So busy running around LA visiting friends and family that I'm a week behind in reading subscriptions and responding to comments - but I want to keep the posts uninterrupted so here's another!

Polish restaurants fall into a category of dining experiences that rarely hit my radar screen.  I've been to them perhaps twice before in my life, enjoying both times but not feeling so compelled that I rushed back.  Plus, given my circle of friends and where I live, it is much more likely that I'll end out at a restaurant serving Asian food rather than Polish.  They say vacation is an opportunity to gather new experiences and perspectives, so it was fitting when one of my high school friends suggested we go to Warszwa, a Polish restaurant in downtown Santa Monica.

Warszwa relocated from Berkeley, where it was a neighbor to a recently-opened Chez Panisse, to the LA area in 1979.  For the past 25 years it has occupied a former house on Lincoln Boulevard in Santa Monica.  As you walk through the different small dining rooms, you get this sense of being in your Polish great grandmother's home rather than being in a restaurant.  Service is friendly and efficient, making for an enjoyable dining experience.

I started out with the borscht, a beet-based soup that is a staple of Polish and Russian cuisine.  Because it is summer (or, at least, is supposed to be summer), they were serving a chilled borscht, which has buttermilk, sour cream, and cucumbers and is rich, tangy, and very refreshing.  I've experimented with borscht and would like to try making this chilled version.

The six of us shared two appetizers - the first was crispy fried potato pancakes (similar, but more refined, than most latkes I've had) served with cinnamon apples and dried plum compote and a dollop of sour cream and chives.  Very tasty starter.  

Handmade pierogi - Polish raviolis - with three fillings: white cheese, potato puree, and caramelized onions; wild mushrooms with shredded cabbage; and chicken breast with herbs, served with sorrel sauce (on the right).  All were very enjoyable and different than I expected. 

The main courses mostly had a similar look and feel, as most were accompanied by the same side dishes.

Lamb dumplings served with a Dijon sauce, which the menu claims is an Eastern Polish specialty.  These were tasty.

Tawn had a variation of the dumplings filled with salmon, served with a basil sauce.  Also tasty, although as we were sharing these two dumpling dishes, we filled up quickly!

One friend had cabbage leaves stuffed with beef, jasmine rice, and sauteed onions, baked in a tomato and paprika broth.  Now, my mother made stuffed peppers a lot when I was a child and I think this stuffed cabbage calls forth certain pleasant childhood memories.

Schnitzel - either pork or chicken, I don't remember - which is a fillet that is pounded thin, breaded, and fried.  Kind of a Polish katsu, if you will.  The meat was tasty, although it is hard to describe it as anything other than fried meat.  Not much nuance.

The specialty of the evening was a fish dish, served in a cream sauce.  Tasty, too!

Our group after a delightful, if slightly filling, meal - Tawn, Anita, Lilian, Samantha, Lalima, and me.  If you are craving something different and find yourself on the west side of Los Angeles, a visit to Warszawa may be just what the doctor ordered!

(Entries are bouncing around a bit chronologically but I'm still in LA on vacation.)

One treat I've indulged in several times while in LA is Pinkberry, the premium frozen yogurt chain started here in 2005 by Shelly Hwang and Young Lee.  Reviving the craze of the 1980s, when there was a frozen yogurt store in every corner strip mall, Hwang and Lee have expanded from their first store in Los Angeles to more than 100 locations across the US and even internationally.

Tawn, Anita, Samantha, Lily, and Lalima enjoy their Pinkberry in Culver City.

I'm not about to claim that this is some incredible food that you must rush out and try, but it is pretty good.  I like that the quality seems high, they use only fresh fruits (not frozen or canned) as toppings, and if you choose carefully, a Pinkberry frozen yogurt can be a pretty healthful dessert or snack.  One morning when I was at the Southwest Airlines terminal at LAX perusing my breakfast options, I realized that a Pinkberry yogurt with fresh berries and some low fat granola on top would be the best option among the breakfast pizzas, Croissanwhiches, and breakfast burritos on offer.

My sister and her family are in town now staying with Tawn and me at a beach house

.  We went to Pinkberry last night.  While they have frozen yogurt places in Kansas City, they are nothing like Pinkberry.  There it is self-serve yogurt with flavors that underwhelm with their artificiality.  Here it is pure, tangy goodness with lots of fresh toppings.

Even though it was a chilly evening by the beach, we bundled up for some Pinkberry!

After visiting the Farmers Market on Saturday morning and being denied the opportunity to pick cherries, thanks to the unseasonably cool weather that had held their ripening at bay, we decided to visit the Huntington Library.  The Huntington is an educational and research institution that includes art collections, extensive libraries, and several specialty gardens including a Japanese garden (currently closed for renovation), a rose garden, and a cactus garden.

The Huntington sits on over 120 beautifully cared for acres on the San Marino estate of former railroad magnate Henry E. Huntington.  It is such a large space that I don't think you could reasonably expect to cover even a fraction of it on a single day!

The sun shining through a skylight made this interesting pattern on the granite floor as we passed through the buildings on the Huntington's grounds.

Stopping in the Conservatory, we saw a collection of plants from different growing climates, including tropical.  When we walked into the mist-filled section, we felt right at home!

The primary part of our afternoon was spent in the recently opened Chinese Garden.  It is very beautiful, although you can tell there are many areas in which room has been left to expand.

A sculpted window frame in the garden.

A beautiful red maple.

The gardens, looking roughly west.

A caterpillar that was walking along a ledge along the water.

View from the other end of the garden, looking back roughly east.

Three of our four high school friends with whom we spent time during the weekend.  Samantha, Lalima, and Anita.

Gorgeous trees, a covered walkway, and the beautiful blue sky.

In the Chinese Garden there is a restaurant and tea house that serves surprisingly decent food.  Tawn had a lemon chicken, which I realize doesn't sound terribly authentic, but at least it was tasty and pretty fresh.

I had a bowl of soba noodles with a sauce of beef and pork.  Also pretty tasty.

The food was so filling that the son of one of our friends just had to lay down for a nap.

Finally, we walked through the Rose Garden, where Tawn snapped lots of pictures of flowers that inspired him.

And that was our trip to the Huntington, a site I'd suggest to anyone who visits Los Angeles.

Saturday morning we headed with our high school friends (who came down for the weekend to visit us) to the LA Farmers Market.  The market, located at Third and Fairfax near the CBS studios, dates to 1934.  This was my first visit and I was impressed with the range of different food stalls.  I didn't look around the entire market, but my impression is that there aren't really that many farmers offering their wares.  Here is a look at some of the food we tried.

There are lots of seating areas, mostly in the shade.  You can order from different vendors and still sit at the same tables, which give you a lot of flexibility.  We were there by 10:00 Saturday morning and it wasn't very busy, although by the time we left things were notably busier.

Hard to tell the breakfast from the desserts!  Crepe with chocolate, strawberries, and bananas.

Belgian waffle with whipped cream and fresh strawberries.  Someone's husband didn't wait until I took the pictures to begin

Ran into a place called Moishe's Village, which serves Middle Eastern food.  My attention was caught by the borekas, a flat bread with toppings cooked in a brick oven.  Basically, oblong pizzas without tomato sauce.

Wide selection of borekas.

I chose the sausage and egg and asked the lady to cut it into pieces.  She scolded me, saying that I should have ordered scrambled eggs so it would have cut more prettily.

Another popular spot is Bob's Coffee and Doughnuts.

Yeast donuts.  Very tasty, although I'm not a huge fan of donuts.

Tawn in his market gear.

Loads of fresh fruits, especially the peaches, apricots, and nectarines.  Stone fruits are my favorite reason to come back to the US during the summer.

Close up on the beautiful artichokes.

Afterwards, one of my friends insisted that we must try Littlejohn's English toffee. 

The picture doesn't do justice to the toffee, but it was pretty good.  Not as hard as a lot of toffee, so much easier on the teeth to eat.  Well, except for all the sugar.

We were going to go cherry picking afterwards but when we called ahead to the farm, we learned that thanks to the cool weather, cherries are coming in a few weeks late.  Sadly, no cherry picking this trip.

Almost two years ago, Gary took me to Orris, Chef Hideo Yamashiro's west Los Angeles Japanese inspired small plates restaurant.  (Entry here)  On Friday evening, our visit to LA overlapped with a business trip by Tawn's boss and her counterpart from Kuala Lumpur, both of whom I've met several times.  We had time enough to pick them up from their Century City hotel and take them to dinner at Orris before ferrying them to the airport for their return flights.

Here is what we had to eat:

 Thinly sliced beets with Basque cheese and balsamic soy.

Sauté of seasonal mixed mushrooms

 Free range fried chicken with sweet and spicy yuzu sauce

Basil marinated black cod with basil mashed potato

Grilled Japanese eggplant with burrata and parmesan cheeses

Lightly pan fried mixed seafood atop spring greens with lemon zest

 Seared ahi tuna sashimi with sweet onion soy and avocado

 Asparagus salad with tarragon dressing, pecans, and tomato

The dishes were all nicely prepared and enjoyable, although Tawn's boss does not eat cheese so had to work around a few dishes.  I described this as a "Japanese inspired" small plates restaurant, and initially it can be hard to see what is meant by that.  As Tawn's boss observed when the first dish (the beets) arrived, it doesn't look very Japanese on the surface.

The inspiration comes more than anything from the principle that is common in Japanese food to keep preparations simple and the number of ingredients to a minimum, so that the freshness and quality of the main ingredients can shine through.  Using the beets as an example, you have really four ingredients - beets, cheese, a balsamic-soy dressing, and a little olive oil.  They go so well together and all serve to highlight the sweet richness of the beets.

Of all the dishes, I think the black cod may have been my favorite.  The fish was fully cooked but very moist and tender.  The marinade had highlighted the meatiness of the fish without overwhelming it.  The basil-tomato salsa on top echoed the marinade and the small serving of basil mashed potatoes underneath provide a pleasing starch to accompany the protein. 

As for desserts, there were four on the menu so we ordered the lot and shared.

 Apple tart with Tahitian vanilla gelato and caramel sauce

Fresh seasonal fruit with crème brûlée.  Unlike most crème brûlées the cream sauce was still soft and was not set to a firm texture.  Almost like crème Anglaise poured on top of fruit and briefly torched.

Flourless Valrhona chocolate soufflé cake with coffee gelato.  Cake isn't my favorite and this struck me as just another one, nice but not surprising.

The location on Sawtelle just north of Olympic is convenient and there is inexpensive parking behind the building.  Metered street parking is also available.  Reservations not accepted.

For our first three nights in Los Angeles, we stayed near our friends' house at the Travelodge Culver City.  While I would normally worry about a Travelodge (especially one in a big city) being a bit sketchy, the one in Culver City received really good reviews - lots and lots of "10's" - on TripAdvisor.com.  Sure enough, for about $100 a night, they offered these very large rooms with two king beds (and room for at least one more if they wanted to add it).  A recent remodel had included a lot of thoughtful touches such as ample cabinets, granite countertops and tiling, and even the shower curtain rod that bows out from the tub so the curtain doesn't cling to you.  A surprising find for what is normally considered a two-star hotel.

An even bigger find is the Metro Cafe, a coffee shop that is located in the front part of the hotel.  Guests of the hotel get a coupon good for $5 off at the metro and the Serbian owned restaurant received just as many good reviews as the hotel itself.  It is every bit the kitsch cafe of the 1950s without trying too hard to be that.  In fact, with the solid ceramic coffee mugs, sturdy chairs, and laminate tables, it may just be the real article, still extant.

We had breakfast our first morning there and had we not made arrangement with friends to dine elsewhere during our stay, we would have been very happy to have eaten all our breakfasts there.  The lunch menu looked good and everything I read - and heard first-hand from friends who have eaten at the Metro Cafe - indicates that the dinner is very nice including many Serbian specialties.

After a full night's sleep and a cup of joe, Tawn looks ready to tackle LA.

One item that caught my attention was the French Toast.  Thick slices of fresh brioche were lightly battered and fried on a well-seasoned grill.  Fresh strawberries and bananas were accompanied by a homemade raspberry sauce.  This was one of the most enjoyable French Toasts I've ever had.

Tawn had the eggs benedict, which was unpretentious and expertly executed.  The potatoes were well-seasoned with crisp edges.  Just a really satisfying start to the day.  We're here for another 10 days or so.  I think we really need to come back!

After breakfast we set out to run some errands.  For the two days I will be at work, Tawn will have the car and be on his own, so he wanted to get back behind the wheel in the US, the first time in the more than six years since he moved back.  The car, a Dodge Charger, was a bit more powerful than what he drives at home, but he did a good job getting reacquainted with driving on the right side of the road.  And also scaling back that Bangkok style aggressiveness behind the wheel!

In the afternoon we did some browsing in West Hollywood, sharing a veggie burger and fries at a shop on Santa Monica Boulevard.  The patty was tasty but had no cohesion as a burger, falling apart as we tried to eat it.  The fries were tasty but I prefer the fries at in-n-out burger.  The bun was nice, though.

Tawn and I flew from Bangkok to Los Angeles yesterday, a journey that was about 18 hours gate-to-gate and went pretty smoothly, thanks to the good service of EVA Airways of Taiwan and an upgrade on the transpacific segment to business class. 

In the EVA Airways lounge in Bangkok we had a bite to eat, including this passable pad thai.  Not bad for something that was prepared in advance and was sitting, covered, under the heat lamps.

And ice cream!  Passion fruit and cookies and cream.  That was a nice treat.

Nice view at the gate area at Bangkok Airport in the mid-afternoon sun.

Our flight out of Bangkok was in the premium economy class, which offers about 6 more inches of legroom than regular economy and one fewer seat across the width of the cabin.  Only a little bit more expensive than economy class - and actually similar in price to what US carriers charge for their economy class - and a lot more comfortable.  The food is nicer, too.  This was the dinner served out of B angkok.

Close up of my chicken and rice dish, which was very nice.

Tawn's seafood and noodles wasn't very pretty, although it did taste okay.

In Taipei we visited the EVA Airways lounge, which is available to even their "silver" tier fliers, which is a relatively low bar to achieve.  Two flights from Bangkok to the US is pretty much enough to keep that status.  While in the lounge, Tawn tried some of their congee (rice porridge) which he pronounced was quite tasty.

For the Taipei to Los Angeles segment we cashed in some miles to upgrade to business class, which is a nice way to fly.  Considering I'm not at a point in my life where I would ever consider paying for business class, using miles is about the only chance I have!

Appetizer of smoked duck breast, pate served in a plum, and shrimp.

One of the benefits of being in business class on EVA is that you can pre-order dishes from a special menu available online.  That way you know exactly what you will have to eat.  I ordered lamb chops served with mint sauce, gratineed potatoes and mixed veggies.  Tasty.

Tawn's dish, which he pre-ordered.  A Chinese style sea perch with three types of sticky rice and steamed veggies.  The sauce is made of fermented soybeans.  Tasty.

Fruit plate

Some sort of a cake, served with chopped pistachios.

During the flight, the window shades were closed, lights were dimmed, and in the business class cabin, there are LED "stars" in the ceiling and a cool blue glow.  The idea is that the ceiling lates can gradually change colors to simulate sunset and then sunrise in order to help you adjust your circadian rythm.  However, they change a bit too quickly for that to happen.

Before landing, Tawn enjoyed congee ("jok" or rice porridge) with a variety of condiments.  Compared favorably with the one served in the lounge before the flight.

Made to order latte with a crystal sugar stir stick.  Very nice.

Special ordered "breakfast" shortly before our descent into LA: chicken noodle soup with pickles and side dishes, made by Din Tai Fung restaurant in Taipei.

Coming in over the central coast area of California as the sun's rays grow long on the hills, about 7:40 pm.

Coming in over west Los Angeles, about ten minutes before landing.  We were a few minutes ahead of schedule but, even then, it still took about two hours to get through immigration and customs.  In any case, we're here now!

This dining experience happened nearly a month ago and I'm just now getting around to writing about it.  Since returning from Hawai'i, I feel like there's been a certain amount of delayed reality to my entries, probably due (at least in part) to a very heavy work schedule.  That said, I'm trying to get caught up.

A few weeks back another Singaporean friend invited me to join him for lunch at Santawa, a classic Thai restaurant located on a soi, or alley, back behind the Bangkok Bank headquarters on Silom Road.  We set a date for a holiday so the streets were very quiet as I walked in the blazing sun to the restaurant. 

The restaurant itself is quite well-hidden, despite being right on the street.  There is no English-language sign (and I was working from the English spelling of the name, not the Thai spelling) and even with the sign it is still sort of nondescript.  In fact, I almost walked past it and Kelvin saw me and ran out to catch me before I wandered away.

Santawa has been a fixture of the Silom / Narawathiwat area for decades.  Its primary lunch crowd is local housewives and the proprietress usually ran the show from a designated table near the front of the shop.  Lately, it seems, her health is declined and she is no longer coming in regularly.  Everything else, though, seems to continue unchanged.

Goong gra beuang - Crispy fried multilayered pancake with fresh shrimp and a sweet chili dipping sauce.  Not the highlight of the meal, actually.

Tom kar gai - a coconut-milk based soup that is usually quite mild and bland.  In fact, it is often used as an early food for children.  As you might imagine, it is quite popular with foreigners.  However, I was pleasantly surprised that the broth had a very complex flavor and it was really, really good. 

Kelvin initially thought that Tawn would be joining, making four of us including his Thai friend.  However, Tawn was unable to make it.  When I arrived, Kelvin and and San had already ordered so we had massive quantities of food.  Rice, anyone?

Yam makeua yao - Grilled eggplant served in a sour sauce with ground pork on top.  This is one of those dishes that is a mainstay here in Thailand but is regrettably uncommon in Thai restaurants overseas.  Soulfood Mahanakorn does a neat version of this dish that uses bacon instead of ground pork.  Santawa's original, bacon-less version was still very nice.

Panang curry with pork and heaps of basil leaves.  Panang is one of my favorite types of curry and it, along with Massaman curry, is generally a more accessible type of curry for those not accustomed to Thai-style curries.

Stir fried greens with a salted fish sauce.  Clean, simple, and satisfying with lots of umami.  Salted and fermented fish and shrimp are common ingredients in Thai cooking, not to mention the near-ubiquitous fish sauce, which adds a certain something-somthing to the dishes that, if not added, taste a little flat.

The final dish, one I have never had before, is a duck breast, pounded, breaded and fried, served on deep-fried kale leaves with a mayonnaise like sauce.  It doesn't look as good as it tasted, so you may just have to take my word for it. 

All in all, the restaurant was a pleasure, one of those bits of old Bangkok that have somehow been caught in a time warp and (thankfully) fail to keep up with the times.

When David and Chor Pharn visited from Singapore a few weeks back, they brought some interesting Japanese-made paperclips as a gift.  They were in transportation-themed shapes and made for some fun photographing.  Go macro lens, go!

Train

Bike

Plane

Car

And a box of small airplane paperclips, which looked nice in black and white.

Very thoughtful and fun gift.

I'm more of a morning person and Tawn is more of a night owl.  Last night, as I was lying in bed starting to doze off, he came in and wanted to talk to me about Something Important.  Of course, I ended up being awake, unable to fall back asleep. 

After an hour or more of lying there awake, I got up again and decided to do something productive with my time.  Several hours later, pushing 3 am, I decided I had better take a sleeping pill so I could get some rest.

Unfortunately, I forgot that I had asked my sister to call me in the morning so we could discuss an upcoming vacation.  So at 7:30 my phone rang and I answered it and started my day.

Despite running for 45 minutes in the morning, hoping to get my circulation going, I'm still dragging.  It is 4 in the afternoon and my head aches and my body is tired and I just want to sleep, but I don't want to mess up my sleep cycle this evening so I'm going to try and avoid napping.

Rats.  Usually I'm such a good sleeper, too.  Let's hope this doesn't cause me to get sick before we leave for the US on Thursday.

Not that long ago we were having lunch with a couple we know from California.  They're a straight couple, the husband is a pilot (which is a relatively macho profession, I guess), and they really enjoy the TV show Glee.  The husband was mentioning how much guff he gets from fellow pilots - the vast majority of whom are male - about this.  Of course, the running conceit of the show is that the glee club students keep getting bullied because being in show choir is "so gay".  That got me to wondering, when did the idea of being in glee club become gay?

Consider examples of men singing through the ages: Think of the cowboys who had a guitar or harmonica, singing by the campfire.  Think of the family gatherings a century or more ago where different members of the family would play instruments or sing in the family parlour after dinner to entertain each other.  Think of the famous opera singers with their rich voices.  Think of the bad boys of rock and roll, hip hop, and punk.  Think of Bruce Springsteen, for goodness' sakes. 

None of these strike me as particularly effeminate.  Sure, I can make the jokes about Brokeback Mountain ("wasn't just the harmonica he was blowing...") and there are the occasional Freddie Mercuries and Frankie Goes to Hollywoods as counterexamples.  But for the most part, being a singer was a sure way to get the girls.  So when did glee club in school get this negative association?

The good news is that, in an age when the arts budgets are the first on the chopping block in local school districts, it seems that the TV show Glee has sparked some new interest in show choirs at high schools across the US.  Both my mother and her father were music educators and I'm sure they're happy for anything that renews interest in music at the school level.

Tucked behind the Nai Lert Hotel, alongside the San Saeb canal and underneath an ancient ficus tree, lies a shrine dedicated to the goddess Tubtim.  Originally a spirit house, the place where the spirit of the land (who was disrupted by your building on it) would reside, the shrine evolved over time into an unintentional fertility shrine as more and more worshipers brought offerings of phalluses.  Ranging from the symbolic to the highly realistic, the collection fills the area around the shrine.

While my friend David and Chor Pharn were visiting from Singapore, we stopped by for a look.  Here's a short video to give you a sense of the setting.

A healthy selection of phallus-shaped offerings left around the largest ficus tree at the shrine.  The irony is, sex toys are illegal in Thailand so if you were to try to bring a legitimate dildo into the country, you would be stopped.  By highly realistic phalluses for the purpose of spirit worship?  That's okay.

Some of these phalluses are quite detailed.  And at least one has studs in it, perhaps representing the Folsom Street Fair community?

Normally, spirit houses have some small sculptural figures meant to represent both the spirits as well as those who are there to entertain and serve them.  So many figures have been added that they are arranged on two adjacent shelves.  You can see the San Saeb canal in the background.

The figures include representation of parents as well as a host of animals.

Also, there are more than 100 traditional Thai dancers to keep the spirits entertained.

And, inexplicably, a pair of male dolls.  Barbie's gay brother Eric and his lover Stephen?  The women on the upper shelf are all ladies in waiting.

Who's living in the spirit house?  I spy a kitten!

This one seems to have a fungal infection.  Experiencing any itching or burning sensation?

On a tangential note, I thought I'd share this picture of the jasmine garlands that are sold by local flower vendors.  These are the types of garlands that Tawn and Chor Pharn were trying to make in this entry.

Recently, I was invited to attend a dinner sponsored by WORLDFOODS, a Malaysian based maker of high quality Asian-inspired sauces, marinades, chutneys, and pastes.  I walked away with a bag of several of their 51 different products and a challenge: come up with and blog about new and creative ways to cook with their products. 

The first product I used was their Malaysian Chilli Coconut Marinade.  It was a weeknight and I needed to prepare a quick meal.  One chicken breast and thirty minutes later, I had a tasty protein ready to cook and add to a salad.  There were two things that caught my attention about the marinade:

First, one reason I cook a lot is that I want to know what I'm putting in my body.  Looking at the ingredient list, I was pleased to see familiar, pronounceable words.  No artificial colors, preservatives, flavorings, MSG, or gluten.

Second, the flavor was remarkably good and remarkably authentic.  Unlike a lot of "Asian" products that are watered down versions of popular sauces, the WORLDFOODS products have the same ingredients (and the same amount of chilies!) that you find when eating these foods in their home country.  While available worldwide, you won't find any "Americanization" of the flavors.

Wanting to find ways to use the marinade differently than its traditional use, I put the right side of my brain to work.  The idea I settled on was to do roasted root vegetables, something I associate more with olive oil and rosemary, and use the Chilli Coconut Marinade as a glaze.

I decided on a combination of yams and beets (about 1.5 pounds or 750 grams total), with two yellow onions and a handful of garlic cloves.  These were scrubbed and, except for the yams, peeled.  Then I sliced them into approximately 1-inch (2.5 cm) pieces.

When I cut open the yams I was surprised to discover that they did not have the orange-colored interiors I am familiar with.  Instead, they are purple.  In the end, the flavor wasn't that different, although it did lead to a slightly more monochromatic dish than I had anticipated.

Once the root vegetables, onion, and garlic were combined, I coated them with about 1 cup (200 ml) of WORLDFOODS Malaysian Chilli Coconut Marinade and 1/2 cup (100 ml) of chicken broth.  You can substitute water or vegetable broth, if you wish to keep the dish vegetarian.

The vegetables were poured in an ovenproof dish and then placed in a preheated 350 F (180 C) oven for about 25 minutes, stirring every 5-10 minutes to keep the vegetables coated with marinade.  There is enough marinade that it forms a bit of a pool at the bottom of the dish, helping cook the vegetables by steam as well as direct heat.

Once the yams and beets were getting soft but not yet fully cooked through, I stirred in about 4 cups (90 dl) of kale, washed and cut into wide strips.  The dish returned to the oven for about ten more minutes, enough time to finish cooking the root vegetables while still leaving the kale a little crunchy.  You can cook the dish for longer if you prefer your vegetables softer.

Uncommitted to the idea of this being a fully vegetarian meal, I also pan fried a plate of Northeastern Thai style sausage called Sai Oua, sliced it, and served it on the side.

The end result was very nice.  The marinade had thickened into a nice glaze, coating the vegetables with a sweet, tangy, and spicy sauce which countered the natural sugars in the yams and beets.  The kale provided a fresh contrast that made for a very satisfying meal.

All in all, I'm very pleased with the WORLDFOODS Malaysian Chilli Coconut Marinade and look forward to trying it in other dishes, as well as to trying their other products.

While WORLDFOODS is based in Malaysia, its products are available in major countries across the world including Australia, the UK, the United States, and Canada, as well as most Southeast Asian countries.  To locate a store which carriers their products near you, use this store locator.  In the United States, you can also order WORLDFOODS products for home delivery through MyBrands.com. 

Full disclosure: While I am not being paid or otherwise compensated to write this entry, I did receive the products for free and dinner that night was paid for by WORLDFOODS.  It's important to me that you know that the opinions expressed in this blog are my own and are not bought or paid for by others.

A few days ago, I finally caught the film Certified Copy at the local art cinema.  Directed and written by Iranian Abbas Kiarostami and starring Juliette Binoche and William Shimell, the movie is an afternoon-long discussion by a man and a woman as they visit a Tuscan town.  Their conversation covers a lot of ground and it is never clear whether they are or are not a married couple.

As the story opens, we see that he is an author in town on a Saturday afternoon for a speaking engagement about his new book, in which he argues that copies of masterpieces are as valuable as the originals themselves, in that the copies can bring us to the originals and a greater appreciation of them.  She is in the audience but has to leave early, giving her number to the organizer of the event.  

The following morning, he shows up at her shop and she drives him to a nearby town to see a famous painting there that was, after hundreds of years being assumed to be an original work, determined eventually to be a copy.  It is on that journey that their conversation happens.

I won't talk about the film as a whole, although it is worth watching.  What struck me, so much so that I grabbed a notepad from my bag and scribbled it down, was a phrase uttered by a secondary character. 

The man and woman stop for a coffee at a small shop.  The man steps outside to take a phone call and the old lady running the shop speaks with the woman.  She assumes that the man and woman are married, an assumption the woman does nothing to dispel.  In fact, the woman complains about her husband's long absences for work, propensity to shave only every other day, and his other faults.

The old woman running the shop observes that it is a Sunday morning and the man has taken his wife out for some coffee, whereas most men would instead choose to sleep in.  "It would be stupid of us to ruin our lives for an ideal," she admonishes the woman.

It would be stupid of us to ruin our lives for an ideal.

That line seems a very apt piece of advice, both about relationships (certainly!) as well as our lives in general.  It also seems to balance nicely the entry I recently wrote about being the best possible version of ourselves.  While perfection cannot be achieved and we should certainly strive to be our best, what is the value of striving if the cost is the ruination of our lives?

Quick plug for a Xanga site you may not know about.  It is titled MyWinningPhoto and it holds a weekly photo contest.  A theme is announced, Xangans go out and take photos related to the theme, then the photos are posted in one place and we can vote on them.  Turns out (probably no surprise to you), there are some pretty talented photographers on Xanga.

If you'd like to check out this week's contest, which is on the theme of "yellow", the link is here.

Here's the third video in my "Great Eats in Bangkok" series.  In this chapter, Tawn and I head out for a typical Thai breakfast in our neighborhood, Thong Lo.  While Thong Lo has developed over the years in the "Beverly Hills of Thailand" it is actually still a very local neighborhood with a wide socioeconomic range, various cultures, and everything from Mercedes Benz showrooms to sidewalk vegetable stalls.

Our breakfast consists of two things: jok (congee), a Chinese style rice porridge served with ginger, green onions, a fresh egg, and white pepper; and khao gaeng, a "curry and rice" shop that serves various curries, soups, and stir-fried dishes that you pick and choose from in a "Panda Express" sort of way, but much better.  One thing that was interesting is that we ordered the jok at one shop, then carried the bowl down to the khao gaeng shop, returning the bowl after we were done.

Previous entries:
Vol 1 - Guaytiaw (Rice Noodle Soup)
Vol 2 - Khanom Krug (Rice Flour and Coconut Pancakes)

Not to get on this bandwagon, as I've largely kept myself unplugged from the silliness, but I read an article in the NY Times about how this hooey about the impending end of the world is tearing families apart.  I just have to wonder about something:

On Sunday morning when the true believers wake up and discover that they have not ascended to heaven, will they come to the conclusion that the prophesy was wrong, or will they conclude that perhaps they weren't true believers after all and have just been left behind?

As for the rest of us who are still around, we should hold a "I survived the rapture" brunch at my place.  LOL

One of the nice things about knowing Chow, the author of Bangkok's Top 50 Street Food Stalls, is that I get exciting offers like, "Oh, there's this really good beef noodle vendor on Sukhumvit Soi 16 I've been dying to go back to.  When are you free?"  To paraphrase Renée Zellweger's character in Jerry Maguire, "You had me at beef noodle."

Sukhumvit Soi 16 is this stubby little street near the intersection of Sukhumvit and Asoke Ratchadapisek Roads.  It branches off Asoke about 100 meters down from the main intersection and then forms the back exit for all of the office buildings and condominiums that line Asoke Ratchadapisek Road, overlooking the beautiful Benjakiti Park next to the Queen Sirikit Convention Center.

Lining both sides of the soi at regular intervals are these street vendor stalls, the classic types of Thai street food that hug the street and, where one exists, generally push pedestrians off the footpaths.  Across from the street vendor pictured above, on an unpaved shoulder lined with a masonry wall, we found our beef noodles.

The tables were overflowing and since we had arrived about 1:00, the tail end of the lunch rush, the wizened old uncle who runs the stall told us that he was out of everything but the thin rice noodles and the stewed brisket and beef balls.  We ordered one bowl apiece and one of the other people working there - a relative, no doubt - found us a spot as a table of office workers finished up the last drops of broth in their bowls.

A few minutes later our order arrived: a simple bowl of thin rice noodles swimming in deliciously rich cardamom-flavored broth, with slices of brisket, beef balls, green onions, and bean sprouts.  As we were eating, the uncle came over and apologized that the brisket wasn't as tender as normal - the meat vendor had arrived late this morning so it hadn't stewed as long as he would have liked.  We assured him it was not a problem - and it wasn't - especially as we enjoyed the wonderful broth.

After finishing our noodles and paying - including weak tea we paid something like 28 baht (US$ 1) each.  Chatting with the uncle after the lunchtime rush, he explained that he's been in business at that location for 40 years, gaining his reputation during the Vietnam War with American servicemen who were stationed nearby.

He explained how one building just down the soi, which is now the home of a nice brunch restaurant called Kuppa, was the headquarters for the American FBI.  They found this out when one day a stray soi dog was clipped by a vehicle and was lying in the street, howling in pain.  After a while, an American came out of that building, pulled out a gun, and put the dog out of its misery.  And that, uncle explained, is how they found out the FBI worked there.  Never mind that the FBI was a domestic agency and probably wasn't here in Thailand during the Vietnam War, it was an interesting story that provided a spicy not to the end of our lunchtime adventure.

A year ago today, mobs set fire to various parts of Bangkok in the wake of the breakup by the military of a 40-day long anti-government protest.  Those events, along with a related confrontation in April 2010, resulted in the death of 92 people (13 of those deaths have been attributed to "action by government forces" and if I recall correctly, four journalists were killed including two foreigners.)

The fires, set in at least a dozen locations around the city, resulted in an estimated 24 billion baht in damage (about US$ 950 million) and destroyed several structures including shopping centers, a department store, and one of the city's oldest cinemas. 

As of today, there are more than 130 people identified as participants in the protests who remain jailed, charged but not tried for their crimes.  A Truth and Reconciliation Commission was unable to draw conclusions on many of the points it was asked to examine, including what role the military had in the deaths of protesters.  The commission complained of the military not being forthcoming in providing requested evidence.

About a week ago, the Prime Minister dissolved Parliament and elections will be held 45 days from today.  The only thing that seems certain is that, regardless of the outcome of this election, there will be further unrest from one side or another of the political spectrum.  Whether the unrest is expressed in the same way is unclear.  Hopefully, cooler heads will prevail.

In my coverage of the protests last spring, I received comments from various people passing by my blog, accusing me of being blatantly pro-government or blatantly pro-protesters.  Of course, I have no horse in the proverbial race.  I'm a foreigner living here over the long run, a person who loves Thailand and the Thai people and who wants them to be able to continue to develop as a country and not end up getting caught in the middle income trap.

I leave you with some before and after pictures borrowed from this Bangkok Post story.

The Central World shopping center at the Ratchaprasong intersection, where the protests had been centered.

The burnt-out remains of the Siam Theatre, one of the oldest single-screen cinemas in Bangkok.  Today, the property sits empty, awaiting a redevelopment plan by its land-owners, Chulalongkorn University.

Along Rama IV Road, barricades of tires were set aflame and buildings were looted and burned.

Also along Rama IV Road near the Lumpini Boxing Stadium.

Related reading from my blog:

• Blog entry from last year compiling photos taken as the protests were being broken up and the city started burning.
• Blog entry from last year when I bicycled through the charred remains of the protest site.

This weekend we enjoyed a return visit by David and Chor Pharn, a Singaporean couple who make frequent visits to Bangkok and whose presence at our dining room table made for a very pleasant Sunday brunch and garland making exercise.

We met the two (Chor Pharn is on the left, above, and David is on the right) through another couple we know from Singapore.  In fact, since I met my first Singaporean while in university I've learned that once you know one, you soon seem to know nearly all of them.  Sure enough, once I met Yuen Ping, I met Otto, then Han, then David and Chor Pharn, and the list cascades from there.  Not to mention another two strings' worth of Singaporeans, most of whom seem to know each other or, at the very least, know of each other.  It's a small island, after all.

Having them over for brunch gave me a chance to try some new recipes, continuing to refine an easy-to-prepare brunch menu that doesn't require me to slave away in the kitchen while guests are here.  Above, a beautiful loaf of homemade bread.

As an amuse bouche, I prepared some homemade muesli, served with unsweetened Greek style yoghurt with a slice of canned peach and drizzled with some peach syrup. 

Tawn insisted on using his ice cream goblets that he hand-carried back from Paris.  The coffee was some of the 100% Kona beans I brought back from our March trip to Hawaii.  Perfect for a French press.

From there, we enjoyed plates with a trio of room temperature tastes: a couscous salad with mixed vegetables, pine nuts, raisins, and homemade preserved lemon rind; over roasted Japanese pumpkin glazed with Canadian maple syrup and a sprinkle of black truffle sea salt; and a mixed salad of rocket (arugula) served with a rice wine vinaigrette, shaved Parmesan cheese, and cherry tomatoes.

The warm dish was individual baked egg souffles with sliced pork loin, onions, and jack cheese.

For dessert, we had khao niaw mamuang - sticky rice and mango.  Mangoes are very much at the peak of their season right now.  The garnish is na gung - a shredded coconut that is flavored with shrimp, palm sugar, and kaffir lime leaves.  This may not sound so good, but once it is cooked it becomes the perfect, slightly savory counterpoint to the rich, starchy sticky rice and sweet mango.

After lunch, Tawn and Chor Pharn set up the table to try their hands at an activity that has caught CP's curiosity: making floral garlands, called puang malai in Thai.  (Literally, "bunched together jasmine".)  Used as objects of decoration as well as veneration and welcome - left at shrines or statues, given to teachers, parents, respected elders, and visitors - the puang malai are made of small, fragrant flowers threaded onto a string using a long and very sharp needle.  The above image is taken from Sakul Intakul's book Dok Mai Thai: The Flower Culture of Thailand.  Khun Sakul is one of the masters of the Thai floral arts, an engineer turned floral arranger, and his book illustrates the beautiful designs he creates.

Tawn and Chor Pharn get ready to start, while David and I try to document the occasion and stay far away from the long needles.

A quartet of blossoms: in addition to roses there are, from the left, dok rak (love flower) which is a very sculptural form of jasmine, dok malik (the highly fragrant Arabic jasmine), and dok put (talk flower) also known as gardenia.

Tawn starts arranging the jasmine blossoms in a rotating pattern.  After you get a group done, you thread it onto cotton string.  Traditionally, though, you would use a thread made of banana leaf.

A close-up of the progress, with rose petals folded in half, speared by the needle, then trimmed into shape with scissors.

The work ended up being quite a bit more tedious that expected.  When you watch the vendors at the side of the street you mistake their speed and dexterity for the task of making a phuang malai being easy.  It turns out their speed and dexterity is a result of their skill and experience and they make an intricate art look deceptively simple.