Never say "hoy" in Thailand and other useful (less) information

HELLO Bangkok!

Me, my Momsie, Tito Nico, and his son Joel

After a 45-minute delay, a gate change, a short bus ride on the tarmac, a thunderstorm (complete with lots of lightning) viewed from above, a bit of turbulence, a chatty German fellow for a seatmate, a nice Taiwanese guy offering me his dinner (he claimed he was full, but I think he thought I was starving), and 3 and quarter hours in the air 5J 931 made it to Suvarnabhumi.

I cannot even begin to tell you how happy I am to be here. For one, I've missed my Dad... and I missed the food. Hey, at least I'm honest!

Pop had a feast waiting for us back at the condo. I was too hungry to take more pictures. The shrimp was succulent and sweet, the lumpia-thing refreshingly herby, and the crab sticks firm and crabby (eh?).

Boiled shrimp, crab sticks, fresh lumpia reminiscent of popiah and fiery dips

Woke up a couple of hours ago after 6 glorious hours of horizontal sleep (I can never sleep in moving vehicles - can you?) and started eating again. Sliced up a whole honeydew melon and ate it (still am) while surfing the Net.

Later on, the water madness of Songkran begins... I got my high-powered water gun and my bikini ready!

Oh, and today's lesson? Pinoys, never say "hoy!" around here... It may be the quintessential greeting/beckoning utterance back home but here it refers to the vajayjay. ;-) 

The Food Blog is BACK!

Just a short break from my random ramblings about life to say:

My food blog is up and running again! Yey!

Do come by and leave a word or two!

Day 22: My Last Hurrah... Blue Pill, Please!

I'm still in denial that yesterday was my last full day in Bangkok (and later, the last time I'll be sleeping in this house for this trip) so I woke up a little later than usual. I even logged on to my work email, answered emails, posted documents and other such work-related things. I also made lunch (ginisang giniling and buttered veggies - snowpeas, carrots and baby corn), which Dad was unable to eat coz he had an 11am to 12nn meeting (I can relate).

After lunch, I washed plates, poked around FaceBook, lurked in a few blogs... then took a bath. A few minutes before Sissy and I were to leave for Central World, the heavens opened up and cried for me. Aaaawwww, I know how it feels! I really hate to leave.

The rain abated at 4pm and on to the BTS - Sala Daeng station Sissy and I went (Sis opted to stay home and sleep). We got off at the Siam station and walked to Central World. We got Bro's Skullcandy Asym earphones in white then stopped by Gelate on the second floor. We had blackberry (nicely sweet and tart but full of those gosh-darned seeds!) and vanilla bean! Yum!

We took the BTS back to Sala Daeng and went on to Body Shop at Silom Complex. On our way out, we spotted Ete - a shop that claims to sell home-made ice cream. Being ice cream, monsters, Sissy and I sat down to Mint Chocolate Chip and Rookie Rocky (rocky road meets cookies and cream). We had originally wanted Cookie Dough and Bannofee but they were out of stock. I'm still gonna try tomorrow, even if it means being late for my flight! Harhar...

Popsie and the Three Little Pigs sat down to a dinner of lunch leftovers plus kai thot from my favorite vendor on Convent - I'll miss those guys! After dinner... more ice cream! Dad finished off the quart of Rum Raisin from Swensen's while Sis and I tried but failed to conquer the Midnight Brownies. Partida, I ate almost a quarter of a whole papaya before I even started on the ice cream!

Plans for tomorrow include: jogging at Lumpini Park in the morning (I also want to take pictures in one of the park's many playgrounds), lunch at the kai yang place on Convent, a trip to Ete for Cookie Dough ice cream, and an early lunch at Manong English along Convent. But you know what they say about plans: they're but plans till they actually happen!

Goodnight, guys! See you in Manila!

*sigh*

Day 21: Denial, (something better than) Dreyer's and Dinaldalem

Today is my second to the last day in beautiful Bangkok. I was full of plans: wake up early, check out the shops on one of the satellite streets along Thanon Silom (and buy a few things, of course), do the laundry, cook lunch, whisk my sisters to Central World for gelato and a little bit of retail therapy, come home and make dinner, have some Swensen's ice cream then do another circuit of Thanon Silom in the night time.

But something unexpected happened: I opened my office mail and answered a few messages. Then a few more. Another one here and a couple more there... Before I knew it, it was 4 in the afternoon and I wondered where the day had gone.

In the interest of fairness, I was able to do one load of laundry (Sissy went to the laundromat with me), made lunch (just fried a few pieces of chicken and asked Sissy to get some pad thai from Momsie's favorite vendor along Thanon Convent), cooked dinaldalem for dinner, hung the laundry out to dry, got ice cream to go from Swensen's, and went on the Silom circuit.

I get asked this a lot: what's dinaldalem? When I was in high school (senior year), my roomie brought a dish with pork strips, pork liver and potatoes (P-cubed, yeah huh?) and I immediately exclaimed, "wow, dinaldalem!" to which my roomie (Lani, it was, who hails from Bataan) replied, "higado yan". Right... same dish, different names. In Ilocano, dalem is liver. So the dish literally means "liver-ed" or "cooked with liver". Traditionally, when a pig is slaughtered, some of the better parts of the pig are taken and sliced (still warm, ugh!) then cooked in a big pot with strips of liver, garlic, vinegar, salt (or fish sauce/patis) and cracked black pepper. Imagine adobo with patis instead of salt and you get dinaldalem. I ate it a lot growing up: my Mom's version, another by my Nanay (Mom's mom), another by my Mommy (Dad's mom), or by one of Nanay's siblings (they're all great cooks. Must have inherited that gene... eherm!). But I have a secret: I have never tried cooking it until yesterday.

According to my Popsie (who has eaten more than twenty versions of the dish), it is good and spicy. Ooops, I may have gotten a little heavy-handed on the ground black pepper but what the hey! It was edible and, I must admit, quite nice. The pork was tender and the chicken liver (my favorite kind of liver, besting even foie gras) was cooked just right. I think I'll be making this dish a few more times in the next few weeks (in Manila, though. *sigh* ) to perfect it. Harharhar...

Before we had dinner, we went to Watson's at C.P. Tower on Thanon Silom - a couple of buildings away from Dad's office - to pick up a few toiletries for my sisters. It was also having a sale, so all the better! We met up with Popsie at the store then went over to Swensen's on the lower ground floor. Swensen's is an ice cream parlor and is (according to the impression I got, anyway) a local brand. Thais are very loyal to their local brands, which may explain why the branches I see are usually packed. They're also very common here. To date I have counted at least five branches all over the places in the city (C.P Tower on Silom, Central World on Ratchadamri, Siam Paragon, Platinum Mall and MBK) that I have visited.

I was expecting to get a tall glass with three or four flavors but Dad suggested getting a quart (149 baht) or two (249 baht) to go. Being a sucker for all things frozen and creamy (and delicious), I went for the two-for-249 promo. We got Rum Raisin and Midnight Brownies. After placing your order, they hand-scoop the stuff into plastic quart container, wrap them up in aluminated (as in, lined in aluminum?) paper bags with their red and silver logo all over - with a few pieces of dry ice. The packaging is so cute! Efficient too, with an added bonus of watching your toilet bowl bubble and spew smoke for a good five minutes when you dispose of the dry ice (we live about five minutes away - on foot - so the pieces were more or less intact). Just remember to turn on the vent!

What can I say? The texture was beautiful... too dense to be ice cream but too light to be gelato, it was creamy and smooth - melting almost as soon as it hits the tongue and coats the mouth with a film of flavor that's so... there! The Rum Raisin packs a punch - the rum assails your taste buds (not too strong - for me anyway, as I love big flavors) then mellows out to let the velvety vanilla shine through. When all the cold ice cream melts away, you're left with whole pieces of rum-soaked golden raisins to munch on. Perfection!

A contrast to the in-your-face flavors of the Rum Raisin was the stealthy-but-oh-so-sinfully-good oral attack (that somehow sounded so wrong!) of the Midnight Brownies. The first spoonful makes you go, "hmmm... chocolate. Brownie bits. Quite good" that progresses to " Ah, maybe a darker sort of milk chocolate. The brownie chunks are so moist!" and culminates in a " ... a creamy dark-but-milk-chocolate. Velvety chocolate. Oustanding brownies... Must eat more. More! MORE!" by the fifth spoonful. It's a trap, a flavor that holds on and doesn't let go until the last spoonful. Such eating pleasure! Chocolate bliss or Buddha-hood, you decide.

The texture reminds me of Dreyer's but smoother and creamier. The flavors are bigger... and I wish I started eating my way through their menu the moment I arrived. Woe is me. Lesson learned. Day 1: eat ice cream at Swensen's after lunch. Dinner, have gelato at Central World. Repeat until my visa expires. Harhar...

After indulging in two-days worth of calories in ice cream, Sissy and I went on a circuit on Thanon Silom. Our usual route is: right to Silom from Convent, straight until right before Rama IV, cross Silom to get to the other side (yes, the side where Thanon Pat Pong is - with the ping pong show. Harhar...), walk on until a little past United Center then cross again, go back along Silom until Convent. Then Walk on to convent to Soi Phi Pat 2 para makauwi ng bahay. In that short stretch of sidewalk we covered (took as an hour, since we were browsing the merchandise, of course), we bought: three fabulous watches and a couple of pairs of high-heeled shoes. And we spent less than 800 baht. Happiness!

At Liberty Square (Silom corner Convent), we saw Khun Chao with his roti cart. While he was making my usual roti with egg, we asked him what time he packs up to go home (he's usually in front of our condo at 6pm then he moves to Liberty Square at around 8pm) and were shocked when he replied "3 in the morning". I'm going to miss him and his yummy roti.

For those who keep asking, roti is "bread"... but this specific product is not of the baked sort. It starts out as a supple ball of dough soaking in what I think is a sort of flavored oil(midway between the size of a tennis ball and a golf ball). Khun Chao whacks it on the greased surface of his cart, which he pulls and shapes until it is paper thin and about 12 inches in diameter. He then sets this afloat on a puddle of oil in the middle of a 16-inch hotplate (bowled in the center to hold the oil). After three seconds, he cracks open an egg onto the roti dough and spreads it around, allowing it to cook in less than seven second. He then folds the sides over until he forms a square. This is then flipped over and a dollop of margarine is added. He allows both sides to brown, drains it for a few seconds on a rack before placing it on a chopping board. It is chopped into sixteen bite-sized squares, loaded onto a piece of stiff paper, drenched in condensed milk, crowned with granulated white sugar and poked with a single wooden skewer. 18 baht will buy you this culinary wonder and I have been having it almost everyday for the past two weeks...

*sigh* I only have less than 48 hours left until I need to leave Thai soil and step on my Lupang Hinirang... I still cant decide if I'm happy about it or not.

I still don't want to go home. I wonder if the classifieds show some promise...

Day 20: Three More Days, More Cooking and Rain, Finally!

I woke up after 9am yesterday. It has become quite a habit and I hope I don't carry it over to Manila, when I need to go back to work (argh!).

Like I said, for lunch, I just reheated the gambas I cooked the other night (made specifically for next-day consumption) and what was left of the sinigang. After lunch, I defrosted a kilo of chicken thighs (seven huge pieces) and stuck them in a marinade. For those who'd want to replicate it (this is for you, Sissy, since you love it so much), here's how I did it:

Wash the chicken thighs and clean out the butts if they're still stuck on there. Get a gallon-size Ziplock bag - make sure it's clean! Into the bag, pour in about four tablespoons of good patis (fish sauce), the juice of three limes (the tiny Thai ones) and about a teaspoon of ground black pepper. Smoosh around to mix then toss the chicken pieces in. Burp as much air from the bag as possible and seal. Smoosh the chicken around to ensure even distribution. Store in the chiller section of your fridge while it marinates. If the chicken pieces are a bit thick, score on the non-skin surface to facilitate cooking.

Heat up a bit of oil in a non-stick pan, about 1/8 inch deep. Heat up to 160 degrees Celsius (at least that's what the induction cooker says the temp is). Pat the chicken pieces with a paper towel to get rid of excess marinade (don't be tempted into allowing it to drip into the hot oil, it won't add flavor. It'll just burn due to the sugars from the lime, trust me) then place it skin-side down on the hot oil. Cook for 3-4 minutes or until the skin browns and crisps up. Lower the temperature to 130 degrees Celsius and flip the piece of chicken. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until juices run clear.

Ideally, the meat should stay in the marinade overnight. The first four pieces that I cooked for dinner last night stayed in the marinade for less than four hours but was already flavorful. The last three pieces should taste better for lunch later (paired with pad thai from Mom's favorite vendor on Thanon Convent. Must remind her - mai sai prik!) and I can't wait!

I also reheated the last of the chop suey (discovered the survivors in a microwaveable container at the rear-most reaches of the fridge) with some of the broccoli I blanched earlier yesterday. Perfect!

So I didn't leave the house, as it rained several times today. Plans to go to Central World for last-minute purchases was thwarted by Mother Nature. Awww darn, I had three days left until I need to head back to Manila (aka, the Real World) and I lost one day to the rain. Ironically, I love the rain and I was glad it rained today - it was getting too warm. Still... one day lost! Oh agony! (I'm kidding, of course)

Later on today (since it's not almost 4am), I'm going to the laundromat to help the sisters load their washing. Then head out to Thanon Convent for the pad thai - must be there at 11am. Lunch hour gets crazy! After lunch, the Three Little Pigs will head out to Central World for last-minute purchases which will include (available merchandise and remaining baht willing): a baseball cap, ground coriander, microwave anti-spatter dome, and some toiletries for the sisters. Of course, a trip to Central World warrants another visit to Gelate. I wonder if their Lemon Sorbet is any good...

Day 19: Central World, More Cooking and Internet Failure

Yesterday, I did a little bit of cooking too. Just seasoned some beautiful pork loins with salt, pepper and granulated garlic before shallow pan-frying them to just-cooked juiciness. Paired this with the last of yesterday's chop suey. Thank goodness, goodbye chop suey. Enough consumption for one year, methinks.

After lunch, the Three Little Pigs went to Big C to purchase the last of the stuff I want to bring back to Manila. After the purchases (and a pint of DQ Oreo Blizzard), we went on to Central World, which is like Shangri-La Mall (on Shaw Blvd) on steroids. A little bit of cam-whoring in the ladies' room (yeah, we are a picture-hungry lot!) and a lot of walking around, we settled into three scoops of amazing gelato at Gelate on the fourth floor. The Ferrero tasted exactly like its namesake: crushed, refrigerated and made creamier. The kiwi was like peeling, pureeing and freezing the fruit then popping it in your mouth: kiwi-flavored brain freeze! It was beautifully flecked with those tiny black seeds. The passionfruit was the best of the lot, in my opinion and Sissy's. It was appropriately sweet, tart and luscious. A perfect palate cleanser after the decadence of the Ferrero and a good follow up to the mild flavor of the kiwi. We're going back... maybe tomorrow.

When we got home, Dad was home and we cooked sinigang na ulo ng salmon with lots of shrimps. Woohoo! Popsie also defrosted the smaller shrimps by mistake, so he peeled those and I cooked up another batch of gambas for today's lunch.

After dinner, went online.. only to lose the internet at around 1am. Sucks, but no right to complain... we're only freeloading on the darn connection. So God bless whoever owns that account, hehehe. It also rained last night and I didn't realize until that moment how much I missed it. I almost ran up to the rooftop to cavort under the raindrops, but checked myself as it was 1:30am and I certainly do not want to get sick on my last couple of days here.

This morning, just heated up the gambas and sinigang for lunch. I also blanched the broccoli and asparagus for later use (purchased last Sunday, they were quickly losing freshness... sayang naman! They make for good snacking anyway). No plans for today... yet. Just more wishful thinking that I didn't have to go back to Manila.

*sigh*

Day 18: House Arrest, Chopping the Suey and Packing Up

Today found me here at home... all day! I found I wasn't too sleep deprived last night so six hours of snooze time was enough for me. Woke up at 8am, and immediately went into cooking overdrive. Yes, cooking. On the menu: chop suey.

Defrost the pork? Check!
Peel the shrimps? Check!
Wash and cut up the veggies? Check!
Clean the straw mushrooms (and discard those that have gone bad since yesterday)? Check!
Slice the pork into thin strips? Check!

So into a cold pan (yes, cold. As in, no heat on the burner...) went strips of pork fat, skin on. Turned the heat up to Medium and let the fat render (ah, pork fat... smells so good!). In the meantime, bashed up and minced six cloves of garlic. Diced a good-sized onion too, shedding a few tears in the process. After a good ten minutes in the pan, I fished out the now-crispy pork, lowered the heat to low and tossed the garlic in, followed by the onions a minute later. Tossed in a good amount of patis and let that cook. Turned the heat back up to Medium, tossed in lean pork and let that cook for a good seven minutes. Added a good splash of oyster sauce and some water.

When the contents of the pan came up to a boil, I returned the cracklings, eeerrr... crisped pork strips. Dumped in the bell peppers, carrots, baby corn, asparagus, and straw mushrooms. Let that cook for four minutes (more like five, though) before tossing in the shrimp, broccoli and Chinese pechay. After two minutes, adjusted the seasoning (needed a bit of salt) and added a cornstarch slurry to thicken the sauce.

Et viola! Ready for lunch... unfortunately, it was a lunch made for eight people. There are only four of us here at home. All good, though. Leftovers were cleaned up at dinnertime.

So today, I didn't leave the house... not even to go down to the ground floor... I'm starting to like days like this and I don't want to go back to Manila! I don't want to go back to work! Boohoohoo...

Anyway, I repacked my stuff earlier this evening and I succeeded in fitting most of them into a couple of sports bags. The rest of my clothes will go into my hand-carried luggage. Only 1 kilo overbaggage! Hah! Blame the suitcase! Dead weight = 5 kilos! Grrrrr... On the upside, I may or may not pay for that one kilo at the airport (hey, 320 baht can still buy me a dress! Or a pair of shoes...). On the downside, I have an excuse to squeeze in a little more shopping. Uh-oh...

So tomorrow, The Three Little Pigs will go to Central World and Siam Paragon for some last-minute purchases... then the bag stuffing shall begin in earnest. Thankfully, I bought all my pasalubong yesterday and have been able to allocate luggage space for them.

Only four days to go and I will bid beautiful Bangkok sawasdee kha. I wish I didn't have to leave...

Day 15: TechnoMart Flashback, Pesto Pasta and an Empty Ratchaprasong

Woke up at 9:30am today after a little over 6 hours of sleep. Too much drinking from the previous night rendered my brain useless for anything except sleep and the occasional nocturnal sojourns to the bathroom to take a leak.

Lunch was sinigang na spareribs (which I burned my tongue on, durnit). I pigged out, naturally, before spending a little time chatting over YM. Shopping is over and done with (theoretically... is it wishful thinking?) so no plans to go out to Silom tonight. After all, walang pasok so only a few vendors would be out there. So what to do?

Like I said, today's goal was techno-overload. On the itinerary: Pantip Mall.

Popsie, Bradir and I took a cab to the said mall, which was a few meters away from Platinum Mall (tempting, indeed!). Looking at five floors of electronic madness, I was transported to TechoMart in Seoul - circa December 2008. That time, I bought a PSP and a Cowon O2 for Jen. This time, I bought... nothing. Harhar. I was looking for a 500GB external hard drive but Popsie kept insisting on a 1 terabyte drive. "Konti lang kasi ang diperensya ng presyo", he says. But how on Earth do I fill up 1000GB? My pictures, despite how huge a picture-freak I am, will barely take up 10% of that space! So what to do? Postpone the purchase for the trip to what Popsie refers to as I.T. Mall... wherever that is!

Walking back to Big C from Pantip, I noticed something strange: Ratchaprasong (the shopping area/district along Thanon Ratchadamri - you know, all those designer stores and those malls surrounded by hotels) was strangely empty. Like Ayala Ave during Holy Week. Like my brain when I go back to work on the eleventh. Mwehehehehe...

When I got home, it was time to check the AS400's after the shutdown. It was ok, a few missing records but nothing a manual run can't fix. Mom made pesto to smother the spiralli with, while Sissy and I walked along Convent to Silom for some kai thot (fried chicken). At 10 baht for each chicken leg, not a bad deal eh?

I'm still not in blogging mode, as I'm a bit sad that Mom and Bradir are leaving for Manila tomorrow night. Almost makes me wish I booked my flight for January the second instead of the ninth. Almost is the operative word since, truth be told, I'm not ready to go back to the Philippines yet. If it were up to me, I'd stay here for a year. Harhar...

But that's not in my hands... so I'm doing what I can: drinking up this ice-cold 630-ml bottle of Singha beer. It's light and a bit sweet: like San Miguel Light crossed with Cerveza Negra. Cheers to 2010!

P.S. The Weather Pixies look so cute! They all have fireworks in their own skies... Either that or I'm drunk... Hardeeharhar!

Day 9, Day 10 and Day 11 - No Internet, No Life!

My internet has been on downtime since Christmas Day. Am now at Starbucks (it's more expensive here... just like in Seoul. A bid to lure the peeps to buy local? Maybe!) taking advantage of the Wi-Fi, which is peng mak (very expensive) at 150 THB for an hour. WTF?!? But what the hey, beggars can't be choosy... on second thought, I chose to pay for this so I should stop complaining and start blogging, yes? Yes. On to the post...

Anyway, Day 9 found my family in Thana City in Bang Na (near the Suvarnabhumi Airport) for CFC Central Bangkok's get together. It's theoretically a post-Christmas party but it's really just an excuse to get together, have a potluck lunch/dinner of delicious Filipino food and sing karaoke the way only Pinoys can.

Momsie and Popsie camped out in the living room until early morning to finish cooking pork spareribs adobo and my Mom's special kare-kare (to the uninitiated, it's pork hock in peanut sauce and eaten with shrimp paste). Mom and the Three Little Pigs made the nata de coco delight on Christmas Eve.

Thana City is like Eastwood City - a veritable garden of condominiums and golf courses. Of course I exaggerate. There was just one golf course. I stick by my claim of a garden of condos, thought. At the Prestige Condo, there were two swimming pools. TWO, darnit! While in our condo at Silom, we had a shower. No tub. Where's the justice in that? Oh... we're just a few minutes by bus, train or cab from the nearest malls. Bang Na takes half an hour by cab on the highway. There's the trade-off. Ok, I rest my case.

Being the picture-fiends that we were, we had several sets of 10-second timed ten shots in the playground (yes, there was a playground) and the gazebo. My family is a crazy lot, as you all probably already know. Pics are on Facebook, just in case you're curious. Friends-only, though, so don't say I didn't warn you.

As I've said, Bang Na is near the airport so every now and then a plane roars through the sky, making us look up. I have the habit of trying to identify the airline by the markings on the tail fin and body, so I kept chanting "Thai Airways, Air France, Cebu Pacific, AeroFLot... wait, is that PAL?" with every new take-off. Bro and Wifey cringed at each one, though, as they were due to leave in a couple of days. Boohoohoo...

We got home late to Bang Rak... like 10pm? The sisters and Bradir stayed up till the wee hours of the morning. I hit the sack at midnight. The next day was shopping day, so I needed my energy to be UP UP UP!

Day 10 - Jatujak, here I come! We left for Jatujak at 11am. We took the BTS to the Mo Chit station then walked. And walked. And walked. Then we shopped. And shopped. And shopped. Oh, yeah...we shopped too. Then we got sunburned. But who cares about sunburn when I was able to buy my pasalubong for my whole team plus my officemates... and a few other items for special peeps in my life? *wink wink*

After Jatujak, we took the MRT back to Sala Daeng Station. After a close encounter with the not-so-dead/not-so-living, we walked on to Burger King. After a heavy snack (no lunch... we opted to stay hungry and keep shopping - not a bad idea, on hindsight), we decided not to go on to MBK and Panthip that day. So Bro and Wifey went on to MBK with Popsie to buy more pasalubong while the Three Little Pigs plus Mom and Bradir went on home.

I had a bum stomach that night but I still went out with my sibs and Mom to feed Bradir some kwai chap. We also proceeded to get drunk... on soy milk (I prefer the one with sesame seeds - not too sweet). We also went walking along Silom in search of a few things to buy (shopping, of course, is first and foremost on everyone's mind). But my tummy allowed me to walk just one block when it beckoned me home for "call of duty". There's still tomorrow, anyway.

Day 11 - Bro and Wifey are flying back to Manila at 11pm tonight. I also finished re-reading The Time Traveller's Wife... and cried again, like I did the first time. FInally, Jen and I can discuss the novel (again) without me forgetting the little details (I need Memo Plus Gold - Kuya Kim had something going there!) and muttering "I need to read it again". I also made a BIG decision today: something that will change the course of three lives, one of them mine. What that is and why I made that decision is for me to know (and for you to find out, dear reader. Unless you're one of those whose lives will change) so don't ask. I won't tell. Let's not waste each other's time.

Cooking is a sure-fire stress reliever for me so I defrosted and peeled a kilo and a half of shrimps. Then I cut up five heads of broccoli, minced a head of garlic, a large onion and diced four tomatoes. I made garlic-buttered broccoli and gambas. Both dishes were wiped out at dinner.

So now, it is the beginning of Day 12 and my internet is still dead as Ninoy and Cory. But free internet is out there...somewhere. It takes patience to find it and not have to exchange a new dress for an hour online. Unfortunately, patience is not my virtue...

Day 7 and Day 8: No Action... Then Too Much Action!!!

Day 7: The plan was to get up early and frolic at Lumpini Park. What do you think happened? Of course none of my supposed companions woke up in time to go to the park! So what does a girl with thwarted plans do? Stay online, of course! I edited my photos list and posted what I thought was postable... then I slept. For a little while.

When I woke up, Sissy and I helped Momsie cook one of my favorite foods: spareribs casserole! So in our bed clothes, we cut and squeezed the limes then peeled and minced garlic. Fun, fun, fun!

Early in the evening, Momsie and Bradir dragged me to United Center to fetch Popsie. Before I knew it, we were on the BTS at the Sala Daeng station en route to the grocery.

Now, I do love trains and all its incarnations (digression: I've never been on the PNR trains. Although I know the rails have been rehabilitated and new trains have been installed, the trains of yore still haunt me... you know, coffins on rails?) so I expected to be wowed by Bangkok's BTS. I was not disappointed. Stations and trains reminiscent of LRT Purple Line (aka LRT2) had me at....errr, I dunno what the announcer said. It was in Thai. Hehehehe... Nonetheless, I absolutely loved the train. Though the foot traffic reminds me the MRT at rush hour (think Magallanes North Bound at 6:30pm), Thai peeps don't bump and jostle. In fact, they don't mind being a few minutes late in boarding the train as long as they make as little bodily contact as possible. Practical, maybe not. Polite, most definitely.

So... on to the grocery. It's pretty much an ordinary grocery store. Kinda like Shopwise or Cash and Carry. Except I found a few things to shoot (covertly, as cameras aren't allowed in there) and they scared me sh*tless...

We got home quite late, which made me miss a few important YM messages but what the hey... I can always leave offlines. *wink*

Day 8: Christmas Day. Sissy's 19th birthday. Temple Tour day! I woke up at 8am (GMT +7) after just 4 hours of sleep... Since the Little Pigs were still snoring, I went online and chatted with Kyx. I also saw Jen and Nikka via webcam for a few minutes. (Ang laki na ni Nikka! I really miss her!)

After a quick lunch at Somtam Convent (Bradir's first time), we were on the BTS towards the Saphan Taksin station where the ferries were to take us down the Chao Phraya River and on to the wats (temples).

First stop: Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn) where the Hundred Buddhas are. There's also an obelisk-like tower which we were able to climb for 50 THB (about 70php), which was all good except that 1) I was required to wear a cardigan over my sleeveless dress and, 2) Wifey was afraid of heights. Nonetheless, we got some great shots (including one of moi sitting on the higher terrace overlooking the Chao Phraya River... before the guard blew on his whistle vigorously and signalled furiously for us to get off that darn terrace).

Second stop: Wat Po (Temple of... I have no idea). Home of the Reclining Buddha... that HUGE piece of gold shaped into the classic Buddha. We actually took more pictures here than at Wat Arun, mostly because we were fascinated with my camera's 10-second timed - 10 shot function. Just kidding! We were a photo-crazy lot so we took lots of pictures!

After dragging ourselves around the wats, we went on to the Grand Palace. Unfortunately, we got there 20 minutes after closing time so we took a couple of tuk-tuks to Siam Paragon, BKK's answer to Power Plant + Shangri-La Mall. We had dinner at Sizzlers (reminiscent of Friday's), which included unlimited soup, salad and dessert for everyone who ate there. We spent 3,000 THB for eight hungry peeps... not bad!

With full bellies, we went on the BTS back to Sala Daeng to have some ice cream at Swensen's. Alas, we arrived a few minutes after closing time (not our lucky day) so we postponed it for another day... hopefully on the 27th, as Bro and Wifey are leaving on the 28th.

So, will tomorrow be as busy as Day 8? I sure hope NOT! However, there's still a lot of shopping ahead... and Swensen's... and Gelatoni... and...

Bangkok: Day 3 - Can You Stomach This?

This is my series on my holiday vacation in Bangkok. Here are the other posts:
Day 1 and Day 2

Day 3 began lazily... literally. My sisters and I were in bed until 10AM. Though I woke up at 7:30AM (force of habit: 4 hours of sleep is plenty), I stayed in bed for an additional two hours, on office IM with Kyx and checking office email (eeewww!).

When the household began to stir, I went to work making two kinds of fried rice (oyster sauce and adobo), frying hotdogs and making sunny side-ups while sipping Betagen (Yakult but way better!) in front of the stove. Sissy took over my IM, chatting with Kyx.

After a particularly heavy brunch (made heavier with some spicy dumplings to be dipped in a black-vinegar like concoction), the family members all took our own individual naps (I didn't... I just wrote a few notes, took stock of my shopping expenses and packed away the stuff I bought from the day before) while Bro and Wifey opted for some QTT.

Three hours later, we were taking our baths (The Three Little Pigs always bathe together... hehehe) and trading sneakers to go walking/running/jogging at Lumpini Park. The park reminds me of Burnham in Baguio. Burnham on steroids. It has two (?) lagoons, vast running paths and a multitude of people. It had at least three areas for aerobics or yoga or whatnot... and at least two playgrounds.

The family and I got there late; it was almost evening when we started walking (and Bro started running with Wifey and Sis). Not much photo opportunities so we vowed to come back when the sun was higher in the sky and our cameras didn't need a flash to get our faces on memory. Harhar...

So we walked along Silom again, stopping to look at some shoes on the sidewalk (killer heels ala-Blair for only 140 THB!), some funky shirts (caricature of a sad groom and happy bride with "GAME OVER" written below), and some mango with sticky rice. Mango with sticky rice!!! Aaaarrgghhh... I bought two orders (80THB each) with a fist-size ball of sticky rice and one whole mango each.

We hurried along to have steaming bowls of kwai chap... fresh rice sheet noodles and various animal parts that never see the sunlight in a meaty and satisfying broth. For only 45 THB, this was good chow. A big serving too, as I barely finished mine.

Patpong was part of the plan, but it was still too early (8pm) and we wanted to wait for Bradir on the 23rd so we postponed our... adult education for another day. So on we walked, stopping by 7-11 for a bottle of yummy soy milk and a few bottles of freshly-squeezed dalandan juice.

Back home, we talked more about our childhood - mostly gross, embarrassing stuff like who pooped in whose jeans (not me!), who got lost in the department store (me!), and other childhood antics. I missed these guys... and am glad I'm here.

So back to the mango with sticky rice... it was gone in five minutes. Sweet, juicy slices of mango chased down with rice topped with viscous gata... heaven in a mouthful.

Now excuse me while I wipe the drool from my chin... That vendor will see more of me every night!

Bangkok: Day 1 and Day 2 - Sleep is Futile

After a 30 minute delay, three gate changes and a lot of cranky passengers, I finally got on the plane for the 3 hour, 25 minute flight to see my family. I picked the wrong flight to get on, apparently, as I got here almost 1am BKK time (2am Manila). Next time, I'll pick an earlier flight.

Methinks, coming here to see my family over the long vacation is exactly what I need in this crazy period in my usually uneventful life. Though I put my personal phone on roaming, I am receiving only text messages. The calls cost too much so I diverted all my incoming calls to my office number, which is turned off BTW. The text messages I've been receiving have been... inspirational so far.

Day 1: Dinner at 2am, sister bonding till 5am. I can't believe how much I missed my mom's adobo and ginisang munggo. I missed my dad's corny jokes and my sisters' chatter. Coming home to the smell of home cooking and seeing my mom's happy face wiped away all the chaos from NAIA and Suvarnabhumi Airport. Bro and Wifey arrived on an earlier flight but they waited for me (with my Dad) before we all came home. We ate dinner discussing our favorite food, our strange eating habits and the difference between international airports in the countries we've visited.

After dinner, we all stayed in the living room and chatted for a few more minutes. Then my mom and dad turned in. Bro and Wifey retreated to their room. The sisters and I camped out in the living room and chatted our heads off until 5am. Bliss!

Day 2: Woke up at 7:30am GMT+7 ... and the house was quiet. Nobody woke up until after 10am. I can't speak for Bro and Wifey, though. They may have opted for a little... loving time. Hahaha... So after a quick breakfast of sliced dragonfruit (sweet and grainy... unlike the waterlogged mess I get in Tagaytay), we were off to go SHOPPING! But before that, we stopped by a carinderia along Convent Road for some yummies! Among all the stuff we had, my favorite was definitely the som tam... the dressing is SO good... I even dipped raw cabbage and fresh mint into it for snacking. I think I ate a farmload of raw veggies yesterday.

So...shopping. Shopping! I went crazy, methinks. Although I bought a few pieces for my mom, I still think I ended up spending almost 7K THB (about 9K php) on that one shopping trip. Can you blame me? SIX floors of shopping madness! And that's only the beginning. I haven't even gotten started on bags and shoes yet!

My dad's condo is right smack in the middle of the CBD, so all around us are office buildings, right-hand drive vehicles, traffic in reverse (North-bound comes from the right side, South-bound comes from the left... it's disconcerting, I tell you!).... and food carts. Food everywhere! If we hadn't eaten lunch before shopping, am sure I would have bought something off every vendor I saw on the street.

Som tam stalls shared space with those amazingly good puto-like cakes that smell like pancakes and pandan (1 THB each... I couldn't stop munching on them). Beautiful fresh strawberries (20 THB, 100 grams... sweeter than a Baguio strawberry but crunchy), glistening emerald honeydew and brilliant papaya reposed on ice, fried tofu and a lot of other stuff - they may have made their way into my gullet!

Tomorrow, I vow to to brave getting lost (my crappy sense of direction is legendary), getting misinterpreted by the locals ("hoy" in Thai is... THAT part of the female anatomy), indigestion and being run over by cars and buses speeding in from the wrong side of the road... I will walk around the neighborhood. After all, there's a Starbucks a few blocks from home. Gotta go get my tumblers and mugs! Harharhar...

Oh Emme Gee!

Hindi ko kinaya!

I just read this on Pepper Lunch's Philippines site. One location closer to work and soon, another location close to home. Lovette! YG's, you know where we'll be eating on my birthday! (Fish and Co is reserved for Jen's bash so it's not Fish and Co, Dada!)

Temperature in Seoul today is 19C... Autumn is coming! I wish I was in Seoul right about now...

On other OMG-worthy news... I posted the Laiya pics on Facebook. Just check it out. It's friends-only though. Don't say I didn't warn you!

The Seoul Train Part II - De-kimchi-fication Galore

November 11.

11/11/08.

On that day, Tuesday, it was Pepero day! As TaeWoong explained, it's like Valentine's Day or some other modern holiday. It's in honor of the snack called the Lotte Pepero. It's a line of pretzel-like snackfoods that have two distinct looks: like a thin Champola wafer stick or like those mini-pretzels with sugar outside. Only there's more variety to those two major types.

For the Champola look-alike, there's one filled with lemon cream (think Rebisco sandwich), mocha cream, and some chocolate-with-something combination that's absolutely addictive!

The other form reminds me of Jack and Jill Pretzels. There's a variety exactly like that: thinner pretzel sticks dipped in chcolate. There's also the "naked Peparo", as KiKeun calls it: like sugar-coated Mini-Pretzels of our childhood. My favorite variety is the one that's double-dipped in chocolate then rolled in crushed almonds. Mmmm... I am so addicted to it that i vow to bring home BOXES of that stuff. Perfect for Christmas!

It's my twelfth day here and so far, my life is made up of: the cold, the food and the new discoveries.

Discovery number 1: Persimmons

Robby's old entries declare her love for persimmons. Back home, I have seen and eaten persimmon only once: Mom and I bought a few pieces (it was about 3 dollars per kilo. Doh!) while Christmas shopping. When I peeled, sliced and took a bite I found them bland. Like papaya sucked dry of its flavor.

Ohho, but Seoul's persimmons are a revelation. That delicate thin skin. That juicy flesh. Those perfect brown seeds that remind me of oversized Coffee Beat candies. Luscious... Mmmm... And at around 1.50 USD per kilo, it's a great buy!

Discovery number 2: Unknown plant life in the form of kimchi-like salad

It's sour, it's salty...a little bit spicy but crisp and fresh! It's not kimchi but it sure looks like it! There's a salad with frissee-like greens, another with what looks like Money tree leaves that taste like gumamela leaves (let's not talk about why I know what gumamela tastes like), and yet another that reminds me of oregano (only this one is less fleshy and is a darker green). After walking around the grocery store, I discovered that they were sesame leaves. Yum!

Discovery number 3: "Fishballs"

They're actually sheets of mashed fish, flour... and Lord knows what else. They look the way orlians do, only rolled flat and without the anise aftertaste. Here, it is sauteed in chili (served as a side-dish during meals), cut into strips and dropped into hot soup, pierced by huge wooden skewers isaw-like and simmered in spicy broth and sold off the street for about 50 US cents. I happily chomped on one in front of the Doota mall in Dongdaemun (shopping isn't my thing but street food definitely is!) and yet again outside the office before heading on home. Yum yum!

Discovery number 4: The Typical Korean Meal

It has four major components: rice, soup, kimchi, at least two other side dishes aside from the kimchi.

I think I have enocuntered kimchi if at least ten different sorts in the two weeks I have been here. Off the top of my head: radish, bokchoi (Chinese pechay in Manila), cabbage-lettuce hybrid...thing, the aforementioned money-tree-tastes-like-gumamela, the frissee-like thingie, something-that-resembles-sponge-gourd-in-life (patola in Tagalog), and a yellow rootcrop (not kamote, not potato, no idea what it is).

I have also seen different sorts of stuff thrown into soups: mung bean sprouts at least 3 inches long, tofu blocks, fish balls (sheets), radish strips, leeks, celery tops (or what looks like celery tops)... even shreds of chicken and beef bones.

Rice...ah, the rice! The rice is absolutely gorgeous! Those sticky little grains of starchy deliciousness... Mixed with barley, rye, purple rice (traditionally called tappol), and on its own - it's a meal in itself!

I love rice. I can never survive South Beach Diet... rice is just too good to pass up!

Discovery number 5: Chilsung Cider

It's a soda drink by Lotte. It's clear like Sprite, but the flavor is more like Mountain Dew with more of a lemony-limey taste. I buy the stuff at the grocery by the bottle (a liter and a half each). It's cool, refreshing...and makes great chaser for Soju. Speaking of Soju...

Discovery number 6: Soju

Soju is an amazing thing! It's 20% alcohol, a bit like your regular vodka or gin or tequila. It's clear and has almost no alcohol-y smell. The taste? It's smooth and crisp. Swabe... and it's easy to down one shot after another and not feel dizzy at all. But try standing up and you'll feel it hit you in the face... and everywhere else.

Ah, I hate traitors but when it's in the context of an alcohol kick, then ILOVEIT! Hahaha...

Hmmm, I think above entries would have been more appropriate in the other blog... Oh well!

~*~*~*~*~*~

The weather is great! It's nice and cool with a little bit of wind. This week, it averaged 7 degrees at noon - bearable without a jacket, provided there is no wind. Jacket-weather or not, I go walking around the blocks surrounding the office, just observing and enjoying the weather. I will miss this when I come home to Manila.

During my walks, I encounter lots of convenience stores and vendors. I try to buy something from vendors when I see them. They're nice and chatty, even when I don't understand 99% of what they're saying. Most of all, they provide lots of new discoveries for a Seoul first-timer like me.

I have about five more weeks here before I come home to Manila. I'm sure there are new adventures waiting for me out there. You can bet your pwet I will blog about those too.

By the way, Yahoo Weather says there'll be scattered snow showers on Thursay. Looks like winter is finally here. Brrr...

Now excuse me while I bury myself under the sheets.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Listening to: Mariposa - Sugarfree

"Nagsisising matatapos ang gabing alam naman nating
Mayroon nang taning;
Nagsisising nagising sa katotohanang
Di ka naman talaga akin;
Di mo lang alam
Inaasam ang panahong
Makapaling ka sa una't huling pagkakataon"

The Seoul Train Part 1: Stargazer Gets Kimchi-fied!

Greetings with my breath condensing as soon as it leaves my mouth, my knees knocking and my hands freezing in 8 degrees on a windy day so my hands are shoved into the deep pockets of the thickest trench coat I have ever had to wear in my entire life.

I arrived in Seoul at around 6PM on the second day of November so it has been 4 days that I have been living in an apartment in Gwangju (an hour away by bus from the office in Seoul), cannot be reached by cellphone, wearing knitted sweaters, tights, knee-high boots and trench coats, eating spicy (and surprisingly good) food and having to take a bath with heated water.

I love the weather and the city is cool (literally) so this afternoon I took a walk around the city by myself. I was careful not to go too far from the office as I might get lost and I might not be able to get back. Hahaha...

My team is planning to go sight-seeing this weekend and KK has promised to bring us to an amusement park. He was surprised when I told him I like to ride roller coasters and such. He was surprised that I smoke and have been for the past ten years. Do I really look THAT conservative? Imagine me, being conservative. What a hoot!

During my walk, I had several residents (of other cities, most probably) come up to me and talk to me, presumably asking me for directions (they had maps of the subway and some other maps of the country). They stopped and bowed, apologizing with words I did not understand when they saw the huge question mark in my eyes. On the plane, the flight attendants would speak to me in Korean first before switching to English after seeing the baffled look on my face. Eerrr... I know I have small eyes and I dress pretty much like a typical Korean girl but my complexion is about ten shades away from the usual. Still, it's funny.

While was walking around, I went inside several convenience stores to ogle all the things that are "fast"...and bad for the health. I got some Lotte Peparo, which are similar to the more Pinoy-familiar Pocky pretzel sticks (but those are from Japan). I got one each of "lemon cream", "chocolate filled", "chocolate covered" and chocolate covered with crushed almonds. It tasted GREAT! I also got some Chilsung Cider (a caffeine-free soda similar to sprite but tastes more like Mountain Dew with more lime flavor), a 200-ml carton of strawberry milk, and a 330-ml bottle of "rice tea". Hehehe...

Anyway, I'll be updating my blog and my flicker. Until I get my multiply site up, I won't be posting pics. So just swing by my flicker account. :)

Nyt nyt!

-o-o-o-o-o-

Listening to: Just Fine - Mary J. Blige

"Feels so good, when you’re doing all the things that you want to do
Get the best out of life, treat yourself to something new
Keep your head up high
In yourself, believe in you, believe in me
Having a really good time, I’m not complaining
And I’m a still wear a smile if it rainingI got to enjoy myself regardless
I appreciate life, I’m so glad I got mine"