Still, they're all I have left.They will have to do...
Image from this site
Saturday, February 20, 2010
TODAY (Day 10): Words Are Never Enough
Still, they're all I have left.They will have to do...
Image from this site
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Relasyones Chuvaness!
From Facebook:
"... a successful relationship requires falling in love many times, always with the same person. Always with the same person, but deeper and deeper everytime. Each time on a whole new level you together open in love and discover the truth of your beloved anew. There is no limit to the beauty of your beloved. If you think you've reached the end, stop generalizing."
Awww gawd...
Well, what if the relationship in itself is something that your family and society in general frowns upon? What if it is something God forbids?
What...ever!
"... a successful relationship requires falling in love many times, always with the same person. Always with the same person, but deeper and deeper everytime. Each time on a whole new level you together open in love and discover the truth of your beloved anew. There is no limit to the beauty of your beloved. If you think you've reached the end, stop generalizing."
Awww gawd...
Well, what if the relationship in itself is something that your family and society in general frowns upon? What if it is something God forbids?
What...ever!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
TODAY (Day 9): Error!
I promised myself I won't make the same mistake twice.I'm doing what I can.
Please, let me...
Image from this site
Monday, January 11, 2010
Day 23: Sawasdee Kha, Bangkok... Day 24: Mabuhay, Manila
Day 23: The Three Little Pigs fell asleep at 4am. Dad woke us up at 7:00am and we were in Lumpini Park by 7:45am. We took lots of pictures in the park, which I realized, has a Burnham Park meets UP Diliman Academic Oval vibe.
As the sun rose, the temperature went higher and we indulged in a little bit of guava juice and lots of time in the playground. Pictures to follow on FaceBook. Friends-only though...
On our way back home, we passed by a vendor near the Zuellig World building selling cakes. One type had green "cream" while another had white. Four greens plus four whites went for twenty baht. Twenty freaking baht! Try getting them in a Thai resto here in Manila and you'll pay 70 to 100 baht for four measly pieces! Argh! Anyway, the takoh cakes here in Manila are usually reminiscent of maja blanca - with corn bits embedded in the cake. The ones I got in Bangkok had either yam (green "cream") or some sort of sweetened root crop (white "cream" - texture similar to singkamas).
For lunch, Popsie and The Three Little Pigs went down the street from the condo for some kai yang (roasted chicken -we had one leg/thigh and 8 wings), sticky rice in a woven basket and somtam (salad of shredded unripe papaya tossed with fish sauce, sugar, water, lime juice, tomatoes and dried shrimps) that we requested: mai sai prik - do not put chili. I learned the hard way that asking for anything to be "little spicy" is not a safe bet... "a little' is relative!
Passing by Manang's store, we bought a few limes and a couple of potatoes... for my afritada It would've been a success except that Thai tomato sauce was sour to the max, so I ended up having to add sugar and butter to make the afritada seem less like chicken pickles! Harharhar...
Before dinner, Sissy and I headed back to Ete at the Silom Complex for my last hurrah at cookie dough ice cream. Unfortunately they didn't have it so I settled for a duo of Nutella and Green Tea (both tasted what they should taste like: Nutella and Green Tea) while Sissy had a duo of Mocha Crunch (fantastic!) and Bannofi (not too good - the banana component was too artificial).
At 8:30pm, we left for the airport. Nobody was in tears! Instead, we were laughing and joking with each other all the way from the cab until I went into Immigration at 10 minutes before 11pm. In between, I had to remove the shampoo and body wash I packed because I was two kilos overweight. Had I known they were not going to weight my check-in luggage... I would have packed my check-in to ten kilos then stuffed the shampoo and body wash into my check in luggage! Durnit! Anyway, we stayed near the edge of the airport by the convenience store joking around, taking pictures, teasing each other and generally having a good time!
My flight was delayed by 15 minutes (not bad), before which Doc Ceccz asked me if I wanted to join her and Rei at Prov... errr? Hehehe... I teared up when the plane began to move into position for take-off. I slept on and off for two hours (first hour, I ate and read the bible), waking up only when the pilot announced our final descent to Manila. I teared up again... I was back in Manila... whether I liked it or not!
Jen and Joc were at Terminal 3 to pick me up when I got out at 5:20am. Between plane, luggage pickup and immigration (ghost town), it took me a little over ten minutes and I was in a cab home. We deposited my stuff at home, got the stuff for Jen's family then sped over to Caloocan via LRT. I played with Nikka (my, she's gotten huge!) then slept like the dead. Woke up a few hours later and had early dinner/late lunch of mechado that Jen requested especially for the day (thanks Mama F!).
Back at home, I sorted my purchases into their respective laundry piles then promptly fell back asleep. Kyx arrived at around 11pm with... dyaraaan! A huge bouquet of stargazers and purple lilies! Beautiful (but so huge... in his words, pang-Miss Universe)! Calla lilies na lang,kumpleto na ang favorite flowers ko! Hahahaha... He and Momsie made chika for a while. In the meantime, I watched CSI: New York! (KJ, yes, I know!)
So there... am back in Manila... whether I like it or not! I'd like to go back... In time for Song Kran, I hope!
As the sun rose, the temperature went higher and we indulged in a little bit of guava juice and lots of time in the playground. Pictures to follow on FaceBook. Friends-only though...
On our way back home, we passed by a vendor near the Zuellig World building selling cakes. One type had green "cream" while another had white. Four greens plus four whites went for twenty baht. Twenty freaking baht! Try getting them in a Thai resto here in Manila and you'll pay 70 to 100 baht for four measly pieces! Argh! Anyway, the takoh cakes here in Manila are usually reminiscent of maja blanca - with corn bits embedded in the cake. The ones I got in Bangkok had either yam (green "cream") or some sort of sweetened root crop (white "cream" - texture similar to singkamas).
For lunch, Popsie and The Three Little Pigs went down the street from the condo for some kai yang (roasted chicken -we had one leg/thigh and 8 wings), sticky rice in a woven basket and somtam (salad of shredded unripe papaya tossed with fish sauce, sugar, water, lime juice, tomatoes and dried shrimps) that we requested: mai sai prik - do not put chili. I learned the hard way that asking for anything to be "little spicy" is not a safe bet... "a little' is relative!
Passing by Manang's store, we bought a few limes and a couple of potatoes... for my afritada It would've been a success except that Thai tomato sauce was sour to the max, so I ended up having to add sugar and butter to make the afritada seem less like chicken pickles! Harharhar...
Before dinner, Sissy and I headed back to Ete at the Silom Complex for my last hurrah at cookie dough ice cream. Unfortunately they didn't have it so I settled for a duo of Nutella and Green Tea (both tasted what they should taste like: Nutella and Green Tea) while Sissy had a duo of Mocha Crunch (fantastic!) and Bannofi (not too good - the banana component was too artificial).
At 8:30pm, we left for the airport. Nobody was in tears! Instead, we were laughing and joking with each other all the way from the cab until I went into Immigration at 10 minutes before 11pm. In between, I had to remove the shampoo and body wash I packed because I was two kilos overweight. Had I known they were not going to weight my check-in luggage... I would have packed my check-in to ten kilos then stuffed the shampoo and body wash into my check in luggage! Durnit! Anyway, we stayed near the edge of the airport by the convenience store joking around, taking pictures, teasing each other and generally having a good time!
My flight was delayed by 15 minutes (not bad), before which Doc Ceccz asked me if I wanted to join her and Rei at Prov... errr? Hehehe... I teared up when the plane began to move into position for take-off. I slept on and off for two hours (first hour, I ate and read the bible), waking up only when the pilot announced our final descent to Manila. I teared up again... I was back in Manila... whether I liked it or not!
Jen and Joc were at Terminal 3 to pick me up when I got out at 5:20am. Between plane, luggage pickup and immigration (ghost town), it took me a little over ten minutes and I was in a cab home. We deposited my stuff at home, got the stuff for Jen's family then sped over to Caloocan via LRT. I played with Nikka (my, she's gotten huge!) then slept like the dead. Woke up a few hours later and had early dinner/late lunch of mechado that Jen requested especially for the day (thanks Mama F!).
Back at home, I sorted my purchases into their respective laundry piles then promptly fell back asleep. Kyx arrived at around 11pm with... dyaraaan! A huge bouquet of stargazers and purple lilies! Beautiful (but so huge... in his words, pang-Miss Universe)! Calla lilies na lang,kumpleto na ang favorite flowers ko! Hahahaha... He and Momsie made chika for a while. In the meantime, I watched CSI: New York! (KJ, yes, I know!)
So there... am back in Manila... whether I like it or not! I'd like to go back... In time for Song Kran, I hope!
Friday, January 8, 2010
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*
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*
TODAY (Day 8): Expectation is a BITCH!
I'm sorry. I was looking for something in you, and when I couldn't find it, I tried looking for it elsewhere. I forgot that this is what loving you is about: accepting you for what you are and despite what you're not. I hope it's not too late...Image from FaceBook
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...
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...
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