Nuff Nang

Jan 30, 2012

Cooks in TukTuks Pt.2

Here's the cooking part of the class... We learnt that the ancient Khmer Empire spread over Thailand, Vietnam and Laos. These three countries have had great influence in most Cambodian dishes. If you like Thai or Vietnamese food, you will definitely enjoy Khmer cuisine :) Although, most people say that generally Cambodian cooking is not as spicy as Thai. Take a look at what we, Cooks in Tukuks, made!

Hibiscus Tea (not pictured) - refreshing iced drink made from hibiscus flowers
Banana Flower Salad (pictured) - salad of shredded banana blossoms, fresh greens, chicken and flavorful dressing
Amok Trei (pictured) - steamed curried fish made with kroeung curry paste
Sweet Potato, Sago & Coconut (not pictured) - sweet dessert similar to other Asian desserts around the region

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Jan 29, 2012

Cooks in TukTuks Pt.1

Our first full day in Siem Ream started out with an activity we enrolled in, "Cooks in TukTuks." It's basically a cooking class offered by the River Garden hotel wherein you begin with a tour of the local markets and end by eating a full meal that you have collectively prepared. Oh yes, and the cooking of course is in between...

Tuktuks were waiting in the lobby to take us to the local markets and eating places of the Khmer people. Our first stop was a "snack" stall, which translated to water snakes, beetles and other insects! We had some people on our tour take a nibble, and the verdict was the usual, "It really doesn't taste like anything..." Sorry to say, Aileen and I were both chicken so we don't have any first hand comments for you. The next stop was an outdoor market for meats, seafood and vegetables. What a contrast to our supermarkets! Our chef/guide bought a few fresh veggies at the market but to our relief, he told us that the meat and seafood for our dishes were purchased at the supermarket and waiting for us back at the hotel.

A few snapshots of the tour below. Will post about the cooking in my next entry!

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Jan 27, 2012

Blue Pumpkin | SIEM REAP

After our dinner at Cafe Central, we felt like it was too early to go home [the time was about 11:30ish]. We weren't looking to go out clubbing or drinking, but we did want a reason to hang out before going back to the hotel... This was obviously a no-brainer for me, did I hear DESSERT?! And just like that, we landed at Blue Pumpkin. At the time, I thought we were pretty impressive for scoping out a fun, foodie spot - little did I know, Blue Pumpkin is thee place to go for ice-cream, breads, pastries and that of the sort. They also serve light snacks, sandwiches, coffee/tea and shakes. We saw quite a few outlets planted around the city, even at the departure area of the airport. Anyways, we made the right choice indeed. I had a refreshing passion fruit sorbet and Aileen a creamy coconut scoop.

If you're wondering who our 2 friends are below, I will explain. When we were outside enjoying our sorbets, 2 boys came up to us selling books about Cambodia. We felt bad refusing and repeating ourselves, "Sorry, we don't need the books." Trust me, these boys don't take "No" for an answer. They kept insisting we buy the books and that they were very cheap. The books were cheap -nothing more than $10- it's just that we really didn't need them. Then Aileen offers, "How about instead of buying books, I buy you 2 some ice-cream instead?" The ear to ear grins on their faces said it all. It was so cute, Aileen and the 2 boys went to the counter and she let them choose their dessert. You could tell this was such a big treat for the 2, and just seeing how thrilled they were... Priceless.

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Jan 25, 2012

Cafe Central | SIEM REAP

Before each New Year, I look back at my journal and write a recap. It usually consists of how I feel about the year coming to a close & a new one beginning, my most memorable moments & significant events and things I was most grateful for. The last part of my entry is dedicated to goals and continuous dreams -if they haven't come true yet!- for the New Year. Each year there's a section about travel, I always want to visit new cities and explore new corners of the world with either J, my family or my bestest friends. Lucky me, 2 weeks into 2012 and I'm already visiting a new city -country, actually!- with my best friend.

SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA

My trip started off with VIP service, Aileen was at the international airport in a tuk-tuk ready and waiting for my arrival. There's a very comforting feeling being greeted by a familiar face in a sea, and city, of strangers. I spotted my bestie right away and we were off to our hotel in a matter of minutes. We didn't stay long as it was getting a bit late and we didn't want to waste any time... The plan for the night was to feel out the Old Market area and find a restaurant to have dinner at. After walking around, we decided on Cafe Central - a spacious, breezy all day cafe. Their menu has everything from the usual breakfast suspects, coffee -my favorite Illy!-, options for hearty or light lunches, great snackies, cocktails and lots of choices for the dinner crowd. Aileen and I shared a bacon/chicken/broccoli pizza and the mezze platter, both of which we finished with ease ;)

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Jan 20, 2012

Back-logged on the Bee-log

Back-logged on the Blog

Goodness! I can't believe it has been pretty much 2 months since my last blog post. I've been busy with Sweet Patti Cakes, Etcetera, a home project, the holidays, guests in town and more... However, that is no excuse for the long blog hiatus. I'm sorry :( The good news is, that I have recently been traveling and taking pictures of all the fun food along the way. So get ready for some posts from *drumrollplease*

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CAMBODIA

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SINGAPORE
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