It's a Woofy day!

is a proud auntie

2010-05-17T12:39:00.000-07:00

my first nephew was born 2 days ago!
I got the news a bit late because everyone was so busy with the preparation, hospital and all.
Even the proud daddy, my brother missed the birth experience when taking his breakfast, a bowl of porridge. LOL!

I have been calling him "petit mbe" a mix of french and slang bahasa language which means "small goat". Why? Because there were times when his daddy stank like goat!

I browsed for a flight ticket back the moment I got the news only to realize that my passport is still in process for schengen visa in Phnom Penh's France embassy! ARGH! well, it's life, I'll just have to wait until everything's settle by itself.

Those who knows me, know well enough that I DON'T LIKE BABY or KIDS but that's all what i will write down about them, otherwise it will be too gory and even offensive.

but this creature, this 1 particular baby who are hundreds of miles from me, oddly touch my heart ... It's soo weird that I feel an attachment and affection for this magical creature. weird, odd, strange and a bit creepy ... well, after all, we human are weird and follows our instinct

super bike in hanoi

2010-05-10T12:10:00.000-07:00

Finally got some time to dig my messy photo filling and look what I found!
The super motorbike in Hanoi. I remember the risk I took for this picture, see the silver car on the right? That car almost hit me while I took this picture but really, that was daily risk for each and every pedestrian lives in Hanoi (or whoever take a walk on the street). I'm not exaggerating, just look at the size of whatever red thing on the back of the bike (it's a drum by the way).

Angkor re-visited

2010-05-08T06:56:00.000-07:00

The famous Angkor Vat, a hindu temple complex at Angkor, about 5 km away from our house.
Built on the 12th century by Suryavarman II . As a representation of mount meru, home of the gods, this temple moat and outer wall is 3.6 Km long, encloses a space of 820.000 square metres.

Dry season is the best time to visit the temple complex as stairs and stones can be slippery (and well, really, you don't want to get caught on the rain storm here). The best way is to cycle around the temple with a rented bike and finish the day by loading the bicycle to a tuk-tuk as the hot daytime could really wore you off (or turn you into a living walking red lobster).

For those who has made a visit to Borobudur or whatever candi in Indonesia. I would kindly warn that those candi, are like a tiny spot compares to the size of this humongous structure.

This is the 4th visit for me and the 1st for bouh's
His first comment was : ah, oui, I feel small ...
well, as a 2 meters tall ogre, that's really something.

This picture taken on the 3rd level of 1 of the temple in angkor complex.
I thought that would be the last stairs, but hell I was wrong there was 1 more level after this climb!

Next move is Siam Reap

2010-05-02T12:33:00.000-07:00

Another move, we packed and ready for 1 year in Siam Reap.
A picnic in angkor temple on sunday evening awaits us!

This time's a bit overweight >..< with my new scanner and stack of books from Kinokuniya.
Perhaps it is time to consider Ipad?

How to eat in Bangkok

2010-04-26T11:54:00.000-07:00

Starving ... as usual, I'm all stomach ...

*found a food stalls with a plate of some fried balls for 30 baht ...

*took a look closer on what's gonna be on the plate, looks fine, some fried rice balls and perhaps slices of onion and sausages.

*ordered a plate and the lady rustled it up ...

*Bon appetit ! It was a bit sour, but still edible ...

*Hmm, curious of what I ate ... I went to the stalls and looked up on the sign ...

.......... HOLY COW!!!!

so, yeah how to eat in bangkok, never see the sign beforehand, otherwise you'd end up with starvation .... merde, I just swallowed some red ants eggs (hopefully it's a silly literal translation and not the real thing)

a day in the park

2010-04-25T11:44:00.000-07:00

away from the madness and away from the noise ...
escaping reality that includes grenades and dead people.

Apart from the BTS got closed after 7pm, it's amazing how the other part of bangkok are not in the slightest affected by the political turmoil, life go on as usual ... (sans siam paragon,argh!)

what's in the middle?

2010-04-24T11:30:00.000-07:00

one day, one of these day, curiosity will kill the dog ...

You want democracy? I just want the malls to be open!
I need to stock up on some art supplies from that bleeding malls!

pineapple fried rice

2010-04-23T12:31:00.000-07:00

The classic touristy restaurant. Pineapple fried rice topped with raisins and decorated with orchid flower , fresh cold coconut juice, spring rolls with salads and slices of chillies, fried prawn balls with sweet lemony sauce.

crispy chicken skin

2010-04-22T12:14:00.000-07:00

crispy fried chicken skin! oily oily oily and spicy!
the vendor open her stalls every evening in front of our apartment complex, I had been bracing myself for a try and actually .. it tasted good, quite similar with Indo style crispy chicken skin, just a bit spicy on the sauce.

ah, bouh couldn't stand it .. its stink and too oily for him.

la la land

2010-04-21T11:35:00.000-07:00

me totally absorbed in my own world with my imaginary friends
some call it woofyworld or la la land but Bouh call it "in need of mental doctor"

back and forth

2010-04-20T11:04:00.000-07:00

Found this photos in my messy photo folders and couldn't resist posting it.
This are some (not even half) of the tickets I collected back in the day when I had to fly back n forth, hundreds of miles, on d weekend, to meet up with Bouh.

It was one of the toughest ride, after the bleeding long hours
of working days and had to spend hours of waiting in d airport.

Khlong Thoey - river taxi

2010-04-18T11:22:00.000-07:00

Khlong Thoey - river taxi

The cheapest way to get around when compared to BTS/MRT but at your own risk and it stinks!
It is also a bit tricky to know the exact price to get from one point to the other.

Oh also, nowadays, it's probably the easiest way to get around with all those red shirt around because BTS are now randomly closed, depends on the red shirts mood.
BTS line : hi red shirt people, how do you do today?
red shirts : fine, we are happy with the heat and sitting down all day
BTS line : oh excellent, we don't need to close down the BTS today

pfftt ...

no pity on songkran

2010-04-15T11:37:00.000-07:00

no running, no pity and no tolerance whether you are carrying a map/camera ...
you'd get wet either way.

Poor bouh, he got chased by a bunch of giggling Thai girls with a bucket of water, seriously, a BUCKET of water!

In "the bruges" movie, you call those kind of girls, dangerous girls with weapon, a slightly different specimen and you are are entitled to punch them.

Chatuchak on week days

2010-04-14T12:04:00.000-07:00

the famous chatuchak market on weekdays is converted into a plants market, really great for garden enthusiast. I was wondering though, where did they put all those trees on the weekend when the market sells souvenirs, clothes, trinkets and any other thing imaginable. Perhaps I didn't browse thoroughly enough to find their trees hidden spot.

Wat Phra Kaew

2010-04-12T23:14:00.000-07:00

honestly, i don't remember the name, the only word that sticks is the Wat (temple). It was my second time there but I still was fascinated by those murals. It's amazingly detailed and constantly renovated (hm, is that supposed to be a good thing?)

here's a picture of a monster looking at an ancient monster:

Thailand declared State of Emergency

2010-04-11T12:40:00.000-07:00

hmm, back in Bangkok and found out that the BTS and shopping malls has been closed.

The political rally has turned violent with 18 death, a reuters cameraman was shot death in a violent clash between the Thai troops and anti-goverment protesters.

Thai troops fired rubber bullets, tear gas and allowed to fire live round into air.
Bouh stop me from going out to take some pictures, I got a Bouh's travel warning, the same as those 43 countries that issue a travel warning for Thailand.

umm, yep, those are the protester's guns, although without the bullets it is still not the tools for a negotiation.

I wonder what's going to happen next week during the "supposed to be fun" songkran festival (water festival, when people on the street splash water to each other).

"moto'bike miss?"

2010-04-07T07:07:00.000-07:00

I arrived yesterdday in Phnom Penh, cambodia to apply for a 1 year cambodian visa.
In no less tha 24 hours here, I already got hundreds of tuk-tuk/moto'bike driver offering their service wherever I walk. "moto'bike miss?" " where you want go miss?" "miss?" "miss?".
A constant hassle in every step I took, every minute I spent without my ipod and it really gets me, it's just extremely annoyed me to the point of, I have to spit this out.

I also realized that I had unconciously browsed for flight ticket out, a try to find an escape port (if there's any ..). I was here 2 years ago, stopping by for a couple of days and I remember that it was too much to take. I simply can't stand the place.

The good news is, I'll be out from this madness in the next 2 days (gee, still 2 days!). I probably going to spend those 2 days, coop in the room and loathe every minutes of it.

The bad news is, next month we'll be moving to Siam Reap, Cambodia for 1 year.
I faintly hope it will be a better place.. faintly. we'll see ... perhaps, I overworked and tired, one too many to handle.

potentially explosive

2010-03-30T07:10:00.001-07:00

I can say that I'm not an explosive girlfriend, I've done my time being one of that kind of monster. Well, to bad for my ex, they did have the best of my monstrous side when only with a little spark, I could cause a nuclear explosion sans mushroom cloud.

This evening, I found my other explosive potential.

First of all, It's amazing how I can still stubbornly try to cook with a tiny kitchen, that is if you still call a microwave and a sink as a kitchen.
However, I still want a nice breakfast with eggs and make some good, proper salad for dinner. After the umpteenth time of going back and forth to 7-11 to buy a cold boiled egg, I decide to cook my own and buy a tiny equipment for microwave boiled an egg. I bought "the thing" because microwaved boiled an egg can be risky as it can easily explode.

I swore that I followed the direction, 5min on 350watt microwave setting for a hard boiled egg, filled the water on the bottom and so on ... but perhaps, I missed out on something, after all, I didn't really believe that "the thing" would work. It did magically work for the first and second time .. but not this evening.

This evening, I explode the egg, it went off with a loud KABOOM!
and really, I wouldn't be happy if I was the neighbour.

Shocked as I was, I instantly tweeted about the explosion and to make it worse, in less than 2 minutes, Bouh called from his office just to check on me. He was worried that I got an injury from the explosion (or perhaps worried for the microwave and the room).

At that very moment, I can see the dark smoky cloud on the horizon,
my upcoming faith, to be labeled as a potentially-microwave-explosive girlfriend.

how to train your baby dragon

2010-03-29T18:35:00.000-07:00

The last time we watched 3D movie was Alice in Wonderland by Tim Burton. It was okeyish but not impressive, I felt that he failed to bring us into the realm of Wonderland. I think the point of paying more and tiring my brain with 3D movie is to experience another world, a world that used to only exist in a dream. As dream is the only time when fairies, mad hatter and dragon are real.

After a lot of persuasion, Bouh succeed in dragging me to watch another 3D movie. I was merely bored and need to watch a good movie because it's been a month that we live without a DVD player and hardly survive with the star movies program which has been playing the same "Paris Hilton movie" over and over.

We were skeptical with "how to train your dragon" by dreamworks but sure that it worth more than watching "Green Zone" in 3D.

Well .. how can I describe how it was ... humm ...
The dragon are extremely cute, the story flows really well, cute character design and the 3D experience was impressive!
I screamed, shrieked and laughed on my seat. I was so absorbed in the movie and forgot to behave and keep a straight face. I was still giggling when we Walked out from the studio, toothless is over-cute!

... and yeah, since then, I've been playing with my imaginary baby dragon.
I keep my toothless under the bed and we fly out when Bouh is out working.

My baby toothless, I drew this last night with tablet.

Here is the concept art of How to train your dragon :

pattern and colours

2010-03-26T17:59:00.000-07:00

look at the beautiful pattern and colours, it's my new fabric collection!
I'm going to make some plushies, pouch and ... I don't know, I'm not sure what else, I"m too excited .. any idea?

Pad thai on the street

2010-03-24T13:14:00.000-07:00

Pad Thai is a dish of stir fried rice noodles with fish sauce, tamarind juice, combined with bean sprouts, chicken/eggs/shrimp and garnished with crushed peanuts, coriander and lime.

As one of Thailand's national dishes,
it's fairly easy to spot a Pad Thai vendor on Bangkok's street
and a portion of street Pad Thai is around 20-35 THB (less than a dollar).

I spotted this vendor on soi Ram Buttri and he cooked the Pad Thai in less than 5 minutes, amazingly fast but was also left me clicking madly on my camera.

almost as fast as the lighting speed!

et voila ...
a 5 minutes Pad Thai topped with crushed peanuts and spicy dried shrimp.

which drawers?

2010-03-23T07:33:00.000-07:00

have anyone ever ask you, in which drawer did you put this or that?

I can say that sometimes, I'm a bit too organized in storing stuff, every tit bits are stored in separate zip lock and labeled (do I start to sound psychotic?)

On the contrary, Bouh .. is a bit of a mess, he basically throw stuff into a drawer and dare to claim that he is decently organized.
Bouh : where did you put my sock?
Me : on the dresser next to the entrance d0or, second drawer ...
Bouh: huuuh ... ? which -what - where ?

I came across this brilliant yet artful dresser from Anthropologie

hmmm .. but then, I'm sure Bouh will ask .. which dresser?
They probably should invent another series with colour code

2nd Sunday - Bangkok street food

2010-03-21T22:27:00.000-07:00

Most of Asian street food are fried something,
it's not just Thailand but also back in Indonesia and Vietnam.

Fried banana, crab stick, pork cake, spring rolls, tofu, sausages ...
oh really, the list of all-things-fried can go on and on ..

When fried, some taste really good but others are just plain horrible.

This one, is horribly fried with lots of oil
and it took me a while to recognize that it's a crab stick.

Fried crab stick with sweet and spicy sauce

What's that noise out there?

2010-03-20T06:51:00.000-07:00

Last week we've been avoiding places where the red demonstrator gathered, also having our passport with us whenever we went out - as recommended by our embassy and in my case, got scolded by a worried Bouh who knew my being happy-go-lucky attitude.

Living in the middle of Bangkok, how long and how far can we avoid the red?

This morning, there was an awful noise outside and here's what we found, right in front of our apartment.

lots of heart ...

Loud music and shouting ...

and look ..
Bouh got caught by one of them and politely wore the red scarf ...

New header

2010-03-19T01:44:00.000-07:00

Finally finished my new header, it's a more colourful Woofy day.

I spent the whole morning drawing it with a Wacom tablet
but hasn't yet figure out how to edit some part,
I don't speak "HTML" ... pffft, another language barrier.

Polka dot snacks

2010-03-17T03:43:00.000-07:00

I saw this bite sized crispy snacks on the street stalls and suddenly thought about patterns and polka dots. I just have .. have to channel "my cute-syndrome" out and draw this polka-polka pattern.

Oh aside the cuteness, it also tasted good, crispy with a hint of pepper and cuteeeeeee ... (Eww, my cute-syndrome is not yet healed)

Bangkok, Sukhumvit - Gallery 11

2010-03-15T19:08:00.000-07:00

On a lazy Sunday evening, we found a nice restaurant in Sukhumvit soi 11 street.

The place was really nice for a quick getaway in sukhumvit area, it felt like a hidden tiny green space tucked on the corner and away from the touts and noise. There, we ordered a green curry and a tamarind paste soup-the red one. We're curious on how tamed it will taste, considering that sukhumvit is "the expat area" and because the last curry we had was on Khao San street (the backpackers ghetto), which wasn't a curry at all ... faux curry, sweet and tamed from it's original spicy curry taste .yuck!

here are what we ate,

Toong Thong,
minced shrimp in crispy wonton wrap served with sweet plum sauce
*crispy and a bit oily

Kaeng Kiew Waan Gai,
chicken green curry with devil's fig (solanum torvum) and sweet basil
*the tiny green balls which looks like peas are the solanum torvum, it doesn't taste like peas at all, it's a bit bitter and crunchy. People usually love it or hate it.

Kaeng Som Pak Ruam Goong,
tamarind paste soup with shrimps
*SPICY and a bit sour, next time we'll cut down the chillies.
and the plain rice .. (I can't help posting this, it's sooo cute ..)

Well, being a good Asian, the green curry wasn't that spicy for me but the red one surprised me, it burned my mouth, it burned Bouh alive ...

It was a real spicy soup and gee, maybe they should "tamed" it a bit ...
(did I wrote "yuck!" for the tamed curry? Oups ... )

here's my plate, look at those red chillies!

Eleven Gallery - thai cuisine
1/34 soi 11 Sukhumvit road
Bangkok - Thailand

1st Sunday - Bangkok street food

2010-03-14T10:05:00.000-07:00

"What did you have for lunch?"

I've been asking that question to Bouh because I'm curious with all the Bangkok's street food. Everywhere I walk I see food cart selling different type of snacks and meal in styrofoam boxes, fresh spring rolls, fried spring rolls, tiny pancakes, fried fish, grilled beef satay, fried chicken and of course the famous crispy insects. If you don't like spicy, you just need to avoid the sauce and you'll be all right otherwise be ready for their sweet and spicy sticky sauce.

Here's what I got this week:

Fresh spring rolls, fish, lettuce n shredded carrot wrapped in thick rice paper
(spicy alert : stay away from the sauce)

Grilled beef/chicken flat-satay
barbecued grilled beef/chicken meat and intestine

Fried super-oily "something" and cucumbers
fried snacks with spices and herbs
(spicy alert : stay away from the sauce)

closer look :

now wish me luck as I'm bracing myself for the fried insects ...
crispy scorpion and grasshoppers ladies?

Collagen drink and Bangkok's ladyboys

2010-03-11T19:09:00.000-08:00

"Thailand is sooo gay it makes San Francisco looks like rural Texas"

That's what I've been told.

There won't be a day passed by without spotting Ladyboys or gay couples walk hand in hand strolling on on the street of Bangkok. I could spot a remarkably beautiful woman, quietly praise her beauty and the next minute when she talks, my envies disappeared into thin air as I also notice her deep voice, not a man deep voice but definitely not a soft woman voice. Some of Bangkok's ladyboys (katoeys) are exceptionally beautiful that it's almost impossible to differentiate between a real she or a she "was a he". Here is a link from TeaStains, she bumped onto some katoeys dressing up as Marilyn Monroe in MBK mall. Thailand also has a beauty pageant for katoeys, the Miss Tiffany's Universe. I'm posting the 2010 winner picture taken from Miss Tiffany's Universe website to give you an idea of their beauty ...

Full of the idea of how gay is Thailand,
When I first spot a small pinkish bottle of "beauty shot-collagen drink" in a 7-eleven on the Sukhumvit area, this is my honest first reaction upon seeing it :

I was amazed and started bouncing on the spot, pointing at the bottle :
me: Bouh, Bouh .. it's a transvestite drink!
Bouh: humm, what? where?
me: That bottle! it says, "collagen - beauty shot" !
Bouh: huh? maybe ... je n'sais pas ... no idea
me: (still bouncing like a 7 years old kid) I'm getting one ! it's hilarious!
Bouh: (looking at me with a thunderstruck face) ... .... ... whaaat?!

I bought both of Blink product and tried it, each cost me 25 THB (75 cents) and both are white grape juice flavoured. The darker pink is a Collagen drink and the lighter pink is a Glutathione drink it tasted slightly better than the collagen.
well, yeah, naively ... I really thought it was a transvestite drink ...
which apparently NOT AT ALL, Collagen drink is an anti-aging supplement.

Okay, here I am, trying to defend my silliness, I honestly don't know much about collagen, or anything related to beauty, cosmetics, make up. That's why my conclusion is quite simple :
collagen = beauty surgery + ladyboy in thailand = ladyboys drink!
Hooray, I'm a miss-understood genius!

so here is what enlightened me, the fact I found after browsing around on the net :

fact about Collagen:
Collagen is produced by your body in sufficient quatities to keep your skin toned, supple and guard against premature wrinkling.

fact about Glutathione:
Glutathione also known as GSH, is the most powerful, prevalent antioxidant in your body.
Increasing your Glutathione level will naturally increase your energy, detoxify your body
and significantly strengthen your immune system.

oh and psstt .. don't tell anyone bout my silliness, mkay?

Mighty ant vs Woofy

2010-03-07T22:31:00.000-08:00

On our first day in Bangkok, we went to the city park and took a small nap on the grass.
Like in every park, there are ants ... just some tiny little ants, crawling on the grass,
sniffing for leftover foods ....
I actually didn't really bother the ants, I fell asleep almost instantaneously
and woke up with 2 small swollen ant bites ... it's how natures work ...
and come on, we human are stronger than ants!
We can squish them to death with our tiny little finger!
Give the ants a break, it's just a tiny bite ... spare their life

well, that's what I thought, until 10 minutes later, I felt a burning sensation
on my face and hand palms then tiny swells appeared all over my body.
The worse part? my face swelled like a balloon! I'm allergic to ant bite?!?!
I'm a weaker link than a tiny ant?! Their tiny bite poisoned my blood?! WHAT?!

well. nop, I won't post my ballooned face, I'll keep that picture in the darkest corner
of my messy photo folders but here is my dotted arms.
Bare in mind, this were not ant bites, this were the allergic reaction ...Fortunately the park is close with pharmacy, we went there and I point my finger
to my ballooned face while asking for a magical allergic solution (like a 10sec wipe-off-all-allergic-reaction potion, was that too much to ask?)

I got a pity look from the pharmacist and some allergic pills.
All tiny bits spots are gone within an hour and it eased the outrageous itch.

phew ... so much for a first day in Bangkok ...

definitely Thai Burger

2010-03-07T22:28:00.000-08:00

Bouh : First day in Bangkok! we should try the Thai food!
Me : yesh, like green curry, red curry, definitely Thai food!
Bouh : let's pick one of the restaurant here

Me : Bouh ... is that a Burger King sign?
Bouh : where? what? huh ..?
Me : there on the shop mirror! It's a Burger King sign's reflections!
Bouh : (looking around across the mirror) ... yep, that's the Burger King

We've been craving for Burger King, it's been months we haven't got a proper junk food burger,I made one in Hanoi, which is not junk foody enough ...

Moving Out

2010-03-04T21:19:00.000-08:00

How to reduce 2 person lives to 40kg of bags?
1. send unused stuff and souvenir to your parent's house
2. throw away some of your stuff
3. leave almost everything behind
4. close your eyes, take a deep breath and count to 3 and say "it's okay, it's just stuff .."
5. if all of that is not working, grab your wallet and be ready to pay
the excess weight fee,oh, do check it out, because every airlines
has different fee (our's 6USD/kg)

yesh, we are busy packing ... or in other word, stuffing our life into bags ...

and .... off to Bangkok - Thailand!

Souvenir shops

2010-03-03T04:09:00.000-08:00

We live in the middle of the tourist area, the old quarter. Stepping out from our house are all kind of souvenir shops. From wooden bowls, paintings, clothing shop, lanterns ... all the typical tourist souvenirs. One of the nice thing to live in a tourist area is no one will point their finger at you and giggle just because you are a foreigner.

Here, dealing (and bargaining) with foreigner is their everyday meal, it minimize my use of hand signal but not without a price. We mostly end up paying a bit more, thanks to my poor ability in speaking numbers in vietnamese. I found it necessary to master the very-very basic of shopping vocabulary :

how much? - bao nhiêu?
numbers! 1-10 and 10.000 - 100.000

The rest? Hand signal ... no fuss

Hanoi is a place where you can shop for the house. Nicely painted wooden bowls starts from 1USD and the big one is about 3USD. Hmm, still hard to estimate the price? here's an easy way to get a grip of the price, 1 pack of Marlboro cigarette cost 15000VND, that's less than 1USD.

Sending stuff from Vietnam (not just Hanoi) is pretty easy. The cheapest is to send it with the 3 months shipping, it might take a bit long but imagine being back home with lots of package arriving, it's gonna be your own personal christmas day. My friend send back his 20kg stuff with the 3 moths shipping to UK for 60USD, the trick is to pack it in 1 huge box and send it to yourself to avoid higher charges and tax.

catfish springrolls

2010-03-03T00:37:00.001-08:00

I don't see many types of fresh fish in hanoi's local market
Mostly just catfish "basa", some tiny red fishes and lots of huge fish head

There are lots of super fresh seafood, shrimps, mussels, squid and crabs ...
the crabs, whenever i look at those crabs, I can almost hear them calling me

"buy me, buy me, I'm super-delicious"

but naah, i know better than that, I could picture myself trying
to slaughter a giant crab only to have another fight with its thick shell.
craby, pick someone with a stronger willpower, not a lazy arse like me.

so it is decided, catfish it is ...
I'll just have to figure out how is best to cook them ...

After several catfish dinners, I could post my spicy pan-fry catfish
or the lemony honey-glazed catfish but then ... I went to this restaurant
called Highway 4 which is famous with its catfish spring rolls.
There I totally fell deeply in love with it, a perfect blend of mayonaise,
dill and fried catfish rolled in a thin rice paper. Just when I though I was already
in Spring rolls heaven, I dipped the rolls onto their special dip,
thick brownish sauce mixed with wasabi! Oh .. Hell! devil in Sunday hat!

I'm far from copycating their recipe and honestly my recipe will do no justice
to the original Highway 4 - catfish spring rolls, but I'm trying my best ...
um, despite the fact that I'm going back there tomorrow
for another round of catfish rolls.

Catfish spring rolls

1/2 cup all purpose wheat flour
1/2 cup corn flour
1tbs salt
1/2 tbs black pepper
1/2 tbs garlic powder
1/2 tbs cayenne powder
200g catfish filletcooking oil

for the rolls :
rice paper
a bunch of dills
mayonnaise

- lay catfish fillet horizontally on cutting board, cut to 2.5 x 1.5 inch strips
- mix all the first 6 ingredients, add catfish strips, shake to coat.
- heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat, add coated catfish strips,
fry for 2minutes on each side

- dab rice paper to a damp paper towel until it softens (it should be a bit crisp)
- put the rice paper on a plate, on the center of the rice paper put 1 catfish strips,
top it with mayonnaise and small bunch of dill- roll the rice paper around the filling
in a cigar shape

For a soft spring rolls I used a bowl of water and briefly dip the paper rice.
This catfish spring rolls wrapped with a crispy rice paper, that's why I only
dab it on a damp paper towel. Just soften the paper to be able to fold it.

I tried to make the wasabi sauce and it end up as a disaster. After the 6th tries,
i just gave it up, no idea what they mixed into the sauce, soy sauce, wasabi
and something else .... any hint?

enjoy!

The bridge of sound

2010-03-01T15:25:00.000-08:00

As I wrote on the previous post, I was dragged to an art performance but left my camera home.I succeed in finding some picture and detail report of the event from Hanoi grapevine blog

They build an impressive construction, bridges, bamboo jungle and most were light up with spot lights. There was some spot light shot up to the night sky, something rarely seen in Hanoi.
But nothing is perfect, they ruined it by playing earsplitting live music with some shouting, screaming singers. oh. not all singers shouted, some are good and really did try to sing artistically.

Before the night end, I was already too tired expecting for a good solid performance and ended up with beers and a slight disappointment

but after all ...

"arts, in all of its many forms, can sometimes be .. confusing"

Special thanks for Dao Anh Khanh for inviting us to the closing party, I couldn't be more than grateful drinking those fresh beer and rice wine at the end of the night.

photo courtesy of Hanoi grapevine blog

cooking for one

2010-02-25T16:30:00.000-08:00

Its been 2 days since I last touched my skillets, I'm not in the mood for cooking and my bad mood is clearly written on my forehead and the amount of crisp, ice cream and chocolates I ate.
I just need to turn on "the desperate housewives series" and my housemate will surely began to panic.

He is worried.

Last night, he dragged me all the way to an art performance event on the other side of the city and he already make a let's-hav-fun plan to entertain me this evening.

When we just moved in, I asked Bouh whether I can adopt my housemate to join our daily dinner, yesh, I felt exactly like adopting a puppy and I love it, for me the more is the merrier.
Today, my karma pays off, he instantly adopt me knowing that I'll be a lost puppy for the whole week.

gee, I'm so lucky when it comes to housemate ... always have the best of them.

single for a week

2010-02-25T16:18:00.000-08:00

Bouh is in Thailand for a week of kick-off meetings

I hate being apart

it sucks

I miss him

WHooFeR !!!

2010-02-25T11:37:00.000-08:00

I've been craving for Burger King Double WHOPPER
This remind me when the Burger King went bankrupt in Indonesia
and disappeared for a while. For years, I'd hassled my friend whom
were flying in from Singapore to doggy bag a Whopper, I'd drove all the way
to the airport to pick them up just so I could eat the soggy Whopper.

Now this is ... a country without Burger King ..
You know that craving, when you just want "it" and start to daydream about "it"
well, this has to come to an end, before I foolishly blackmail my friend to fly in with Whopper.

so here's for dinner,
a recipe for whoever desperately need a quick fix in a burger-less country

Hamburger

1/2 pound ground beef
1 tbs beer
1 tbs whiskey
1 tbs worcestershire sauce
1/2 tbs black pepper powder
2 cloves minced garlic

-mix all ingredients in a bowl, leave it in the fridge for 1 hour
and shape the mixture into 2 patties
-lightly oil the skillet, cook the patties on the preheated skillet
for 5-8 minutes per side (well-done)
*I used skillet but griller is best

enjoy!

another hop?

2010-02-23T23:29:00.000-08:00

last nite, after feeding Bouh with huge hamburger (which disappeared in less than 7 minutes, it's magic!?) I succeed in fishing out the ugly fact of our nomad year...
We might soon have to move to another country...
We've been in Hanoi for only a month, I just re-new my visa, pronounce bao nhiêu? (how much?) to an understandable level, we also live close to the hoan kiem lake, it's very picturesque ... damn beautiful ... and suddenly there's this news that we have to move again.

We thought that we are prepared for this nomad year but we also know that there's a motorbike we left in Indonesia in the hand of our good friend-hoping they will find time to dust it or sell it, our 20kg bag left in our ex-housemate's house in Saigon,our 50kg mail-package from Indonesia hasn't arrived in Hanoi yet and to top it all we paid our Hanoi house for 3 moths rent. so .. WOW!
This morning I've been wracking my brain trying to find solution on how to do this move but
on the other hand, I'm excited with this move, the rumour says that we're going to move to Thailand, only for a month or so .. but Thailand .. ever hear about the Thailand food? Tom Yum, Pad Thai, fried moth/eels/scorpion (okay maybe not that ... ), spring rolls, curry ... oh, i can go on and on with the list!so maybe .. in a week or so, I'll write this blog from Thailand, sipping coconut juice and munching fried scorpion ...
let's see ...
but in the meanwhile ... let us enjoy hanoi :

Oh My Beer!

2010-02-22T05:11:00.000-08:00

Hanoi is famous with its microbrewery, fresh beers are sold in Bia Hoi, night stalls are scattered on every corner of the old quarter street. 10usd in your pocket will pay for a night out squatting on a small chair, sipping glass after glass of beer while watching the crazy motorbike drivers dodge pedestrian on the street.
In almost every Bia hoi, a glass of fresh beer cost 3000VND (16 cent!!!), your 10USD can buy you 62 glasses, so please try not to use the whole 10USD unless you are planning to have a beer bath in your bathtub.

(Oh, wow, why i haven't done that ..?!).

My housemate swore that he found a Bia hoi with 2500VND/glass, the cheapest in the town. I told him that if it gets any cheaper than that, we should probably check whether we are still alive or are we actually already in beer-heaven.

Sipping beers on street corners seems fun and adventurous but there's always a day when you just want to snuggle on the couch, watching movies and drinking beers. It never occurred to me that I could doggy-bag the beers!

yesssh, a fresh bottle of beer, bia tuoi, for 15000VND!

hello .. is this beer heaven? am I .. still .. alive?

homesick dinner

2010-02-21T16:09:00.000-08:00

mine was : Indomie goreng (instant fried noodles) and Double whopper burger king
Bouh's was : mom's veggies soup

we both grew up in a completely different background, while he munched on veggies and fruits surrounded by trees and animal, I had greasy burgers and KFC in mall surrounded by the most dangerous creature in the world, "the mall dwellers human teens".

Last nite, we got a bit homesick and miss our food ...
Bouh tried to recreate his mom's veggies soup by raiding the fridge and throwing every bit of veggies into the pot, aubergine, zuchinni, potatoes, paprika etc
and I tried to replicate Indomie goreng (instant fried noodles) without having the key ingredients, sweet soy sauce, which means "it's not going to taste rite!" but i was desperate.

so here is

"homesick Indomie Goreng"
- instant egg noodles (the yellowish noodle)
- 1 tbs sesame oil
- 2 tbs light soy sauce
- 1 tbs shallot oil (this is the key! - fry shallots in oil- take out the shallots)
- photos of mom/hometown

boil the noodles, mix all the ingredients in a bowl, toss the noodles into the bowl.
serve hot with mom/hometown photos on side.

OR .. buy the indomie online! I stumble on a very good international food website, it sells stuff from all over the world, the prices are acceptable (remember, I'm desperate ...) and it also sends up to almost everywhere.

links : INTERNATIONAL FOOD DELIVERY

this is the culprit i've been missing ...

SHIT it's a SHIRT!

2010-02-19T04:23:00.000-08:00

Shopping rules: never buy a shirt or fabric material which needs ironing!

which means I never iron a shirt ... never need to ...
as a kid when I wore uniform, I was too young to iron it by myself
I spent my adolescent with Kurt Cobain's grunge style tshirt (didn't even need to wash it, hooray!) and my years as a white collar employee spent as an art director, yesh those kind of people who looks homeless with their torn shirt and converse shoes which doesn't fit with their age anymore, if you ever see them, say hi from me, those are probably my ex-colleagues or boss.

basically, i'm not a big fan of shirt or whatever complicated dress material which needs extra care but the time to shed my ignorance has arrives, in the form of Bouh's working shirts.

For 2 weeks, I was heartless enough to watch him doing a double bent while ironing his shirts until his back ache starts to annoy me (he's 2 meters tall - bumping his head or double bending everywhere he goes in Asia)

Left with 2 options, his back ache or starts helping him ironing the working shirts
and I have no bloody idea .. how? how? how?

here's for the ignorance in need of enlightenment, well, theoretically:

links: ON HOW TO IRON SHIRT

now, he is left with 2 options,
1.letting me help ironing but also starts buying new shirts - NO i didn't burnt it! or did I?
2.live with the back ache of double bending until one lucky day we'll have a house maid

gỏi cuốn-vietnamese spring rolls

2010-02-18T04:34:00.000-08:00

who doesn't love fresh spring rolls?
nop, the question would be, anyone dare to make a spring roll?
with its super thin rice paper wrapper, how to bloody fold the thing!

yesh, i always felt intimidated by the rice paper wrappers and never gave it a try
although Vietnam is the land of spring rolls (and Pho - rice noodles soup)
and fresh ingredients can be found in every farmers market, dirt cheap as well.

I've been ordering spring rolls in almost every restaurant we went to, it's SUPER delicious.
Well, today I decide to give my clumsy hand a chance or a challenge, depends on how you see it. Without taking any vietnamese springrolls cooking class which offered for 35USD, I went to the farmers market, picked the herbs i need, bought a bag of frozen prawns and the widest possible rice wrappers.

Next thing i did is browsing the youtube (a geek will always be a geek ...) to watch how-to-fold-springrolls tutorial. The making was not as complicated as i thought, basically on the soggy rice paper just put together whatever herbs I got (cilantro, basil,mint), prawns, rice noodles, shredded carrot and salad, fold it, try not to torn the paper or getting a meltdown after failing over and over again, et voila ... 15 fresh "messy" spring rolls.

here's my 3 messy spring rolls master piece!

and here's the link of the how-to-fold-springrolls tutorial,

links : HOW TO FOLD SPRING ROLLS

there's a lot in youtube but somehow i like this one better

Chuc mung nam moi & Happy Vday

2010-02-16T12:14:00.000-08:00

"Chuc mung nam moi" in english : Happy new year!
and Happy V day !! (this year it fell on 14 february, the same day as the valentine day)

Its a full week holiday, the city has been dead since the 13th, pesto is running low,
Bouh has been spending his holiday home - keep stealing and geeking with my laptop.
His laptop is broken n yeah that's why i couldn't post anything.

So anyway, I was running out of bread today and decide to walk out from the warm house and face the cold winter (13 degrees-it's frickin' cold for me!if you are from a colder country, imagine a 15 degrees drop from your coldest temperatures, get the idea?). It took me an hour scouring down the empty street and closed shop, looking for an open bakery or supermarket.

None was open, it's tet! We just have to live with crackers ... but then, I suddenly remembered that we actually still had the leftover from the Vdays cake .... we are saved!

well, I didn't remember it because Bouh bought it when we had an evening stroll. I grew up in asian culture, I tend to not express intimacy in public (that includes buying Valentine cake as a couple - sounds weird eh?). It's been a year and we're still curious and excited in discovering our differences, from language differences to language of love.

well, just want to say .. happy chinese new year and happy V day ...

Pesto party

2010-02-10T02:30:00.000-08:00

Here in vietnam, 3 days before the tet (chinese new year)
is not the best day to stock up on food to survive the next
"dead city week" - but - that's what i've been warned.
stubborn as i am, i went to a nearby supermarket
and witnessed the shopping war and ran out for my dear life.

On my survival mode, i walked down to the local market
(which I usually avoid - code red area with the language barrier),
strolling around with a smile and 10.000VND on my hand,
spotted some fresh basil leaves, grabbed 2 huge bunch
and within an hour a big jar of fresh pesto will assure our survival.

Green pesto
3 cups fresh basil
3 cloves garlic
1/2 cups roasted peanuts
2/3 cups parmesan cheese
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper

Place garlic, peanuts, parmesan cheese in a food processor.
Gradually add the basil and olive oil.
continue to blend until smooth, add salt & pepper to taste.

the good thing about pesto is you can store it in the fridge for 2 weeks
it goes well with shrimps/fried bacon/sausages/cherry tomatoes
or mixed a bit in mashed potatoes. yummy ...

Geeky mugs

2010-02-08T05:03:00.001-08:00

we are addicted to morning coffee (who doesn't?) but also need a proper normal-sized mug to happily enjoy the morning - especially on Monday when weekend seems so far away.

so we decided to hunt down shops for a normal sized-mug, promised ourselves not to be picky with the design as it won't stay with us for that long. Luckily we found it, flowery greenish mug which weirdly comes with a cap, hell, just get it.

The next day, a package arrived from french and inside, surprisingly, are 2 couple mug!
Apparently, Bouh bought it online and thought that it lost its way on the way to Asia.

I was happy as a bunny (or woof) because the mugs are nicely designed, fit with our geek personality and we can store the ugly greenish mugs in the deepest corner of our cupboard.

here's the link where he bought the cute mugs:
http://en.lafraise.com/

HINT : Under the couch

Stocking up my fridge

2010-02-04T19:26:00.000-08:00

Hanoi - Vietnam

I've been spending days walking around the neighborhood and taking notes of "what shops sell what in what street". In this city, they only have 1 BIG well-stocked supermarket and it's miles from home.

Of course, i'd prefer supermarket, as I'll only need to pick up the stuff and pay it in the cashier. So much simpler than going to a shop and look like a handicapped doing hand signal language just to get a piece of bread. My vietnamese is very - very limited.

I took my notebook and camera, taking pictures of the shop and upload it in my personal googlemap. I might be an ignorance foreigner but i wrack my brain to be so.

so here it is, my way of having a well-stocked fridge :

Googlemaps for hanoi