Pak Bung Fai Daeng

An essential dish, both in home style cooking and at restaurants. Pak Bung (in English : Water Spinach or Water Morning Glory, in Bahasa Indonesia : Kangkung) is a very common vegetable in Thailand, as well as other South East Asian countries.

It is very easy to make at home, in Indonesia the leaves are usually stir fried with chili and garlic, my Mom in Bali will add terasi bakar / belacan, virgin coconut oil and jeruk limo with the previous 2 (the concoction called bumbu plecing), it is my childhood favorite. But in Thailand I am crazy over Pak Bung Fai Daeng, it is stir-fried with oyster sauce or soybean paste, garlic and chillies. To cook something “Fai Daeng” in Thai means over a really hot fire. The result is an absolute delish, the first item in my food order whenever we are eating out in any Thai Restaurant, just loved it !!!

Celebrating Queen's Birthday

We attended candle light ceremony in the hotel yesterday to celebrate Her Majesty Queen Sirikit birthday and to offer blessings and prayers for the Queen. She was born on August 12, 1932.

Like the King's, her birthday is a national holiday and is also Mothers' Day in Thailand.

Her Majesty Queen Sirikit

People across the country lit candles at 7.29pm

Little Miss, fascinated by the power of microphone

Can you spot us ?

Celebrating Mother's Day at Angelini with friends

Durian

Durian @ Bang Rak Market

The "king" of fruit in Southeast Asia, it has distinctive odor, an acquired taste and also banned in some establishment. Although the fruit is not native to Thailand, the country is currently one of the major exporters of durians in the world. Peak durian season in Thailand is between May to August, you can find them easily in supermarket or any corner of open market.

Currently I'm crazy about durian pancake served in one of the Chinese restaurant here in Bangkok, it has faint odor and smooth creamy texture, perfect ending of a great supper. Note to self, must go for another pancake or two before the month end.

Chatuchak Weekend Market

This is our 3rd visit to Chatuchak (or Jatujak) weekend market in Bangkok, it is the largest market in Thailand. Simply called J.J. by Bangkokians, it covers over 35 acres (1.13 km²) and contains upwards of 5,000 stalls but most stalls only open on Saturdays and Sundays. You can find wide variety of products including household items, clothing, Thai handicrafts, religious artifacts, collectibles, foods, plants and live animals in here.

The market is adjacent to the Kamphaengphet station of the MRT Bangkok Blue Line, or about a 5-minute walk from the Mo Chit station of the BTS Skytrain Sukhumvit Line and another MRT station of Suan Chatuchak (Chatuchak Park). But we always use the taxi to go and back home, it is faster (since the taxi use the highway) and cost the same for the 3 of us, just being practical .

By now we know to carry essentials only for market visit (cash, wet ones, hat and fan) and dress as comfy as possible, no matter what time of the day we went the heat at some point will be unbearable ! The good thing, plenty options to hydrate your body (freshly squeezed juice, popsicle, cold sliced fruits, cold drink stalls), naturally we choose the one that is busy with customers (this also works for choosing place to eat).

After walking for half an hour we saw tiny stall selling only black grass jelly (Cincau Hitam in Indonesian) known in Thai as chao kuai and is commonly served relatively plain together with ice and natural brown sugar. In some place they also being served with Jackfruitt or mixed together with other Thai desserts. I preferred them plain with no sugar but Little Miss will gradually adjust the taste to her liking, as you can see in the photo below ....

 

Honestly, I haven't seen the market completely, out of 3 visits so far I think I've seen 1/3 of it only. In the beginning our Little Miss dislike open market / bazaar, she preferred supermarket with blasting AC anytime but I've been taking her to so many open market here in Bangkok I supposed she start getting used to the tropical heat, also we have quite numbers of fan collected by her solely for market visit purpose *grin*

One of our favorite thing to do is eating in the market, we're a bit careful choosing where to eat since Little Miss has nuts allergy but so far so good, we've been lucky to find places that is both delicious and save for the whole family. This time around we ate at Dinphow Cuisine (Sector 4, Soi 1) they served delicious Vietnamese food at very reasonable price, we'll definitely going back next time !!!

My fave : Spicy Pork Satay @ Dinphow Cuisine





Little Miss loves their Shrimp Spring Rolls



One happy girl at lunch time

From this trip I got myself a pair of ballerina pumps and Lemon Grass diffuser for our home, Little Miss got several outfits, purse & other knick knacks and Hubby just happily tag along playing tourist. 

The weekenders in JJ

Stay tune for more market visit and beautiful images of Bangkok. 

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

My daughter favorite, we baked it every single week within this month of July :o)

Below recipe is my preferred concoction (less sugar and less butter compared to the original recipe), make sure your oven temperature is correct and voila ... home baked cookies for everybody to enjoy !


Ingredients

* 1 1/4 stick butter, room temperature
* 1/2 cup white sugar
* 3/4 cup brown sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon coarsed salt
* 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
* 3 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions :

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Prepare cookie sheets.

2. In a mixer, cream together the butter, white sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Sift in the flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder; mix well. Stir in the chocolate chips. Roll tablespoonfuls of dough into balls and place them one inch apart onto the prepared cookie sheets.

3. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for couple of minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

4. Keep in airtight container up to 1 week.