BANGKOK CHIC

There are not that many Porsches or Ferraris on Bangkok streets, but I am told one will see them on weekends, on the highways. That said, I have seen a few cool machines around town, mostly around the up-market zones, such as this one ... a Kawasaki Ninja in Old Granny Apple green. Smashing! I was having a solidary long-black after school at the newly opened Dean & Deluca next to Chong Nonsi Station. Looking out into green foliage and outdoors sculpture my moment of serenity was shattered by this roar and declutching of gears. A cool looking couple rode off in helmets, tight jeans, and of course the regulation Ray Ban tear drop shades. 'Man ... that is style for you' I told myself, something I can never do even if I try. In they came and ordered large ice coffees and sandwiches. Amazingly they did not exchange a word, the passenger was on the phone that entire time, the driver was working on his I-Phone non-stop. The coffees were sipped but the sandwiches untouched. No more than 30-minutes later the key was in, the starter on, the engine roared again, and off they dashed. Bangkok chic perhaps? My question for them is, what happened to those sandwiches?

PAD THAI

Loved by many around the world, this dish has a bit of history. During WWII the country needed something to rally national morale, a theme her citiznes could identify with and someone .... no record who should be credited .... came up with this innovative idea of a 'National Noodle'. Noodle because it is cheap, and the ingredients were inexpensive ie mostly veggies, dried tofu cubes, and hardly any meats. The key was, the recipe was nourishing. It caught on immediately as 'Kui Tiew Phad Thai' or 'Noodles Fried Thai Style' then, but has since gained its fame gradually as 'Pad Thai' which is a global brand.


Like Italian pasta, Thai noodles come in different sizes, and the most common are (1) 'sen yai' which we call 'ho fun' at home (2) 'sen mee' which is 'mee fun or mee hoon' and the one in between is (3) 'sen lek' which is perfect for frying, if you ask me. Why, because it does not stick as easily. Again it is magically simple, once you are given the 'tips' along the way. For instance, soften the 'sen lek' in a hot wok, with a splash of water ... no oil yet .... to get the noodles going, so to speak. It works wonders. We each prepared 2 variation of the theme. At the top is the fancy omelette style that holds the noodles like a filling. Below is just plain stir fry, mixing the eggs in the noodles which I think yields more flavors, although not as glamorous.

They will be my 2-course dinner tonight. Pad Thai as appetizer, to be followed by Pad Thai as the main. Yes,they are that good and yes, I cooked them!

DAY OF THE CLASSICS

The entire class, Thai & non-Thai, was very driven today as we walked through 5 of the best known and probably most served - at least in Thailand - recipes. It was a long but rewarding day as we can now cook these at home, with reasonable confidence.

'Pad Gra-Prow Kai' is my all time favorite, and it is best served with rice, adding a runny egg on top. The flavor is unique and I guarantee it will titillate any taste bud. 'Stir Holy Basil with Chicken' is the description, and it really is as simple as those few words. Holy Basil is different from Sweet Basil or 'horapa' which is the basil we normaly use in, say, western cuisine. The stir frying technique is predominately Chinese ie a hot wok, very little oil and quick turnaround to get the best flavors out in the shortest cooking time. The only thing to watch is leaving the Holy Basil last, off the heat. Never let them wilt as they should be hardly cooked to retain fragrance in the balance. Along with the 'Tom Yum Koong', the other classic, we all polished off a large plate of steamy rice.

PAD GRA PROW KAI : Stir Fried Chicken with Holy Basil
TOM YUM KOONG : Spicy Prawn Soup
PAD THAI : Thai Style Fried Noodles
HOR MOK PLA : Steamed Curried Fish
KA NOM PIEK POON BAI TOUY : Steamed Pandan Flour with Coconut

'NUA TOON'

Closer to home Bangkok offers one of my favorites, doubled boiled beef briskets and tendons served in a clear broth, with noodles, and a generous sprinkle of parsley and chopped scallion. I get to know this little stall around the corner of Wandee and befriended its elderly proprietor who is 'Thai-Chiu' or Thai Chinese from Chiu Chow. His 'Nua-Toon' will take most of what Hong Kong claims to the cleaners. 'Nua' is beef, and 'Toon' describes the way it is cooked, many dishes are described this way in the recipes. This is clearly Chinese as the Thais hardly eat beef, I am told it is mostly because of religious and health reasons.

Thai cuisine is basically influenced by 3 cultures. (1) Indian; from the way the omnipresent 'kaeng' or curry paste is prepared, the key difference is instead of yogurt, a dairy product, coconut cream or a diluted form the coconut milk are used. (2) Chinese; from the way the wok is used as a primary cooking tool, and of course Chinese spices. (3) Portugal; indirectly is also an influence and this may surprise you. Apparently chilies were discovered by the Portugese in Africa, and Asia did not have chilies before the 1500s when the Portugese brought and sold them to Asian cultures.

After almost 4-weeks the one key word I learned in cooking Thai is : 'balance' or to make it more esoteric, 'harmony' between the tastes and flavors. Go into any noodle stall and watch what the locals do once a bowl is placed in front of them. The lightning dance routine of adding sugar, fish sauce, chili powder, pickled peppers, vinegar to be followed by vigorous mixing and tossing is mesmerizing, even dizzying. I guess that is how 'balance' ... at least in taste, if not in shape or form ... is interpreted at the frontline.

BANANA LEAF WEAVING

We spent an entire day on the subject matter today. It was not exactly exciting, but an eye-opener none the less given the multiple usage one gets from a single banana leaf. We learned how to clean it, cut it, fold it, and design it for different purposes. This is a bit easier compared to carving because we use fingers, without gadgets. It is much more tedious though because we have to prepare so many small pieces in order to make a larger piece. This 'Lotus Holder' is about 6 inches in diameter, to hold dessert items and guess how many moving parts are involved .... almost 100! Each is hand-cut, and sewn on using a single needle and dark green threads. Just passing the thread through the eye of the needle was enough of a challenge, for me, that is. I do not think I can do either this, or garlands, and obviously not carving, for a living.

END OF CARVING

Today was my last day of carving, and Si (who normally teaches upstairs in the kitchen) to give me my 1-0n-1 instructions. Oil, my favorite teacher, has to teach another class in floral arrangements. I am quite sure Si lost the toss in the staff room. It takes an enormous amount of patience to teach someone like me, but she did it cheerfully. Come to think of it, the entire faculty here is worth its weight in gold. Their professionalism, individually and collectively is second to none. Above all, they are so happy doing what they do. I feel envious watching them perform, tirelessly, through a 9-hour day. I only wish I had a team like that when I was in business.


I call this piece the 'Curtain Carve' ie the last one to conclude the 5-day Carving Section of the Basic Wandee Course. Central to be good at this, or to doing it right, is how one manipulates one's knife using the fingers. Needless to say a lot has to do with experience, and the curriculum is designed so one accumulates working knowledge from one technique to the next. This personalized watermelon is supposed to draw on each and every technique we learned progressively, but needless to say I need loads of reminding along the way. I was given a choice from RAYMOND in fancy italic to other simpler styles. I picked the one I can best manage ie RAY in block capital. I know who I am, there is no point pretending to be someone I am not.

If you enlarge the picture you will see the details involved, even though they are far from perfect. As in many things in life, I tried and I tried so hard everyone in class noticed. All of them are better, some much better than me, everyone was kind and encouraging. Again I owe all this to Oil from day one, whom I must thank again. I started with splitting that single strand of scallion to carving my own melon, what more can I ask? The next question is would these be displayed at TKT's Thai dinners? Well let me think about that one ...

RECIPES FIT FOR KINGS

The country remembered the passing of her beloved King Rama V this past weekend. Credited with bringing Thailand to meet the challenges of the modern world, he is arguably one of the most if not the most respected of Thai Kings, including the incumbent. If he were alive today he would no doubt be in the 'foodie' category. The history books have recorded how he loved to eat,, how he wrote poetry about the 'royal Thai cuisine' in his household, how he recognized chefs who produced good meals, and of course his keen interests in cooking as well. Seen here is King Rama V in a relaxed mood, complete with a cigar, while stirring his 'kaeng' or curry by the river. I understand many restaurants have this picture at the entrance, extolling the King's love of the culinary arts.

One of the dishes demonstrated is 'Mee Krob' ... 'mee' is fine noodles like 'mee hoon' in Southeast Asia, or rice vermacelli as we call it at home, and 'krob' means crispy. As the story goes, the King was on a tour of the Plu Market (a prominent venue where Bangkok citizens congregate during his time) and was attracted by a certain fragrance from cooking. On closer inspection it came from a small Chinese eatery deep frying crispy noodles. He sampled it, approved it and liked it so much he asked that this recipe be used in the Palace. To make a point, he awarded the restaurant his 'royal insignia or symbol' so patrons will recognize this as the King's choice. It is like a Michelin Star or the Royal Patent in the UK, with a seal of approval from Her Majesty QEII. I wonder if he picked up these practices from his historic, and apparently well documented European Tour in 1907. I love the stories about the King, but I can hardly find books, in English, on his reign. It must be fascinating to read. What a legend, what a super achiever, what a versatile character, and what a leader of men.

MEE KROB : Crispy Noodles
TOM KHA KAI : Chicken in Coconut Milk Soup
KAENG KA REE KAI : Chicken in Yellow Curry
KHAOW TANG NA TANG : Rice Crackers with Pork & Shrimp Dip
TOD MAN KOONG : Deep Fried Shrimp Cakes

'SATANEE DOR BAI'

Next Station! Well .... 'satanee' is station, and of course 'don bai' is next, what else? Why? You see, where I stay is 9 BTS stations away from Wandee, between Chong Nonsi & Saphan Khwai, with a transfer stop at Siam. This means I hear this announcement 9 x 2 times each day, or at least 540 times just from going to school. Adding the 20-30 rides on weekends, and when Dora was here, almost 600 times. I bet I can say it in my dreams, with a perfect Bangkok accent.

My other limited linguistic acquIsitions are :

SAWADEE KUP : the catch all, round the clock, greeting recognized worldwide
KUP KHUN KUP : 'thankyou' it can be just 'kup' when one is lazy
MAI BEN RI : 'OK lah' or 'no sweat'
A SAK : 'may be' or 'may be not'
A ROI : 'delicious' or 'oishi'
A JARN : 'teacher' (while desperate for help in the kitchen)
THAO RI : 'how much' but it does not matter, you will never catch the rapid fire reply
LOD DAI MAI : 'lower the price' or 'discount'

Learning Thai? Well, I do not think I am anywhere close, perhaps in my next life!

READING IN THAILAND

I neglected to show this picture of young Thai kids waiting for a 'Reading Contest' (as I was told) at the Double A Book Tower on Thanon Sathon. It is a large book store with 4 floors but almost exclusively in the local dialect. Foreigners will have to go to the Parragons of this world to get English books, a rarity on the street. Apparently reading is a big thing here, even though it is not as obvious as in say, Tokyo or Taipei. These contestants showed up an hour ahead of time to 'get into the mood', so to speak. They all looked intense, and busy preparing for it like exams. It is admirable to see as their future relies so much on how they do in this space. I strongly believe a key problem with our 'Post-80' generation in Hong Kong ie those born after 1980, is they read hardly enough which directly affects their ability to write and even speak. Their lack of proficiency is not limited to English, but in Chinese as well. It is a scary thought, especially when they are put neck-to-neck with peers from China. I am sure our 'trusted bureaucrats' are aware Hong Kong is playing catch-up in this game. It will be so sad if they are not.

BLUE ELEPHANT

The Blue Elephant is billed as 'The Thai Restaurant' a visitor to Bangkok must pay pilgrimage, so I did. It is a stone throw from the Surasak Station, which is extremely accessible. Sitting in a spacious lot in front of the brand new Thai Chamber of Commerce Tower she gives the commanding impression of the old dominating the new. The restaurant is classy, without any doubt, one can feel it as soon as one enters. She has the air of an elegant, older generation lady in her best finery. An immediate association is the Raffles in Singapore. From the picture you can see the motif is 'modern with Thai traditions' except the definition of modern here does not mean contemporary. Nickel bronze gold cutlery, dark wood furniture, heavy trimmings, starchy white table cloth, ornamented displays, service staff in Thai costumes are the regime. It is all very nice and impeccable, do not get me wrong, but she definitely gives the impression she is still lingering in the 80s, a bit out of step and a bit 'tired looking'.

The menu is classic too, in fact there is a 'Classic Tasting Menu' at Baht 1650, or Baht 1500 without TomYum Kung, the world famous Thai soup, which I find odd for a top-end venue. I consulted our local Thai friends who are obviously not regulars, their collective opinion is ' ... it has drifted away from real Thai cuisine' which is understandable as Blue Elephant's targtted clientale is altogether different.

There is a Cooking School but only short, day-courses are offered. It was recommended to me before I found Wandee but the Professional Course here is only 5 days which seems short, considering I spent 5 days here at Wandee just on carving, garlands, floral arrangements and banana leaf weaving which are compulsory subjects because 'they form a key part of the history of Thai cuisine, and our food culture'. There you have it.

I was going to try the restaurant but decided to pass, I would submit to local advice in this instance. I will come next time to organize a tasting party, to try out her menu. I am sure it will be a wonderful venue to be with a traveling group, or for a special function.

One last comment, and I know it is apple and orange. Whilst I am here, I would go back to Bonjour for more of Chef Buum, before the Blue Elephant. Oops!