been so long it looks like > > > egg salad to me ...

it has been so long since i contributed to my own blog. so here we go with a great egg salad on whole grain baguette.

i use quail eggs for this because i can get them on most any bangkok salad bar these days and they are already peeled. nice and creamy and i now prefer them over chicken eggs for this application. i mash them with some chopped chives and curly parsley, minced shallot, french's ball park mustard, some 0% cholesterol japanese mayonnaise (a bit sweet, but that's cool because i usually like to throw in some salad cream which is also sweet), a dollop of olive oil margarine and finish it with fresh ground sea salt and black pepper.

note that my chives, shallot and parsley are not 100% up to par.
this is due to the airport having been closed for 8 days
as it was occupied for political demonstrations
(go democracy thailand)
and there is not a lot of fresh stuff around.
things should get better now as the airport opened today.

note that i use a potato masher, works just great for this application,
and it is easy to clean too.

salad is ready and the baguette has been just barely toasted
and allowed to cool down.
we don't want to heat up the salad
and have it get warm and runny now do we?
that would defeat the purpose of the margarine
which is added not only for flavor, but also to bind it.

the sandwich garnished with arugula and all ready for slicing with the
trusted dropped-edge sandwich maker's knife.

every time i take a pic of this knife and look at the broken tip on it
i want to find the cook who abused it and stab him with the damn thing.


the sandwich has been sliced on a bias and is now ready for eating.
note: when i sliced it, i sawed through it carefully,
i did not cut straight down.
that would have caused the egg salad to ooze out
and that is not what we want.


there are two reason for cutting this way.
one, it looks good, and two -
it makes the first, all important bite, easy and proper.

if you turn the sandwich on its side, and bite into it
so as not to push the top and bottom together,
the egg salad will not squirt out.
this is easily done when the sandwich
has been cut on an angle as you see here.

the arugula adds a nice nutty flavor and some bite to the already sweet salad.
notice i choose not to add tomato slices to my sandwich.
just pure creamy quail egg and arugula is about
all i want to taste here set off by the robust baguette.


i wash this all down with a steamin' hot fresh cup of
fresh ground hill tribe coffee
my friend brought me from chinag mai last week.

not as robust as i prefer, but for thai beans,
o'tay buckwheat!

its chinese food promotion month at siam paragon, how fekkin' great is that?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

last month was italian food and everyone went absolutely bat shit eating cheese, cured hams and every other italian delicacy, now it is chinese food month. leave it up to the siam paragon folks to hit balls out of the park one right after another.

i was on my way to doing some of that great sunday banking they have at paragon mall when i spied the peking duck stand. i have always been a big fan of duck, prepared any way at all, and to have it peking style is always a treat.

when i was the food and beverage manager at siam city hotels in pattaya a few years back each of the two sister hotels on beach road had fantastic chinese kitchens that served peking duck. whenever i was on duty, and i saw an order come in, i would run and stand in the kitchen and wait for it to be served so i could scarf the carcass and all the great tidbits that cling to it. i also got a rush when the gas was fired up in the duck ovens that put that great glaze and crispness to the skin. the amount of pressure and the loud whooshing sound makes it seem like you are at an airport right on the tarmac when a jet is revving its engines.

did you know that the skin is always cut int he exact same pattern, the exact same number of pieces and its done with a big ass clever, not a small little knife as one might think? some chefs are so adept at carving ducks that they can perform the entire procedure wearing white cloth gloves that remain spotless form beginning to end.

i was in such a hurry to eat my serving that, again, i forgot to take a picture, but then i bought 4 more portions for take away to give to my friends that i would be meeting shortly thereafter. so here are some shots of the booth, the assorted foods, and some peking duck fast food style. price: 150 baht or $4.47 usd per serving. right, under 5 dollars and there are 10 pancakes with all the trimmings.

portions on display.

chinese style kao-kaa-moo, braised anise scented pork leg.
these were some of the largest i have ever seen.
and they looked just great.
but alas,
no room for moo today we will be stuffing our face with duck.

simmering soup, is that cooker big enough for ya?

fried bean curd items.

i had an assortment plate and it was great.
not greasy at all, and meatless, too.

steamed pork buns and duck roll ups in rice pancakes.

this lady was great.
she loved that i loved her duck so much
that i came back and bought 4 more orders for my friends.

this is peking duck take away style.

and again, lid open.



ready to nosh.



what the inside looks like.

my friend khun ice enjoying a box of peking duck.
she was amazed that anyone would have thought to bring some for others to enjoy.
she ate an entire box by herself, and she had just eaten an entire meal of thai food.

i just love to watch girls eat with their hands, don't you?

sharazade, one more time this week, cannot get enough of that lamb leg ...

i looked up at the sign over the door this visit and it says sharazade, not sherazade, i apologize for the misspellings before. funny, after eating there for 16 years, i finally learned how they spell it. the place has been there for 26 years, hmmmmmmmmmmmm, must be an ok restaurant, nah?

this visit i took the pictures before i ate the lamb. i also had some more of their great egyptian feta cheese with olive oil, and also the babaganoush.

just as i arrived a group of 18 came in. no reservation and half of them were children in strollers. they were driving the staff nuts with their demands. it was all taken in stride, even by the customers that were politely asked to give up their tables and relocate so that a table for 18 could be morphed into place.

i have spent 30 years working in restaurants and it never amazes me how some folks just do not think it sensible, in their best interests, polite or proper to call ahead for a reservation, especially for a table of 18, and, upon arrival, they think that moses should be parting the sea for them. lucky for these folks the people at sharazade are true restaurateurs who never show their disdain or mention there dismay at the utter lack or sensibility and etiquette.

a closer shot of this perfectly toasted lamb leg.

very busy day today too, look at how full the grill is.

i always finish my meal with one of these lighter-than-air custards
with ground almonds and coconut, and a not-to-sweet turkish coffee.



i have had to forgo my coffee of late
because they are currently not serving hot beverages after 6:00 pm
in accordance with islamic belief.

another 15 days and i can get my fix.
they offered to make me one,
but i said that although it was appreciated,
no need to break with custom.
i got big face and big smiles of appreciation for that decision.
maybe it was a test.

the owner approached me while i was taking the grill pic and he told me
his wife had mentioned that i wanted a turkish coffee pot so i could make turkish coffee at home.
he promised to pick one up in dubai on his next trip through.
his wife then said she will also get me a bag or two of beans.
how awesome is that?

someone once told me the pots are shaped as they are
so when there is no wood to be found in the dessert
you can simply draw the hot sand up around the sides of the pot,
and the sun will boil it for you.
i do not know if that is true, but its a nifty little anecdote any ways.

phillipe's on soi 39 is the epitome of a small unpretentious restaurant with a giant heart ...

i knew i was going out for a fantastic dinner on friday so i held off on lunch, noshed on some small stuff, and then went and had a fantastic meal at phillipe's on soi 39. this place is tops. great food, awesome service and a very pleasant decor. the menu is changed every few months and accented frequently with a specials listing. in all my visits there, i have only had one dish that was not up to the par of all the others, and it was tonight's trout. the fish was good, cooked perfectly, and the sauce was great too, but the garnishes were lacking. the concasse type veggie malange was over-wrought with fresh herbs and the mousse was also over seasoned with curry powder, which made it unpalatable for me. but, as i said, the fish was perfectly sauteed, as were the almonds.

we started it all with oysters that are imported from france, and they were great with just a squeeze of lemon and some spectacular vinaigrette. what makes his vinaigrette so tasty is the quality of the vinegar he uses, it is like fine wine. i then had a fois gras and duck breast salad that is always perfection. my main course, as i mentioned, was the trout. i finished it all off with a nice warm chocolate tart filled with liquefied chocolate and garnished with a small scoop of ice cream and a drizzle of awesome butterscotch sauce. i cleared my throat with a double espresso as i am known to do.

i was so ravenous to eat my oysters i forgot to take a picture. i know ... how many fekkin' times am i gonna do that? here is a very bad shot of my fois gras and duck breast salad. thank god phillipe cooks a helluva lot better than i take pictures.

one of my friend's had a frog's leg and roasted garlic app.
again, i must apologize for the absolutely shite picture.

my other friend's langostinne app with a langostine foam that was out of this world.

the langostine was followed by this highly recommend confit of duck leg.
i had eaten this dish the last time and it was exactly the same when my friend had it.

my trout with the bogus garnishes.

as you can see it is cooked to perfection.
it was a breeze for me to bone it myself and the flesh was succulent and moist,
it simply fell away from the comb with just one nudge of my knife.
too bad no one ever gives as many almonds as i do with trout,
i could have used 3 times what i had been given.

the frog legs were followed by this great braised ox tongue with baby veggies.
this is a dish i have never seen anywhere else.
the person who ate this has it every time they go to phillipe's
regardless of whether he has another main dish or not.
it is that good.

the confit was followed by an excellent crème brûlée.
as always, lucky for the diner it was better than my pic.

my utterly delightful warm chocolate.
i should have gotten you a pic of the sauce oozing out of the center,
it actually had enough body to it that it flowed like lava.

i know i harped on about the trout garnishes,
but this was a fantastic meal and including the three plates of oysters and the espresso and wine
which are not shown, it only cost 9,228 baht or $275.27 usd.
check out the actual bill.
i would think this meal would have been twice the price in nyc, or even more in london.

tesco-lotus food court in the on nut store (pronounced: on-nuch)

all over asia the phenomenon of food courts has preceded the trend in america by decades. they have honed and perfected this venue for foodies of all price ranges and classes, the ones at tesco-lotus, like so many others, are for the average joe who is shopping, gets hungry, and just wants something basic to eat. like all others, you go to a centralized cashier, get a tesco-lotus debit card (it used to be in-store monopoly money), and just cruise the line until you see something you like. the place where i had the duck noodles in paragon is the same, just a very high end one. the portions tend to be very small at the tesco-lotus court so i figured i would have a combination of 2 dishes. chinese roast duck fried rice "kao-phaat ped-yang" ข้าวผัดเป็ดย่าง with a side order of braised pork knuckle with out the accompanying rice "khao kaa moo" ข้าวขาหมู.



i also got myself an iced coffee form the drink dispensing counter. that is my debit card on the tray next to the plate. the whole meal cost me 90 baht, or just under $3.00 usd.

the sauce that the pork leg is cooked in is seasoned with star anise and it is quite aromatic and tasty. both the pork and the duck are very tender and falling of the bone. not a bad deal if you ask me.

here is a picture of the rig they use for people to get their utensils from.


notice the hot water bath in the upper left corner. this is there (i think) to lull people into thinking that if they dip their fork and spoon into it, it will be cleaner. why would they not just do a better job in the back where they wash the stuff is what comes to my mind. and the fact is, they did. but, some folks think it is necessary. go figure.

i always laugh to myself when i see folks rubbing the spoon and fork with a piece of tissue before they eat, like that will help. all they did was just move whatever bacteria may be on the utensil around on it, they surely did not remove it.

japanese fast food ... unless you're a japanese food snob, bangkok rocks for availability

well today, thursday the 30th, i was lucky enough to not be tied to the office, or have to cook for anyone, so i took advantage of that and had some japanese fast food at the paragon mall with my good friend mike. not the mike who has the blog, but another mike, blog-less mike. you can see his torso in the picture. he was a bit put out when i told him that i knew i was not getting his face in the frame and that it was the food i was concerned about. i also forgot that they frown on picture taking at this particular establishment (seems there is a lot of corporate spying and theft of ideas in asia so many places forbid photos. so i made it look like i was taking blog-less mike's picture instead, which didn't work out as well as i had hoped) so i did not get a shot of blog-less mike's sushi assortment, because the waitress came over and politely asked me to not take anymore pics. too bad, it was the star attraction and it looked exactly like the picture in the menu.

this is what we had:

shrimp and salmon sushi

pork gyoza

zaro soba cha zoba with pork

blog-less mike's missing sushi combo miso soup

total cost: 1,100 thai baht/$33.00 usd

it really is too bad i got caught out with the picture taking, blog-less mike's sushi was just stunning to look at, and it tasted super fresh too. one of the pieces was bbq'd/teriyaki cuttle fish. blog-less mike was stunned that it was soft, and not chewy. he was afraid to try it at first for fear of being disappointed, but he was not.

this place fuji is one of the better fast food japanese restaurants in town and the menu is probably 20 pages long encompassing a wide variety of traditional and "new-wave" japanese food. seems these types of restaurants are not so popular in japan. usually a place sticks to one type of food, like sushi, or teppanyaki 鉄板焼き, and that is it. lucky for us that we have these bastardized places to go to where we can sample a variety of japanese food all in one sitting.

here are a few picture links to fuji food i snagged off google.
obviously the waitress did not stop these folks from snapping some pics:

• pic 1
• pic 2
• pic 3
• pic 4
• pic 5
• pic 6
• pic 7
• pic 8
• pic 9
• pic 10
• pic 11
• pic 12
• pic 13
• pic 14
• pic 15

most of the above pics came from a nice blog by this girl, check it.

• note: i googled images for the word "bastardized", this is what came up. funny thing, most of the images were of food.

3rd in a series on - my tools and technologies for gettin' out this food

i figure i need to put some of this into perspective. i keep mentioning that i have only one burner, well here it is. it is the same one many of the street vendors use in bkk. works like a charm, produces a good strong even flame, and it is quite adjustable too. definitely a challenge to prep and plan a multi-course meal with only one burner on hand. back home they probably call this a camp stove.

notice the burner comes right off the gas tank's nipple.
no exhaust hood either, and perfectly legal for bkk.
i would rather have this than a four burner conventional electric stove any day.
go figure.