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Sunday, March 17, 2013

Nan’s Saturday market/ถนนคนเดินน่าน

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Nan is a charming town in northern Thailand that, it must be said, has one of the least charming eating scenes in the region.

There are a couple famous northern-style laap places, and the take away food at the evening market looks tasty, but all the restaurants I’ve eaten at over the years serve some pretty abysmal food. (And it isn’t just me: Nan natives have also confided in me that their city’s restaurants suck.)

Luckily, the situation has changed somewhat with the arrival of Nan’s weekly street market.

Just about every provincial capital in northern Thailand is holding a “walking street” market these days. Chiang Mai’s is the biggest, but similar markets can be found in Lampang, Pai, Chiang Rai and Nan. Having been to all of these, I’d say that I like Nan’s most of all. There’s a distinct emphasis on food, and market had at least six vendors selling a pretty interesting spread of local dishes:

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There were even a couple vendors selling unusual local sweets:

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But best of all, those who organise the market have cleverly set up a table with stacks of bowls, dishes and silverware. Simply grab a dish, take it to the vendor, who will fill it for you, then sit down to eat it at one of the northern-style tables shown at the top of the post.

I opted for the vendor at the southernmost end the of the market, and ended up with one of the best meals I’ve had on this trip. There was yam phak heuat, a slightly tart northern-style salad made from the tender leaves (phak heuat; ????????) of a tree one only encounters up north; it doesn’t look that sexy, but this is one of my favourite northern dishes, and this vendor did a really excellent version. There was also nam phrik khua, a deliciously savoury/spicy dip made from garlic, shallots and dried chili:

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So assuming you’re in town on a Saturday, don’t waste your time with restaurants; the Saturday market has finally provided Nan with an interesting, perhaps even charming, place to eat.

Nan’s Saturday market
Th Sumon Thewarat, Nan
Saturday, 6-10pm


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2-year anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake: You can still help

Today, March 11, is the 2nd year anniversary of the earthquake that devastated the north-eastern coast of Honshu, the main island of Japan. I would write many things about it, but I’d like to focus on some ways you can help the victims of the earthquake, besides the usual places such as the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders, that you may not have been aware of.

The Hatachi Fund is non-profit set up to help the children who survived the earthquake. To quote from their site:

The Hatachi Fund is a Japanese financial body that aims to provide ongoing support for education and independence for children affected by the disaster so thatthey can grow into independent twenty-year-old adults who will in turn support society at large (twenty-years-old, hatachi, is the age of maturity in Japan)….

In the near future, even if the towns [devasted by the earthquake] have recovered, even if the schools are repaired, lost family and friends will not return. The children will have a lot of “homework” to get over. But without forgetting the pain of the disaster, if there is someone who can keep giving encouragement – “you are not alone” – over the long term, keep providing kindness, we believe this can be the driving force to get through this trial. And in turn, with the strength due to overcoming this trial, they can become an adult of strength and kindness, and in turn be an ally to help solve the future challenges society will face.

Children who have faced hardship and adversity can become stronger and kinder than anyone. The growth of children affected by this disaster is this country’s new hope. With these thoughts in mind, we established this fund to provide on-going support to children.

Read their complete mission statement. You can donate directly with a Visa or Mastercard credit card in increments of 1,000 yen; or if you’re in Japan, you can make a donation via bank transfer. (I don’t recommend international bank transfers since the fees are ridiculous.) Alternatively, and especially if you’re in the UK/Europe, Japan Centre is holding a Tsunami Art Relief Project event on their online shop, with many attractive items for sale; proceeds go to the Hatachi Fund. I’ve already ordered this pretty cool grafikgraffi ramen tote bag for myself.

graphic_ramen.jpg

I’ve already mentioned this before, it’s still one of my favorite ways to donate to the survivors of the earthquake that are most in need. Unfortunately the pages are all in Japanese, although they are fairly easy to figure out. Here is the list of organizations seeking donations of goods. You just have to add the items to your shopping cart (which can be switched to English on the Amazon site) and place the order - the recipient’s shipping address is auto-inserted.

For example, this is the wish list of a facility in Ishinomaki City that houses many elderly people who are unable to work or move around much. Most of the wished-for goods are things like rice and umeboshi, which I’m sure the residents crave. Just click on the yellow-orange ‘put into shopping cart’ button (the wish lists are laid out exactly as they are on other Amazons). Or if you’re an animal lover, you can buy some things off this wish list from an animal shelter in Fukushima; not only do they use the pet food listed there for animals in the shelter, they also distribute it to local residents who are still in dire financial straits to feed their pets. (If you want translations of other wish lists there, let me know and I’ll be happy to oblige.)

If you think that Japan is a rich enough country to take care of itself, consider just placing a donation with an organization that goes to help out during any world crisis, such as Doctors Without Borders.

I wrote about my thoughts on the one year anniversary a year ago.

And, here’s a rather uh, angrier thing I wrote earlier today on Quora. (It’s there because, honestly, Quora questions about Japan piss me off about a 1000x more than any comments I’ve gotten on JustHungry or JustBento. ^_^;)


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Saturday, March 16, 2013

Japanese Cooking 101: Fresh ingredient shopping list for Week 1

We’ll be starting Japanese Cooking 101: The Fundamentals of Washoku next week. If you’re cooking along with the course as the lessons are listed, this is your shopping list of fresh ingredients. This is in addition to the staple ingredients on this list.

For Week 1 your fresh ingredient shopping list is pretty short. Basically I want you get something that can go into miso soup (omisoshiru) or clear soup (osuimono or osumashi). Here are some suggestions for some classical ingredients, but you can go with something else if you like too.

For miso soup - choose 1 or 2 of the following (you don’t need the whole list):

Potatoes and wakame seaweed (which you have already in your staple list) Soft (silken) tofu, on its own or with wakameCabbageOnionDaikon radish Spinach leavesAburaage (fried tofu skins)

For clear soup - again, choose 1 or 2 of the following; if any of these ingredients are unfamiliar to you, just go with something else:

Green onions (scallions)Wakame seaweed (on your staples list) Mitsuba MizunaSpinach Soft (silken) tofu)Fresh shiitake mushrooms or regular mushrooms Chicken breast meat Kamaboko

If you haven’t gotten all the ingredients on the staples list yet, the ones you will be needing are:

konbu seaweedkatsuobushi (bonito flakes)OR dashi granuleswakame seaweed (if you’ll be using it in your soup)miso

You’ll also need some salt, which I’m going to assume you have anyway. (Any old edible salt will do here, you don’t have to get expensive sea salt or anything unless you want to.)

And that’s it! The first lesson will be posted early next week.


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Japanese Cooking 101, Lesson 1: It's All About the Dashi

Welcome to the first lesson of Japanese Cooking 101! Throughout this course I hope to teach you about the foundations of traditional Japanese cooking or washoku (??), as well as how to cook some Japanese dishes. So let’s get started!

Dashi or stock (often called dashi stock, which is kind of redundant) is the foundation of all savory washoku. It’s not just used in soups; it’s used in everything, from sauces, dressings, as a liquid when stewing vegetables, and more. Without dashi, your Japanese dishes simply aren’t right. If anything, dashi is more critical to Japanese cooking than meat, vegetable and fish stocks are to French cooking.

So what is dashi? Basically it is a liquid that is packed with umami, or glutamates. Umami is an essential part of any savory cuisine, but particularly so in Japanese cooking. It’s not at all surprising that it was a Japanese scientist who invented the purest chemical form of umami, monosodium glutamate (MSG).

While using MSG or a instant dashi powder or granules is very handy, and although the quality of dashi powders have have improved in recent years, dashi made from time-tested, natural ingredients is more rounded and better tasting. The difference between dashi made from instant powder and one made from scratch is like the difference between a bouillon you make with a stock cube and one you make by simmering bones and vegetables for hours.

Luckily for us, the Japanese of yore came up with ways to make whipping up a batch of dashi very easy. Various dried ingredients, mostly from the sea, which can be kept without refrigeration, are used to make dashi quite easily - so much easier than making a meat stock. (I mean, dealing with those icky greasy bones after making chicken or beef stock is not nice.)

Dashi is made from one or two of these ingredients:

jc101-kombu1.jpg

kombu seaweed is a slightly leathery seaweed. It may come in wide sheets, or long ropey strands. kombu is the most widely used dashi ingredient, and has the most neutral flavor of them all. If you are a vegan, a pure kombu dashi is an all-purpose, neutral tasting dashi.

Good kombu is covered on the surface with a fine white powdery substance. Do not wash this off - it’s not caked on salt or dust! It’s full of that umami we want to extract.

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(Note: Many Japanese cookbooks instruct you to wipe the dirt off the surface of kombu with a tightly wrung out kitchen towel. The truth is, this really isn’t necessary in most cases these days, since the kombu we get has already been cleaned very well. If you happen to get a batch with some gritty stuff on the surface you’ll need to wipe it off, but make sure you’re not getting rid of that powdery white stuff in the meantime. If a tiny bit of grit does make it into your dashi you can always strain it off later.)

Also called kezuribushi or okaka.

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Katsuobushi is a bonito fish (katsuo) that has been dried and fermenented to develop a lot of umami. The fish shrinks down and hardens until it’s like a block of wood. This is then grated or shaved into thin flakes, rather like wood shavings. The shavings are used in cooking. Good, fresh pre-shaved katsuobushi is fluffy and yellowish-beige in color with a hint of blush pink. Katsuobushi is the second most common dashi ingredient after kombu. Most of the dashi used around the country in restaurants uses a combination of kombu and katsuobushi.

Katsuobushi is usually available in flaked form, although you can get a whole katsuobushi and a special box grater and grate your own. While freshly shaved or grated katsuobushi is very flavorful, it’s a pain in the ass to grate manually, so most people, including professional cooks, use the pre-shaved stuff. (I’ve seen some electric katsuobushi-shavers sold in Japan, but they’re pretty expensive.)

We won’t be using these ingredients for this lesson, but these items are used in dashi too.

Small dried fish such as nishin or iwashi (???, ???: herrings and sardines) are often used instead of katsuobushi. Some regions of the country prefer them over katsuobushi, and some people just use them because they are cheaper. The dashi made with these don’t taste overly fishy, but are a bit more fishy than katsuobushi. Dried shiitake mushrooms (????) are used for dashi on occasion. The soaking liquid from reconstituting dried mushrooms makes a very strong tasting dashi, which can be used on its own or with kombu dashi.

Simply put, ichiban dashi or first dashi is the dashi you make from fresh (as in previously unused) ingredients kombu and katsuobushi. Niban dashi or second dashi is dashi made from the kombu, katsuobushi and so on that has previously been used for making ichiban dashi. Ichiban dashi is used for things like soups, or when you want the maximum amount of umami possible. Niban dashi is used for things like stewed dishes, when other ingredients like meat and vegetables will add more umami to the dish so a subtler dashi is adequate. Niban dashi is really a way of being frugal with your dashi ingredients.

In this lesson we will be making a standard ichiban (first) kombu and katsuobushi dashi, but I’ll also show you how kombu-only dashi is made.

Long time readers of the site may know that I’ve given you a couple of different ways of making dashi in the past. They all work well, but here I’ll walk you through the method that I think makes the best tasting dashi.

We will making 1 litre, or about 4 U.S. cups of dashi. For this you will need:

10 to 15 grams (1/3 to 1/2 ounce) of kombu10 to 15 grams (1/3 to 1/2 ounce) of katsuobushi 1 litre or 1000 ml / 4 U.S. cups of water plus a bit of extra water (about 100ml or 1/3 cup) to allow for evaporation during cooking

The ratio of water to ingredients: Allow for a minimum of 10 grams of kombu, and 10 to 15 grams of katsuobushi, per 1000 ml(1l) or 4 U.S. sized cups of water. If you’re making a kombu-only dashi, you’ll want to use at least 15 grams. If you don’t have a fairly precise scale, 10 grams of kombu is about a 4 inch square piece - which is the advice I’ve given you previously, and 19-15 grams of katsuobushi is a good handful. Here I used 15 grams of each. If you don’t get the amounts precise don’t worry; since these are all-natural ingredients, you can’t really use too much of it.

Here’s 15 grams of kombu. - about 1 1/2 4-inch / 10 cm squares.

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And here’s 15 grams of katuobushi - a generous handful:

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Set aside the katsuobushi. Put the kombu and water in a pan and leave it to soak for at least 30 minutes. You can leave it in the water for up to a day in the refrigerator, if you want to do the soaking step in advance.

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If you want to track how the dashi progresses, take a small sip of the liquid after the kombu has been soaking in it for a while. You should taste just a hint of the sea already. The surface of the kombu will have turned a bit slippery.

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Put the pan on the hob and turn up the heat. Bring it to a boil, then lower the heat.

If you are making a kombu-only dashi, keep the pan on a barely-there low simmer for 30 minutes. Check the water level and add a bit more if it seems to be evaporating too fast.

IF you are making a kombu-katsuobushi combination dashi, simmer the kombu for 10 minutes, then turn off the heat.

Again, if you want to track the progress of the dashi, taste it at the 5, 10 and (if you’re going for kombu-only dashi) the 30 minute stages. You’ll notice that the dashi is getting gradually stronger in flavor, tasting like the sea. You should notice the umami even at the 5 minute mark. Kombu-only dashi barely has any color.

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To make a kombu-katsuobushi combo dashi: After 10 minutes of simmering, add the katsuobushi, and turn the heat off.

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Let the pan sit for a few minutes (about 10 minutes) until the katsuobushi sinks to the bottom of the pan.

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Strain off the liquid, using a fine-mesh sieve.

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Don’t throw away the used kombu and katsuobushi! We’ll be using that in a later lesson, so put it in a plastic bag and store it in the freezer.

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The dashi will have a pale golden color. Give it a taste - you’ll notice the katuobushi, but it won’t be unpleasantly ‘fishy’; it will be like a very light bouillon without the salt.

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At this point the dashi can be used right away, or stored well covered for a few day in the refrigerator. You can also freeze it - putting it in ice cube trays is a handy way of doing this.

Tomorrow I’ll show you how to turn this dashi into two kinds of soup: clear soup called osumashi or osuimono, and misoshiru or miso soup.

While dashi made from natural ingredients tastes the best, it may be difficult of not impossible to get the raw ingredients like kombu seaweed and katsuobushi in some parts of the world. In that case using instant dashi stock granules is fine, and certainly better than using straight MSG or nothing at all. And to be brutal, most Japanese restaurants around the world do not make dashi from scratch; they use the granules, (Once you know the taste of ‘real’ dashi, you’ll soon be able to tell when a restaurant isn’t using it.)

A complaint I hear sometimes about dashi made from dashi granules is that it is ‘fishy’. While they do have some fish flavor (and the granules themselves, especially certain brands, can smell rather fishy) since they are made from katuobushi extract and such, I suspect that one problem is that people are using far too much of it. You only need to use about 1 teaspoon per 4 cups (1 liter) of water, or 1/4 teaspoon per cup.

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Dashi, whether made from granules or from scratch, is not meant to be used on its own; it is meant to be a flavor enhancer, not the entire flavor. You add other ingredients like salt, soy sauce, sake and so on to the dashi to “complete” the flavors. So trying to make add enough dashi granules to water or other liquid to make it ‘strong’ will not turn out well at all.

When you use dashi granules start with a small amount, add the other flavors and then add a bit more if you think it really needs it. Tasting as you go along is the best way to cook something you’re unfamiliar with.

Dashi granules that come in pre-portioned packages like these are handy if you can’t remember the dosage. These little sealed packages tend to keep better too.

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But again, if you can get the real ingredients, please try to make dashi the proper way at least once, so you can know what it’s supposed to taste like.


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Fuji Television has formally cancelled the new Iron Chef

Just a short, sad update: as I reported earlier, the excellent revival of the legendary Iron Chef (Ryouri no tetsujin) program has been a flop, with very low ratings (as low as 5% of the viewing total in its time slot). On March 1st, Fuji Television formally announced that it will cease airing as of the end of March. (Source: various Japanese news sources, e.g. here)

I really liked the new Iron Chef, so I’m so sad about this. Oh well.


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Kuaytiaw Khua Pet/ก๋วยเตี๋ยวคั่วเป็ด

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A while back, I blogged about the stalls and restaurants serving kuaytiaw khua kai, wide rice noodles fried with chicken and egg, near Bangkok’s Phlapphlachai five-way intersection. I mentioned three places in that post, but was aware at the time that there were a few more vendors selling the dish. In particular, I’d noticed one vendor selling kuaytiaw khua pet, a previously unknown variant using duck.

Eventually I made it back, and after a few visits, this version of the dish might now be my favourite.

The dish is sold at the head of the narrow and nameless alley that leads to Nay Hong (my former favourite):

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Kuaytiaw khua kai is undeniably a noodle dish, but in this part of town it’s prepared a lot like a pancake: after cooking the noodles on one side (in lard, over coals, of course), with a minimum of stirring or mixing, the vendor flips the entire thing over in one go:

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allowing the other side to cook, again, without stirring or breaking it up. The result is a crispy, fatty, salty and smokey disk of noodles and egg. For the duck version, the meat is cooked in advance by frying it in lard; it’s then prepared the same way as the chicken version, except that crunchy preserved squid — thankfully, if you ask me — doesn’t feature. (Andy Ricker has fantasised about a decadent duck version using duck fat and duck eggs — keep your eyes peeled at Pok Pok Phat Thai.)

Adjacent is a stall that does pretty good fruit shakes; I recommend the watermelon.

Kuaytiaw Khua Pet
Off Th Yukhon 2, Bangkok
5-10pm Sat-Thurs


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Salted Caramelized Walnuts Recipe

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February 26, 2013Salted Caramelized Walnuts Recipe

Salted caramelized walnuts

Walnuts look like brains and I read of an old Chinese beliefthat if you eat them, you may get smarter! Whether or not you subscribe to thatidea, you must try these walnuts.They are so cleverly done – soaked to remove their tannins (the stuff thatmakes you pucker) and then oven roasted to slowly cook them. The nuts can sitfor days until an hour or so before you’re ready to serve.

The final cooking in a skillet coats the nuts with adelicate touch of salt and sugar. While it’s dead simple, remember to watch theskillet temp or the nuts can burn. The refined flavor remains intact, deliciouswith drinks or even cheese for a cross-cultural approach.

I made these Chinese walnuts for a Lunar New Year dinner party and guests ate most of them up, along with a bunch of dumplings as appetizers. Then I made another batch just for myself to eat! 

Salted caramelized walnuts draining
Salted caramelized walnuts baked
How are these like the fried candied walnuts that we usuallythink of as Chinese treats? They're better, more elegant. I found the recipe in one of my favorite cookbooks,TheModern Art of Chinese Cooking by Barbara Tropp. There are no photos,just some illustrations in that book. Her charming, enthusiastic prose anddetailed instructions encourage you to cook and experiment. If you have room onyour shelf for another Chinese cookbook, that’s a nice one for discoveries likethis:

RECIPE

Salted CaramelizedWalnuts

Makes 2 cups

Ingredients

8 ounces (225g) walnuts, mostly plump halves preferred2 teaspoons canola oil1/2 teaspoon kosher salt2 tablespoons sugar

Instructions

Put the walnuts in a bowl, then cover with just-boiledwater. Let sit to soak for 30 minutes. Drain, pat with paper towel to removeexcess moisture.Preheat the oven to 300F with a rack in the middle position.Line a baking sheet with 2 or 3 sheets of paper towel. Arrange the walnuts ontop in a single layer. Bake for 30 minutes to gently dry and roast. Cool andstore in an airtight container for up to several days.About 1 hour before serving, heat the oil in a large skilletover medium heat. Add the walnuts and heat to warm, stirring and/or shaking thepan frequently. When the nuts are shiny and little oil is left in the skillet,sprinkle in the salt. Continue stirring and shaking to heat but not burn thenuts. If you fear burning, lower the heat.When the salt is no longer visible, add the sugar in 3 or 4batches, shaking and stirring in between each and waiting till the sugar hasmelted and coated the nuts. Eventually, you’ll see a bit of smoke as the sugarcaramelizes. Be more vigilant and keep stirring and shaking. When all the sugarhas melted and there are little brownish-red bubbles in the skillet, turn offthe heat. Total cooking time is about 5 minutes.Dump the walnuts onto a piece of parchment or a clean bakingsheet. Cool to warm or room temperature. Break apart any nuts that stucktogether. Eat. These are best within an hour or so of being roasted. If you have leftovers, store in an airtight container or zip-top bag. Warm in the microwave oven or skillet over medium heat to refresh.Posted in Recipes: All, Recipes: Appetizer and Snack, Recipes: Chinese, Recipes: Gluten-Free , Recipes: Vegan, Recipes: Vegetarian |

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Comments Salted Caramelized Walnuts Recipe

Salted caramelized walnuts

Walnuts look like brains and I read of an old Chinese beliefthat if you eat them, you may get smarter! Whether or not you subscribe to thatidea, you must try these walnuts.They are so cleverly done – soaked to remove their tannins (the stuff thatmakes you pucker) and then oven roasted to slowly cook them. The nuts can sitfor days until an hour or so before you’re ready to serve.

The final cooking in a skillet coats the nuts with adelicate touch of salt and sugar. While it’s dead simple, remember to watch theskillet temp or the nuts can burn. The refined flavor remains intact, deliciouswith drinks or even cheese for a cross-cultural approach.

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Friday, March 15, 2013

Japanese Cooking 101: Ingredients and equipment list for Lesson 2

For Lesson 2, we are going to cover the all-important subject of cooking rice. So, from the list of pantry ingredients for the course, you’ll need:

Japanese type rice (uncooked) - this is your one and only critical ingredient for the week. Please read the instructions on the pantry list post carefully for exactly what to get. A packet of microwave rice - as a baseline for what Japanese rice should look, feel and taste like

You’ll also need the following equipment:

A fine-mesh sieve, as described on the pantry list postA bowlA rice paddle is not critical, but handy to haveA cooking implement for cooking the rice, which can be one of the following: A rice cookerA heavy bottomed pot, like a cast iron pot, with a tight fitting lid _ A large (at least 10 inches or 25cm diameter) frying pan, with a tight fitting lid

If you’d like to try the bonus how-to, how to prepare proper sushi rice, you will also need:

rice vinegarsalt and sugardashi as prepared in Lesson 1, or dashi granules, or kombu Equipment: a sushioke or handai (a large, wooden bowl for mixing sushi rice) is ideal, but a large bowl will do too. Plus a rice paddle and a handheld fan or a hairdryer.Plus toppings of your choice, such as smoked salmon and cucumber, or some sashimi-grade tuna or other sashimi-grade fish.

And that’s it! It should be a very interesting lesson!


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137 Pillars House, Chiang Mai

137 Pillars House137 Pillars House pictures (1 of 9)

My Thai Sojourn in December 2012 with Baby G began in Bangkok, the heart of Thailand. From there, we tracked the fragrance of the “Rose of the North,” landed ourselves in Chiang Mai, the fifth largest city of Thailand that bears great historical and cultural significance. And my quest during my stay in Chiang Mai was to explore and understand as much as I could its heritage, culture and history. For that, I chose to stay in 137 Pillars House, a luxury boutique hotel with a rich and unique historical past. A quick search on 137 Pillars House will tell you that it was originally a large teak wood house built in 1889 as part of the East Borneo Company headquarters, restored to recreate its former glory and to perpetuate its fabled history.

Besides its intricate past, 137 Pillars House totally captures my fascination with smaller, hence exclusive hotels that offer greater intimacy and privacy. In its 30 carefully designed suites that capture the old world charm and elegance of the Orient in their own distinctive ways, the guests get to re-live the elegance of the past in the comfort of the present. The beautiful airy garden, bamboo tree-lined pathways, decks, ponds, and century-old banyan trees further add to the exclusivity and upper-class vibes of this gorgeous and luxurious hideaway.

The Rajah Brooke Suite we stayed in was quite possibly one of the best suites I have experienced. It comes with a poster king size bed and provides all the basic amenities for a relaxing stay, with a touch of class. What captivated me was the extended vintage tiled veranda that gave me such expansive view of the swimming pool and the Grand Lawn. I could sit there for hours just soaking in the beauty of the vine-covered wall that lines the shimmering aquamarine pool, giving it a dramatic yet natural sheen of green.

My toddler son really enjoyed frolicking in the free-standing Victorian bath in the suite while I reveled in the clear blue sky and lush greenery in the outdoor garden shower. I also traded my planned adventure at the elephant safari and meeting with the long neck beauties in the Karen Village for more relaxing time at my suite, with a butler and a concierge ever ready at our service. Not to forget that the housekeeping team was tip-top. Our suite was cleaned at least twice a day. Impressive!

Just to not feel guilty of not seeing enough of Chiang Mai, we made it a point to take a leisure walk to the riverside of Mae Ping (Ping River) to check out the dizzying array of riverside cafés, eateries and art galleries. Sipping tea and sampling scrumptious petits fours at one of the riverside cafés looking at the boats slowly cruised down the river aptly defined our relaxing and charming afternoon.

Though we didn’t do much of what tourists would usually do during their visits to Chiang Mai, 137 Pillars House compensated us with adventures of another kind. We enjoyed the tranquility of walking along the quiet tree-lined roads near the hotel, exploring the Wat Gate neighborhood, and surprised by the sight of a grand Muslim school, stumbled upon a busy Muslim market bustled with the typical activities of local Muslim community hawking fresh fruits and other local fares. Our little adventures were made very pleasant and comfortable by the cool weather of Chiang Mai. On top of that, the night before we checked out, we ran into Giada, the celeb TV Chef at the nearby night market. We were also very lucky to have the opportunity to watch MUET – a dance performance by the 18 Monkeys Dance Theatre and choreographer Jitti Chompee held at our hotel. Baby G was so entranced by the performance that he sat quietly throughout the entire performance, which was really rare!

If you are considering visiting Chiang Mai and experiencing 137 Pillars House for yourself, its Indulgent All-inclusive Package (valid till 31 October 2013) can be a very attractive offer. And if you happen to be in Chiang Mai from February to 31 March 2013, you also have the delight to feast your palette on the exquisite 9-course Degustation Dinner created by the hotel’s Executive Chef Jaiphak at its newly opened fine-dining restaurant, Palette, while appreciating the Nouveau Asian Art exhibits tastefully displayed at the restaurant. I was lucky to have sampled Chef Jaiphak’s food during my stay there—the rich and creamy tasting foie gras and perfectly seasoned tuna tartare still lingered in my mouth…

Even though I did not get to see all of Chiang Mai like a tourist should, experiencing Chiang Mai through 137 Pillars House has given me a chance to interpret Chiang Mai from a more personal, intimate, hence creative perspective. From the veranda of my suite, I saw tranquility and peace, the elixir for mind, body and soul. Isn’t that what we look for in our vacations? Well, I found mine at 137 Pillars House, Chiang Mai.

137 PILLARS HOUSE, CHIANG MAI

2 Soi 1, Nawatgate Road,
Tambon Watgate,
Muang Changmai,
50000 Thailand
Tel: +66 53 247 788
Fax: +66 53 247 780
Email: stay@137pillarshouse.com
Website: www.137pillarshouse.com

PALETTE

Tel: +66 53 247 788
Fax: +66 53 247 780
Email: fbm@137pillarshouse.com


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