my flogging lunch ...

as you may have noticed, all 2 of you that monitor this flog, i have been working on its layout and content all day today. so i had to have lunch to keep me energized and perky. i had some leftover chicken from the "khao man gai", ข้าวมันไก่, i bought yesterday, a rib of celery and some bermuda onion. i minced that all up, added 2 spoons of mayo and some chopped parsley, fresh ground black pepper and a smidgen of salt. assembled it all on some "khanom-pan-ping", ขนมปังปิ้ง, toasted yamazaki whole wheat bread, with the ever-so-necessary-over-abundance of iceberg lettuce. "a-raawy-thee-soot", อร่อยที่สุด, tastiest and most delicious

why the asian bakeries do not make a loaf that has a face large enough to produce good sized slices for sandwiches is no mystery to me, but it is a source of aggravation. i just like to have a broader surface for the filling, which makes for a slightly thinner profile on the sandwich of my desire, and it is easier to handle whilst i am feeding it into my neck.

also see here a second in my series of tools and technologies i find useful in the kitchen: the dipped edge sandwich knife from f dick, of germany. it has a great serrated edge, is just the right stiffness for a blade of this type, and it allows you to slice over-stuffed sandwiches with ease. this one has been in my tool box for years. note that someone who does not respect cutlery has broken the tip of the knife off. wherever you are, i hope someone casts your first borne into the abyss like the societies of old used to do.

please note: i use a computer generated translation for the thai, so if its wrong, ask these guys.

i think a sandwich like this needs some kool krunch
to compliment the soft mayo texture of the chicken,
thus the minced celery and the over abundance of krispy iceberg.
my personal taste is never to use tomatoes, i find they fek-up the toast.

i have had this knife for over 10 or 12 years now.
f dick dipped edge sandwich knife.
good for tomatoes too, if you are not going to put them on my sandwich that is.
mine is so old it has a wooden handle,
the cataloge only shows them with sani-safe handles now.
practical in one sense,
but hard on the hand by the end of a long deli-day if you ask me.
for home use they should be ok,
and dish washer safe for all you prats
who break the golden rule and put tools in your dish machine.
shame on you and not very safe either.

now if you are really into tuna sandwiches, check out mike's.

second day, am i already bored wth this gig? NAH, just gettin' started.

today was actually all day breakfast day, don't-cha just love all day breakfast. i can smell the denny's grand slam and the international house's big ass stack from here.

today's lunch was supposed to be an easy and fast one, but i do this not just for myself, but also 3 others. and they be up-stairs and down the hall, so 3 out of 4 of these get packed-up, trekked-up and then assembled on premise. took an hour's time to produce and serve. i guess the years of catering off-site are paying off finally. i say finally, cuz not many of my former employers ever really came across with the dough for all that work and injun-nuity.

anyways what we gots is a 3-egg fluffy omelet, or is that omelette? i never could get that right. nor brocolli and recipei either. i guess the former is correct as the spellchecker in this flog's control panel is puttin' that dotted line under the later. they were stuffed with a saute of shrimp, leeks (yes again), bermuda onions, garlic, red capsicum peppers, tomato concasse, fresh thai basil and curly parsley. all set to sweat in extra-virgin olive oil and de-glazed with thai sherry. the shit costs about two dollars a bottle, can not be drunk, but works great in the pain, i use it for most dishes that need wine.

on the side was some great local thai bacon rashers, a baked potato grown in china and dressed with sour cream. whole wheat toast from the yamazaki bakery, and a cup of nestle's instant 3-in-1 coffee. disgustingly sweet and full of powdered creamer, but it goes down alright and cuts the bacon fat quite nicely.

the eggs here in thailand are not like those back home state-side. the yolks tend to be much more orange in color than the very yellow ones i grew up with in new england, organically grown, and they are tasting just great too. further, i have never seen bermudha onions in the average thai market, and they were actually priced quite cheaply.

the potatoes that are available have vastly improved since i first started cooking here 16 years ago. these were nice and starchy and had a great fluff to them. the bacon is belucky brand. cut just a tad thicker than most and always more meat than fat. and, it actually is packed in a wrapper that allows you to see the bacon.

the bread, as i said, came from the yamazaki dudes. a japanese style bakery that is all over town, and the world for that matter. most of there products are too sweet for me, but the whole wheat and the 7 grain are spot on. i always spread it with olive oil margarine now, tastes great and better for us all. it really does have the taste of olive oil. i used to mix whole butter and olive oil in the pan, thinking i was cheating the cholesterol thing, so now i actually can, or at least kid myself that i am.

missing, a surprisingly not too sweet danish from yamazki.

i'm now trying to figure out what to have tomorrow, but no idea, maybe tuna sandwiches, i do have three cans of nautilus chunk white tuna packed in water, just like my my mom taught me. NO TUNA IN OIL! and i always do what my mom says when i am in the kitchen, after all, she and her mom got me started on all this food insanity by feeding only the best home-cooked foods i ever had the pleasure to enjoy.