Ranu's 11th Birthday Cakes

Two Sundays ago, a friend from church called me to order cakes for her daughter's birthday. She loves chocolate but her daughter specifically requested vanilla cake. To meet both requests, my friend asked me to make 2 cakes,  chocolate and vanilla.  She told me to make big chocolate cake because she's bringing it to the church potluck and a small vanilla cake which her daughter can enjoy all by herself.

My Birthday Dinner at Pizzeria Limoncello on Sukhumvit 11

This is a delayed post. I had been meaning to post this since yesterday but I couldn't as I was busy. Friends are in Bangkok for a conference. I went to meet them at their hotel last night and came home really late. Today is their last day in the country. They wanted to buy  gifts for family and friends back home. Since it's my day-off  I volunteered to take them shopping.

My birthday was on Tuesday.  I had nothing special planned. Originally, my plan was to host dinner at home. I have been working overtime since the supervisor resigned. (No, I am not the replacement but we have more work now that we have less staff). I have been making a lot of orders. In fact I  worked 6 days the week before to make the cakes a friend ordered.  A break from laborious work was all I needed -even for just one day-  so I cancelled my initial plan. Besides, it's my birthday so I deserve to relax.

Thank God for another year added to my life

My cousin once asked if I make my own birthday cake. I don't. I bake a lot in my 9-hour, 5-day work week.I don't get a vacation. The only time I can rest is during my two- day off  which is Friday and Saturday and Thai Holidays which is a total of 13 days a year. It just so happens that today, October 23 is also Chulalongkorn Day,  a national holiday in Thailand. Otherwise I would still be working. It is my birthday. I don't want to do anything but pamper myself.

I don't really have much planned for my birthday. I so wanted to get away from the city but I can't . There's a lot to do at work, so many orders to make. I will probably just eat out with my family and friends. For now let me enjoy this blueberry muffin and green tea.

Thailand Vegetarian Festival 2012

Thailand's ten-day vegetarian festival  kicked off with culinary extravaganza in many areas in Bangkok like China Town, Platinum Mall and The Mall Bangkapi. The festival  is widely observed across the nation especially by  Thai- Chinese population. Last week, I dropped by Platinum Mall on the way home.  I didn't want to miss out on the fun so I took a few moments to join in the celebration.  My eyes and nose feasted on the wide array of extremely tempting vegetarian dishes they offer.

I'm not a big fan of ice cream but I do eat it once in a while

The restaurant where Jaeng took us for her birthday celebration was right in front of a shopping mall. While having dinner we all agreed to get dessert at the mall.  We left the restaurant, went straight to the mall and did a little shopping.  Few minutes had passed M and  sis  asked what do we feel like having. The other girls and I  couldn't make up our minds so the two girls suggested ice cream. There's no other ice cream  place in the area like Swensen's where we can fit in one table, relax and enjoy  ice cream so that's where we went.

Jaeng's Birthday Dinner at Aroi NaeNon

Thai cuisine can be classified into four different types- the Northern and Northeast (Isan), Central and Southern cuisine. Food and cooking techniques from these four regions are influenced by the neighboring countries and regions.

Isan Food is the most popular among those regional cuisine. It is also my favorite. My colleagues are all from the Northern region of Thailand. We literally eat Isan food three to four times a week. They are amazed at how well  my stomach has adapted to Isan food.

Last night, I was invited to a birthday dinner of a friend. It's not her birthday til tomorrow but we had an early celebration as she's going back to her hometown in Chiang Mai for the school break. She took us to Aroi Nae non (Surely Delicious) on Ladprao 1. Guess what we had? Isan food!! Everyone was happy.

My failed attempt to reconstruct gan bian si ji dou has given birth to a new dish

I have an endless list of Chinese dishes that I love. One dish in particular had undoubtedly left me mesmerized.Gan bian si ji dou (Dry Fried String Beans) is a popular Sichuan vegetable dish but can be found anywhere in China.I remember eating it a lot in Chinese open air restaurants right across from my workplace. I had been searching for the recipe for so long  but was unsuccessful. A few months ago, I signed up to follow a blog by an American who is a Professor of  Chinese and now in China traveling.  Last month, he  blogged about this string beans dish with the name in Chinese and English. Boy, I was so happy I was able to find the recipe online.

I cooked the dish but  it yield a different result as I lack the right ingredients. The new dish turned out good though.

Delicious Cake Pudding

If you have so much bad cake, one of the many ways to use them all up is to make them as cake pudding. I have loads of them. I got orders for cake but I was not satisfied with the result of the little modification I did in the original recipe so I baked another cake. I don't feel good tossing them away. When big sis informed me about the children's potluck at church I thought of bringing cake pudding. It was a right decision as it was a big hit not just with kids but with adults as well.

Apple Pie

In Asian culture, gift giving is a common practice. If you are a teacher,  you get never-ending gifts from doting parents of your students. My sister is a kindergarten teacher. Last week, she brought home  2 kilograms of apples, a gift from a generous parent. We are enjoying the abundance of the fruit.  Big sis is juicing them with carrots. So we have fresh carrot-apple juice to drink.  I made apple pie.

Spiderman Cake for Joshua's Fourth Birthday

During the entire month of September, Joshua could not make up his mind what cake he wanted on his birthday.  Last week, he had finally made a decision. He wanted Spiderman Cake.

This is only my second attempt at a fondant covered cake. The whole process intimidated me.It took me 2 days to make this. I made a quick trip to the supermarket after work to get the ingredients on Monday. I baked the cake as soon as I got home. I decorated it last night when I arrived home from work. The decoration is not my idea. I just followed the one I saw from Google gallery.

Tuna and Potato Patties

The wet weather in Bangkok is depressing.  Food supplies at home are rather low but my sister and I are feeling lazy and unmotivated to go out. I do get stuff from the market  and 7-11 from time to time but she and I haven't done a proper food shopping for a while now. The last time I went to the market was last week and I bought a kilo of potatoes. How did I utilize all of them? I haven't. Well, I used 400 g to make patties and the rest I still need to figure out what to make with them.

Baked Fusilli Topped with Sliced Potatoes

The experimental cook in me has inspired me to make this dish from scratch. I was supposed to make dumplings but was unable to buy the ingredients for the fillings so I postponed it. There's a major downpour and the last thing I wanted to do was leave the comforts of my home and go out in the rain. With the limited ingredients I had I was glad I was able to whip up something delicious before my sister came home from work.