Yangon-Aung Pan-Pindaya

Beautiful scenery, delicious food, hospitability was the highlight of our trips during Thingyan holidays in Myanmar. Many of the travel agencies in Yangon have arranged special trips to beautiful cities like Bagan, Mandalay, Taung Gyi and the amazing beaches like Ngapali, Ngwe Saung during long holidays. At first glace, staying in Yangon seems great but after considering the noise, and limited teashops during the public holidays, we decided to go on a trip. Perhaps it was the lure of new environment, or a chance to encounter the beautiful hills and Inle Lake again, or perhaps the chance to enjoy Shan food, which I could never successfully cook. We  headed to the travel agency, New Motion Travels and Tours, around 7:30 p.m. As stated in their plan, our coach departed from their office at 8:00 p.m and arrived to 115 miles stop around 1 a.m.

I had noodle and tea there, and kind of wish they could keep the dining areas and powder rooms clean, although I know it might be quite challenging. 

We arrived to Aung Pan around 8 a.m, had breakfast at Cherry Café and later headed to Pindaya town. Shan noodle and the fried rice from the Café are not bad but I was more intrigued by my compatriots' beautiful faces.

Road trip from Aung Pan to Pindaya was quite joyous thanks to beautiful scenery and kind of wish I'd my dream house there.

Checking in at Conqueror hotel was convenient and personally, I loved the scenic view of Shwe Oo Min cave, which I will post some pictures in later posts. Bye for now and thank you so much for your visit!

Sugar Peas Salad

The most common way to eat sugar peas for me is the sautéed one. This morning, I was thinking that sugar peas could be eaten like long bean salad, four-winged bean salad like we usually eat and the salad turned out to be equally delicious!!!! The usual ingredients for the salad are as follow:  sliced garlic (optional), thinly sliced shallots, fresh lime juice, salt or fish sauce, sliced chili (optional), roasted sesame seeds, ground dried shrimp, ground bean powder and peanut oil. I forgot to add the crushed roasted peanuts, yes, it is me, the usual absentminded individual! I started by adding the boiled water to ends trimmed sugar peas, drained them after a few minutes and refreshed them in a bowl of cold water. Later, sliced the sugar peas as the length I wanted to eat and tossed them together with the ingredients mentioned above.  Then, sprinkle the fried shallots on top of the salad just before serving. This is a superb simply yet tasty sugar peas salad and I hope you all love my mere salad too!!!

Fried Roselle Leaves

I am not a warrior in the kitchen, and I haven’t got tricks up on my sleeves when it comes to cooking. That being said, I would love to share my favorite fried roselle leaves, the dish that I have been busy making this morning. I might not be eating so well due to the amount of oil I put in the dish, but it is still delicious and very appetizing.

I used one pack of cooked and frozen roselle leaves, which I brought from home, prepared by my dear mother-in-law. All the hard work I supposedly do might be chopping the onion, garlic, a bit of ginger, and shredding the bamboo shoot. I guess everyone knows how to cook fried roselle leaves but I will write it anyway: first, heat the oil in a frying pan, add chopped garlic, ginger, onion, turmeric power, and chili powder and stir until become golden brown. Then add the cooked roselle leaves (in my case) and chili, stir well, and when cooked, I set them aside. 

Shrimp are also stir-fried and set aside.

Now it is time for the bamboo shoot to cook: add oil, chopped garlic, onion and bamboo shoot, and stir-fried them until cooked.

Seasoning? I use shrimp paste, salt, knorr seasoning and fish sauce. After everything is cooked, it is time to mix them all, garnish them with coriander and voilà, I have one of my favorite dishes of all time, fried roselle leaves with bamboo shoot and shrimp!

My Valentine Sweet

Well, how many of you guys have plans to celebrate the day? Me? yes, I did have one, like going to a restaurant, buying us a cake and asking my other half to be my Valentine, but my plan fells short finally. Anyway, I do make some strawberry jam at home for my family and his and I think what can be sweeter than homemade strawberry jam today. I have to admit that it is not my recipe; it is all Jamie Oliver’s and thanks a lot for teaching me how from the show. Just like he said, for 2 kilos of strawberries, I add 300 grams of sugar and smashed them first. Then, stir and bring them to boil. When it boils, turns the stove to medium heat and, skims the foam every 5 minutes. When the color turns to deep red, I have got myself a nice homemade strawberry jam, which is not for me by the way, and I am happy to give those to my beloved ones. Happy Valentine Day everyone, especially you, my beloved AiR, Happy Anniversary too!!!

Snapshots @ Sule Pagoda Festival

The snapshots that posted here were the ones I took from Sule Pagoda festival during my last visit in Yangon. Neatly, in unordered order, were the food, food stalls, certain entertainments, and other easily identifiable shops that I saw on that very night. Ironically, while we were strolling around the festival, the light went out for 10 minutes. Anyway, I am just glad for the fact of this festive ambiance being celebrated for the first time in many years: Please read the details here.

Fried crab 500, 800, 1000 Kyats based on size

500 Kyats per plate

200 Kyats each and 3 for 500 Kyats

100 Kyats each