BIFF & BIL 2011 - Ika Butoni

I have no extraordinary skills to explicitly describe how great and fabulous the fabric, the design, the accessories were of the designer Ika Butoni from BIFF & BIL 2011 ASEAN Integration. I have nothing but some pictures of that day and hope it could ease my impulse to posting with "no guilt" even though it is nothing that myself and my friends from blogosphere really need or enjoy.

Jim Thompson

There is nothing classified my friend as shopaholic but she is, indeed, in love with shopping. This time around, her interest in fabric passes from Naraya to Jim Thompson. So we spent a few hours looking around Jim Thompson shops in Siam Paragon, Central World and Isetan Branches but, for no apparent reason, I suggested her to shop around for same products @ Jim Thompson Outlet at 153, Soi Sukhumvit 93. I called the shop for detailed direction and took a taxi to go there. Of course, the price are generally cheaper, the staffs are amicable and plus foreigners can claim Value Added Tax (VAT). As it was already lunchtime when we reached there, we decided to have lunch @ the café first and do the shopping later. She ordered stir-fried flat rice noodle with chicken and I had my favorite Raad Naa Kung (shrimp and vegetable gravy flat rice noodle). With drinks, our lunch costs 15 US$ and I thank my friend of this delicious meal. She got a blouse, a tie, cushion covers, handkerchiefs but couldn’t find the purse she liked. By the way, the crunchy muesli cookie and almond cookie from the café taste great and it has been snacks of the month for me. Overall it was a nice shopping day without sweat.

19th June

"Happy Birthday to Notre Dame"

"The value systems of those with access to power and of those far removed from such access cannot be the same. The viewpoint of the privileged is unlike that of the underprivileged."

"The search for scapegoats is essentially an abnegation of responsibility: it indicates an inability to assess honestly and intelligently the true nature of the problems which lie at the root of social and economic difficulties and a lack of resolve in grappling with them." 

"The struggle for democracy and human rights in Burma is a struggle for life and dignity. It is a struggle that encompasses our political, social and economic aspirations."

"It is often in the name of cultural integrity as well as social stability and national security that democratic reforms based on human rights are resisted by authoritarian governments."

All the quotes are from here and check out the complete biography here.

9$ Lunch

No, no, no, I didn’t cook all those yummy Thai dishes and I strongly believe this dear friend can cook those dishes in her sleep. It was simply what we had for lunch during my friend’s shopping spree at weekend market. Rather than bore everyone with the details of how we shop till we drop, I would annoy my friends with how much we spent for those delicious meals at Chatuchak market. We ordered 2 bamboo shoot salads, 1 crispy catfish with mango salad, 1 fried chicken, 1 fried Chaing Mai sausage, and 2 sticky rice and all of that costs only 270 Bahts or 9$. 

Shrimp Sour Curry

Sour curry is one Thai curry dish that I fell in love with recently, thanks to the omelet with acacia pennata (cha-om/ชะอม/ ဆူးပုတ္ရြက္). A dear friend also made the similar omelet in her delicious blog too. Mine is not different than hers actually, except the fact that I boil the acacia for a few minutes. Then add 3 eggs, light soy sauce, whisk them together, pan fry them with oil, and finally cut them into bite size.

For sour curry, or spicy sour soup I might say, I use the ready-made paste, which is widely available in any supermarket in Bangkok. Here are the ingredients I use: shrimp, mushrooms or (any vegetables), shallots, lime, fish sauce, sugar and coriander for garnish.  As usual, I stir-fry the shrimp until it changes color and set them aside with the acacia omelet. 

For the soup like curry, I pan fry the curry paste with shallot until fragrant, add 3-4 cups of water and simmer for about 5 minutes. Afterward, add the mushroom or vegetables and shrimp, taste the curry, and adjust the taste with fish sauce, lime, a bit of sugar (optional). Finally, add the omelet just before serving this delightful dish and garnish with coriander. Enjoy!

Rice Vermicelli Lunch

That morning I woke up around 5:30 and decided to go to the nearby market. I walked from my place to 7/11 to pay the bills first, and headed for the market. As I walked across the shops, I saw rice vermicelli vendor and got the idea of eating that with the green curry and make rice vermicelli salad for my significant other, as he is not a big fan of spicy, sweet, creamy dish. Recipe for green curry? Well, I am not proud to let you know that I used ready-made paste for the soup, the usual ingredients such as chicken, oil, coconut milk, fish sauce, sugar, red chili, kaffir lime leaf, eggplant, and sweet basil. Why am I not proud? Those vegetables were resting in the fridge for a week and the color of the sweet basil could have been greener if I cooked the dish sooner.

I stir-fried the chicken, set aside, fried green curry paste with left over oil, coconut milk until fragrant. Then added water to boil, seasoned with sugar and fish sauce. Added chicken, eggplant and let them boil until soft, (just the way I prefer) and finally added sweet basil, chili, kaffir lime leave and remaining coconut milk. At lunch, while I enjoyed eating the chicken green curry with rice vermicelli, my other half, didn’t even glance at my green curry, had simple and delicious rice vermicelli salad with the soup (not in photo). I am happy and feel blessed because he is not complaining about any food I make for him and never fails to compliment on my cooking.