that I liked this dish the least. Which was a bummer since it was my main dish. I just didn't think the truffles went as well with the fish. And again, he shaved an incredible amount of black truffle all over the dish.
White Truffle Risotto with Boston Lobster and Sora Cheese Fondue
My companion's starter. Truffles and risotto - a match made in heaven.

Beef Tenderloin with Black TRuffle, Sauteed Porcini Mushrooms, Cornetti Beans and Pecorino Crutin Cheese Fondue
The main course I should have ordered! I had a bite and this was divine. Truffles and steak - who knew?

I concluded that I like white truffles better - of course, they command a higher price, I learned. I also learned that the Chef takes the truffles home with him every night. They were too valuable to leave in the hotel kitchen!

A Primer on Driving in Bangkok

For most of you reading this blog, my advice is to never, ever, ever even think about trying to drive in Bangkok.

One night, I jumped into the car and headed into town to meet a girlfriend for dinner at Biscotti, the Italian restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel, my favorite hotel in Bangkok. It took me an hour and 45 mins to cover a distance of just over 6 miles. No weather, no accidents - just random Bangkok traffic.

During that excruciating drive time, I listened to the all-traffic radio station (the intersection by the hotel is at a complete standstill?! Oh great.) and mentally composed this blog.

Now, I actually learned how to drive in Bangkok, many years ago. However, I am now used to driving in a more rules-based orderly system - as opposed to the free-for-all, completely opportunistic way people drive in Thailand. The usual Thai traits of kindness, politeness and consideration all fly right out the window once they get behind the wheel of a car.

So here are a few rules of the road:

1. Any open space on a road must be filled up - if the space is too small for a car, it will be filled by a whole mess of motorcycles or some enterprising tuk-tuk with a fantastic turning radius.
2. Lane markers have no reason for existence.
3. When turning left or right from a three lane road, feel free to overtake all the losers waiting for their turn, and turn from the center lane.
4. Never start up immediately when your light turns green. There will be at least 5 red light runners speeding through the intersection. Do not get in their way.
5. When trying to make a lane change, no one will let you in unless you force your way in. Assume they will not hit you since your car is nicer than theirs.
6. Do not apply Rule #5 in front of a bus. They will hit you and those bus drivers are all crazy anyway.
7. A typical bus driver will pick up and drop off passengers at a stop, then veer out to the fast lane in heavy traffic. And veer back into the curbside lane to stop at their next stop. This whole exercise will have allowed them to pass 2-3 cars, but have them cutting off countless others with their veering back and forth.
8. There are a million taxis in Bangkok, all cruising slowly in the curbside lane looking for fares. If they find one, they will stop. No matter where they are or how inconvenient for other drivers. The most popular taxi color is a bright, neon pink.
9. Many of the main overpasses in town have lanes that can go either direction, depending on whether it's the inbound or outbound commute time. There are big lights above these lanes - red X or green arrow. Do not assume that those lights are correct. Do not head into an open lane on an overpass ever. Always follow someone else. That way, they will be the ones in the head-on collision, not you.
10. Getting out of the way for an ambulance is optional.

And there you have it. Go to Bangkok and check it out if you don't believe me.

I was 45 mins late for dinner. Thankfully, my girlfriend was 35 mins late - so I was only net 10 mins late. By Thai standards, that's perfectly acceptable. It took me 20 mins to get home later that night.

Back in Thailand

Goodness, I'm not quite sure where the summer went. We're in Thailand right now - it seems like a whirlwind since we came home from Spain and sent kids off to summer camp etc. There was a bit of a swine flu scare but since it's been resolved, I'll just leave it alone for now.

We were back in California for about a month and then left for Thailand. This is a pretty short trip for us - just 3 weeks, since we need to be in Oregon for a wedding in mid-August.

And Thailand is as wonderful as ever - we're on the 37th floor of our usual apartment building. Check out the sunset over the city skyline.

I dread to weigh myself when I get home, I've been eating everything in sight...

Driving in Bangkok

For the most part, I try to avoid driving in Bangkok. Yes, I did actually learn to drive here (in a car so old that it seemed a miracle that it ran at all) and passed my driving test on my own, in a stick shift no less. Apparently, there's often a payment made (ahem) when additional assistance is required to get one's license ;)

I've driven here a lot over the years but it requires an awful lot of concentration and since we've been staying at Emporium Suites on our longer trips here, the Skytrain has made driving unnecessary.

However, this time I'm staying at my parents' house in the suburbs and I drove my dad's car in to meet a friend for dinner. My mother seemed very doubtful and kept offering to drive me - but I thought I should brave the drive on my own.

Bangkok traffic is legendary and many of the drivers have most clearly not honestly passed their driving tests and drive like aggressive crazy people. Of course, the total lack of consideration means that I too can drive like an idiot (inadvertently, of course).

We met at Red for dinner, a lovely Indian fusion restaurant that does a mean masala risotto (reminds me a little of Junnoon in Palo Alto). I almost scraped the left side of the car on a low bridge entering the parking lot - would have if not for the parking attendant who ran over waving his arms and gesticulating like a crazy person. Ah well, no need to tell my dad about that part...

I love being home

I sometimes think it's a bit of a stretch for me to call Thailand home since I never really lived here for any extended period of time, and my only schooling here was in preschool. However, I spent every single school holiday here up until I finished college and for an expat kid, it was the closest thing to home that I've ever had. Also home is, to a certain extent, wherever my parents are.

I'm blogging from a seat in the garden of my mother's family compound, a 8 or 9 acre property that was subdivided by my great-grandfather and doled out to his sons, who all built houses of various designs with shared gardens and a great pond stocked with a bazillion fish and one very old turtle (at least I think it's still there). My parents' house is a few miles away, and only has dial-up (yes, there are people in the world without broadband!) internet access so I'm happily using my tech savvy cousins' wifi right now. It's relatively cool, the fountains are burbling away and someone just brought me a glass of iced water :)

I love being back in Thailand, I switch into Thai very happily (although I find my Thai vocabulary to be somewhat limited at times). It's a bit of mess here right now - the country is just finishing up an extended period of mourning for the King's elder sister, and politicking is supposed to be suspended. However, the country is very divided on the political front - with people wearing red vs yellow shirts to show their support for two dueling political factions. Apparently, the other day, a Thai Airways captain refused to board three different Thai members of Parliament because he was on the opposing faction. Can you imagine that happening in the US?!

Eating Chinese in Bangkok

If you're used to the standard Chinese restaurant in the US or Europe, you have to come to Asia to experience high-style Chinese dining in many of the top hotels in Bangkok, Hong Kong and Singapore - with service and atmosphere as nice as any French restaurant.

We went to Liu at the Conrad in Bangkok for a dim sum lunch on Saturday. I first came to Liu about 5-6 years ago when the hotel first opened, and thought it was one of the prettiest Chinese restaurants I had been to.

We had an overabundance of food for lunch (of course!) since it turned out to be an all-you-can-eat menu. They did the standards quite well (bbq pork bun, har gao, siu mai etc) and also had a handful of creative dim sum.

They had also set up their moon cake stand in front of the restaurant. The Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival takes place in Sept and moon cakes are a staple throughout Bangkok as Sept approaches. This was always one of my favorite festivals growing up - not only could I eat moon cakes to my heart's delight, but as a child, I also got to pick out a lantern every year and go out on the night of the full moon to parade around with all the other kids.

Back in the day (god, I sound old!), moon cakes came in either lotus or red bean flavors. These days, the flavors seem to be limitless. Even Starbucks gets in on the action with a coffee-flavored version (yes, it's as gross as it sounds!). The stand at Liu offered 8 different kinds of moon cakes to sample, including durian, custard, ginko. And sample we did!

Is food the center of my existence?

I was reading my friend Leslie's blog and noted her very funny, but oh-so-true comment that "Not only do we eat, we talk about our next meal while we're eating the current meal."

This has always been the case with my family and I'm just beginning to realize that this is not normal behavior for most other people in the world.

Let me enumerate my dining highlights of the past week:

- Sunday: massively indulgent Sunday Brunch buffet at the Sukhothai Hotel

- Monday: lovely meal at Savoury, a little cafe in Siam Paragon (the most high end shopping center in Bangkok)

- Tuesday: "modern asian" meal at Breeze, outdoor dining on the 54th floor of a high rise building (made much more exciting when the entire restaurant had to move indoors when it started raining at 8 pm - a task accomplished by the staff in record time)

- Wednesday: afternoon tea in the Four Seasons lobby, surrounded by Thai police and very obvious Secret Service personnel (preparing for W's entrance that evening)

- Thursday: lunch at the Deck on the Chao Praya river, across from Wat Arun, the Temple of Dawn

- Friday: nouveau Japanese at Ginger, a new restaurant on the 24th floor of the Centara Grand Hotel where I fell in love with Yuzu-flavored salt

- Saturday: dinner at Youreaguan, a simple Korean restaurant on Sukhumvit Soi 59 (the wait staff was oh-so-nice)

- Sunday: dinner at Indochine, a lovely Vietnamese place in an old house

Yo Yo Land

There are high end Western shopping centers in Bangkok (like Emporium, which is the one I live right above) and there are local malls frequented almost exclusively by Thais, usually located in the suburbs.

One huge example of a local mall is Seacon Square, which is neither on the Skytrain nor the subway route. However, we make a trek over there every year because of Yo Yo Land.

Now all shopping centers in Bangkok will have a children's play area. They range from the small area in Emporium which runs heavily to video games, to Yo Yo Land, which is a full-fledged mini theme park located on the 6th floor of Seacon Square.

Not only are there a plethora of video games, there is a train, bumper cars, a flume ride, carousels, a labyrinth, mini ferris wheel, a ghost house (which we've always avoided) and numerous other little themed rides.

Plus lots of other games, including the Thai version of paint-your-own pottery.

We could spend the whole afternoon here - the kids just love it!

I could get used to this very easily...

Today we spent a most pleasurable 3 hours in the Mandara Spa at the Four Seasons Hotel in Bangkok. The spa suite was beautiful.

I had an aromatherapy bath, a Thai herbal compress followed by a massage and finally a rejuvenating facial (during which I fell fast asleep). The service throughout was marvelous and my attendant, although quite petite, was remarkably strong and gave me a very deep massage.


Afterwards, we hit the lobby for a snack and saw a multitude of Thai policemen and Secret Service agents wandering around. We correctly deduced that President Bush was going to be staying there - he's scheduled to arrive for a quick visit to Bangkok before he goes up to Beijing for the Opening Ceremonies.

Many Floating Tourists...

We met our van at the unearthly hour of 6:30 am to set out for Damnoen Saduak, the original floating market located about 90 mins west of Bangkok. This was the way Thais would market back in the day when travel by boat in the klongs was the typical way of life.

The popularity of floating markets soared in the past 20 years as they were used in all the official tourism photos of Thailand. A couple of smaller versions have been started closer to Bangkok but we wanted to see the original version.

We had a short 15 min ride to the market itself in a long-tail boat, going through the smaller klongs to get there - it was very pleasant. When we got to the market, we chartered a small boat paddled by an older woman which took us through the market itself.


After buying a few trinkets, I got some kanom buang for me and some mango and sticky rice for the girls. I also ended up having some fresh coconut juice and a traditional Thai ice tea.





The market got incredibly busy by 10 am so it was good that we got an early start. Apparently, it's even busier on the weekends, when more Thai visitors come, in addition to all the foreign tourists. All the foreigners like the souvenirs and trinkets; all the Thais come to eat!

Jim Thompson House

Leslie and I figured we ought to do at least a little sightseeing amidst all the eating and shopping, so we headed to the Jim Thompson House, a compound of traditional Thai teak houses with Western touches built by Jim Thompson, the American who is credited with reviving the Thai silk industry in the 1960s.




Jim Thompson's story is very interesting, culminating with his mysterious disappearance while walking in the Malaysian highlands. You can read more about it here.

It was probably my 5th or 6th trip on the tour but I still found it fascinating. The house and grounds are very peaceful.





Traditional Thai Spirit House on the grounds.

Chatuchak Weekend Market

We made a quick late afternoon run on Sunday to the massive weekend market with 15,000 stalls on 26 acres. It was stiflingly hot and the kids were fascinated with the pet section, much of which I found unbearable due to the conditions and the heat.

They were obsessed with the small bunnies, which I have to admit were really rather cute. 100 baht each (~ 3USD). Needless to say, we left bunny-less...

Sunday Brunch at the Sukhothai Hotel

So my friend Leslie is visiting from the US and I was determined to show her the best Sunday Brunch in Bangkok. Sadly, there's seems to be no consensus as to the best brunch - and after I found out that our previous fave, Next2 at the Shangri-la Hotel, was under renovation, I picked the Colonnade at the Sukhothai.

The Sukhothai is a gorgeous 5-star hotel done in modern Thai decor with beautiful water views from the brunch room. Here's an overview of the selections (trust me, even these pictures don't do it justice!)


The bread selection - the pretzel bread was a particular favorite.










Prepared sushi selection - there was also a sushi master available to create sushi to order, including some high quality sashimi options.






Peking duck, carved to order.









The grill station which included prime rib, leg of lamb and a chicken tandoori carving station at the front. There was also pan-fried foie gras with a mango sauce - yum.










One of the many dessert stations - I love mini-desserts! The lemon meringue tart was especially good. As was the mango and sticky rice (alas, not pictured).

Food Innovation?

Not just a food paradise, but also a hub for food innovation - there were a few customers trying this new concept out, but we passed ;)

Food Paradise

People always ask what do we do in Thailand when we come to stay for the summer. Well, the list is quite long but one of the highlights is eating, eating and more eating.

This is our favorite ice cream place - conveniently located a short elevator ride away. iBerry produces great local ice cream - Amara's favorite is Nutella, my favorite is Coconut Sorbet. Other local flavors include Sour Plum, Rambutan Sorbet, Horlicks, Tamarind...



We've counted over 9 ice cream places in the food court area of Emporium alone - Thais like their ice cream!









Another favorite cuisine here is Italian - the kids say that the penne bolognese and the margarita pizza here are the best they've had outside of Italy. We went to a favorite pizza place called Limoncello the other day, on Sukumvit Soi 8. Mei enjoyed watching the two pizza makers toss and spin the dough, as well as lay on the toppings. Then she found a little corner set up for kids where she could roll out her own dough!

Chinatown

We headed to Chinatown yesterday to (what else?) buy various foods for dinner. This is our typical Chinatown itinerary when I'm in town:

- beef balls from a hawker stall located down a dark alleyway. We make noodles at home and serve with the beef balls and soup provided by the vendor.

- roast pork and rice. This is the Thai version of the Chinese cha siu fan. It comes with a thick gravy that goes on the rice. My dad wanted this. I often find this dish to be a little too sweet.

- Chinese roasted chestnuts. This is a HUGE fave. Nothing beats hot chestnuts roasted in charcoal, Chinese-style. You can see the vendor frying them up in a large wok by the side of the road.

- salty plum juice. OK, this is my personal highlight. "Nam Buey" from a little storefront in Chinatown run by people who may close on any given day, depending upon their whims. This is always a gamble. I felt very lucky they were open yesterday. And my older daughter now likes this as well.

Admittedly, this is not a very adventurous itinerary - you'd have to get my dad's typical route to truly get some adventurous food!

An Ad in the Bangkok Post

This ad appeared on the front page of Sunday's Bangkok Post. I found it tremendously amusing.

I'll let you discover what an orchiectomy is on your own ;)

Sunrise in Bangkok

We're here in Bangkok for our annual visit - day 3 and we're waking up at 5 am. Hence the rare opportunity to catch the sunrise. Let's hope this doesn't continue for too many days ;)



We're staying at our usual apartment at the Emporium Suites, on the 33rd floor this time. We've been staying here for 8 years now, ever since they opened. The kids love the routine of it all, although there seems to have been so much turnover that we don't recognize any of the staff anymore.

This is a serviced apartment, which means that it's like a hotel, with daily maid service but with all the facilities of an apartment. There are a mixture of short and long-stay people here - the short stays are either tourists or regional business people who come to Bangkok on a regular basis. The long stays are usually expats with one or two year postings to Bangkok, who don't want the hassle of dealing with a house or apartment rental (and whose firms pick up the high expense of staying here).

There's a nice gym which we've used (at 7 am yesterday!) and one of the nicest shopping centers in Bangkok is just an elevator ride away. It's the perfect location for us!

Teeny Tiny Pastries and Donuts

One day last week, on one of our many wanders, we discovered an area in CentralWorld (yet another large shopping complex in central Bangkok) with lots of miniature dioramas, with a special focus on teeny tiny food items. Cute miniature food?? We were sold!

We returned over the weekend for the girls to take a course on making mini bakery items with the talented teachers from MiniThai. Although you can buy all sorts of premade foods and other miniature items (including some very yummy looking cakes), the girls wanted to learn how to make their own out of clay.

It was quite a delicate and time-consuming process that entailed making various components from different colored clay (imported from Japan, I was told!), dying the clay to the right color, assembling the finished pieces using glue and painting the bread so it was nicely browned.


The girls made sausage rolls, hamburgers, donuts, cupcakes, lollipops, fruit and little animals. They filled up a whole bakery display case with all their baked goods - artfully displayed in various mini jars, plates and trays. We were there for over 7 hours, with a short break for lunch (at Triple O, which I've since learned is a Canadian burger chain - will wonders never cease?!)


Besides the mini food items, they also had a number of large and small dioramas on display - typically of Thai village life, but to an amazing level of detail. One of the teachers told me that the larger dioramas sell for thousands of dollars and were special orders that were often shipped to other countries.

We came home with the bakery case full of items, plus a array of tropical fruit, a complete set of mini dim-sum and various small serving utensils and silverware. Our Polly Pockets and American Girls are going to have a big feast when we get home!

Our Tourist-y Day

Even though we come to Bangkok almost every year, we typically don't do very touristy things. Amara had been touring around 7 years ago but Mei had never been to see any of the major sights. So we decided to go visit the Grand Palace complex and Wat Po one day - the top destination for any tourist visiting Thailand.

We took the Skytrain down to Saphan Taksin, by the Chao Phraya river. Then we hired a long-tail boat to take us on a tour of the klongs (canals), finally dropping us off at Ta Chang, the main pier by the Grand Palace complex. It was a fun tour and an opportunity to see how people live on the river - we saw kids swimming in the water, ladies doing laundry and a lot of people fishing (some of them had caught very big fish as well).

We wandered around in the Grand Palace complex for a little while - spending most of our time around the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the most important, highest temple in Thailand, where the King worships. It was very hot, so the girls started wilting a little - but beautiful nonetheless. Gold gleamed everywhere, with glittering mosaics reflecting the sunshine.

We took a little Tuk Tuk to lunch at a lovely restaurant on the river, with a beautiful view of Wat Arun across the river. It was called The Deck and was located in a little boutique hotel called the Arun Residence. The restaurant served an eclectic menu of Thai and Western dishes, but it's most redeeming feature was very good air conditioning!


After lunch, we walked across the street to Wat Po, also known as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. The main temple was covered by scaffolding but the statue was as beautiful as ever. The girls made merit by dropping small coins in a row of baht, or Thai monk bowls. One coin in every bowl.

We finally took the Chao Phraya Express boat - a boat-bus service - back to the Sathorn stop, and took the Skytrain back home.