New Cookbooks

I finally got around to purchasing some new cookbooks. People who know me know that I rarely shop, but I do splurge on a few things once in a while. One of them being cookbooks.

Earlier in the year when I heard that Aki and Alex over at Ideas in Food were coming out with a book I was really excited. Now that I have purchased it the excitement has increased exponentially. From what I have heard it is an all-text book with recipes focusing on the science of how things work.

Check it out on Amazon

There is a food movement happening now where chefs, authors, and foodies alike are all trying to delve deep into the science of cooking to not only improve upon what has already be discovered but to explore new possibilities.

I urge anyone interested to check out this book and supports blogs like theirs, Town House, Playing with Fire and Water, Very Good Food, and Ashby Inn. There are a ton more but I don't want to overload potential readers with too much content.

Without these blogs, and support of these people and restaurants the evolution of food cannot be shared or grown...

Weird Cravings

I sort of have kitchen A.D.D. when I am cooking at home. I'll start out wanting to bake a loaf of bread and end up with a vinaigrette, 2 desserts and a dinner entree. I'm exaggerating of course but you get the point.

While shopping I came across a section of peppers and my mind mysteriously jumped to a vietnamese dish I had had a few weeks prior. It is a simple salad of cabbage and carrots with 'nuoc mam' or fish sauce dressing and peanuts.

I'm adding marinated / grilled flank steak to the top of the salad for some extra protein to make it a salad entree.

While grabbing some butter I had yet another craving, pudding, specifically chocolate. Pudding isn't exactly the first thing you think of when dessert crosses your mind but sometimes the velvety richness of really well made pudding can't be beat.

I don't really believe in having themed meals when cooking at home. Unless of course we have guests. When it's just you or you and your significant other, my philosophy is: if it tastes good, why not?

Traditional Thai Treats.

One thing that I noticed in Thailand these days was the fact that it was really hard to find good traditional Thai sweets. When I was young, there were so many street vendors around that finding delicious snacks was no problem at all. But the new generations nowadays they tend to eat western snacks and crappy fast food. This was evidence due to the large amount of fast food joints in and around the city. Even a delicious Japanese dish such as Sukiyaki had become a type of fast-food here in Thailand, which is really too bad. Anyway back to the traditional street snacks. I really miss all those wonderful snacks that I can remember from my childhood. They were often brightly colored and has some form of coconut in them. I loved the way they came in their little pouches made from banana leaves and not to mention they were cheap.
Thankfully my cousin took me to this market where their selling point is that they cook and sell only traditional Thai foods. This was like the old western town attractions that you find in the U.S. I was very happy that my cousin was acting as my tour guide because those treats were just as I remembered them.

My April 2010 Thailand Trip

Sorry for the late post on some of my thoughts while I was in Thailand this past April. But any way I think that's it's better late than never so here's something that I wrote while I was in Thailand sitting at a, thankfully air conditioned, cafe and I want to apologize in advance if my writing has too many grammatical errors in it.


After about 10 years of being in the United States, I finally made it back to Thailand and for the first time in my young adult life, I found out what the phrase “a stranger in my own country” really meant.

On March 31st 2010 I made my journey to Bangkok, Thailand, my birthplace and a place where I will stay for the next 17 days. When I arrived at the airport in Bangkok, I was immedieately overcame by the heat and the hustle and bustle of the city. My extended family was the one who greeted me at the airport and once we got all of the hugs and kisses out of the way, I was off to stay at my aunt and uncle’s house for seven days. My aunt and uncle were as gracious as ever and really took care of me as if I was their own child. But that was to be expected since Thai people are friendly and one of the first things that we ask visitors or even strangers is “have you eaten yet?”

My first meal in Thailand of over 10 years was “ Chicken Rice”. This dish was composed of white rice that’s been coated in garlic scented chicken fat topped with ski-on boiled chicken meat, coagulated blood cake and the dish was accompanied by a simple soup, cucumber and spicy-sweet dipping sauce. This dish is a very traditional Thai dish that can be eaten at any time of day, most popular being the morning time. And like many of the traditional Thai dishes, some type of vegetable that has a “cooling” effect such as cucumber was served so that some fiery dipping sauce won’t destroy your palate.

Over the next few days I was fed very well and my aunt and uncle insisted that I didn’t have to pay a cent for any food that I wanted to eat. It is very amazing how foods invoked familiar memories of my younger days in Bangkok. My aunt cooked one of my favorite childhood dishes called “ Pad Stall” which consisted of a meaty part of a the “Stall”, a type of Asian vegetable, stir-fried with ground pork, chilies, and seasoned with lime juice, fish sauce, a little sugar and of course MSG. This dish had the typical tastes and flavors of South East Asian food: sweet, salty, sour, spicy, and bitter. It is not just a saying when I say that food can help you recall even the oldest of memories.

Soup and Salad

Soup: Vermont cider and Garden Hubbard Squash Soup with Autumn Spiced Mascapone.
Salad: Caramelized and Fresh Local Apple with Toasted walnuts, Gingerbread Crumbs, Frisee and Long-pepper Syrup.


There is nothing terribly exciting about the words "soup and salad" but it's up to the chef to repackage/elevate the two to the next level. A lot of great things can happen when you think outside of the box. This is my interpretation of the "soup and salad" course.

The weather

I recently made some pasta and fallowed my usual recipe of eggs, "00" flour and salt but discovered that the winter air has made everything really dry and so I needed to add an extra egg yolk to my dough. It's amazing how things like weather can really effect your ingredients especially the different types of flour that we have.