MORE ON BANGKOK

So Stacey, Chef and I have no problem finding China Town once the nice lady helps. We rise to street level from the subway and try and get our bearings. We decide on a direction and begin walking that way.
The first thing you notice about Bangkok is the traffic. It is all backwards from the U.S. You drive on the other side of the street from the other side of the car. I think I could handle the other side of the car part, but not the backwards traffic lanes part.
We walk for a while and come across a very old man selling fruit. Chef grabs a couple pieces of something and tries to ask the old man how much. They are not able to communicate. A younger man walks up to help and he tells Chef the man wants to sell him the whole box. Chef didn’t want the whole box and somehow they settle on a price. Everything is very, very cheap for US in Bangkok. For all we could tell the two pieces of fruit cost a nickle and Chef might have paid a dollar, we didn’t care, happy to give a little extra to someone who clearly lives on some much less then us.

We walk a little further and this is the first photo opp.

Then we look in another direction and see this.

We find this is the norm in Bangkok, the contrast of new and old. Bangkok is a city of contrast. You would think it is dangerous, it’s not. You would think the locals would have no time to help you find your way, wrong. You would think they would try to over charge the tourist, not. You would think when a local stops you just to chat that they want something more, they don’t.

Anyway we work our way into China Town and don’t realize til later that we are way to early. It is 8 a.m. and hardly anyone is on the streets yet. So we wander. We walk through side streets where car and scooter parts are stacked high. We walk past street vendor restaurants where the owner and family are sleeping on the tables. There are a fair amount of dogs wandering around, they pay us no attention. We have no idea where we are and love it. I bet we walk through private yards and don’t even know it. We are blown away by the scenery, Chef and Stacey are clicking photo almost nonstop.
Lost in China Town, Bangkok. What a way to start a day!

I interupt this blog

to share with you some events of returning home.

I had started getting a sore throat our last days in Bangkok. By the time we started our 24 plus hour trip home it really hurt. I nursed it with hot tea and aspirin. We get home Thursday about 4 in the afternoon and go to bed. I’m up a 3 a.m. not able to sleep, I guess I was on Bangkok time. Stacey sleeps through the night and is able to go to work on Friday. Shes feeling good, even gets her hair cut after work, looking more beautiful the usual if you can believe that. Again Friday night can’t sleep so well. Up at 3 a.m. again. So I decide I will load my truck and go do the Saturday morning market. I get through that and head home. We eat a little food and go to bed about 2 or 3 in the afternoon. When I wake a few hours later my throat really hurts and I tell Stacey I need to find a Doc in the box. We drive up the street to where one is located only to find it’s closed. We go home get on the computer and find nothing is open after 5 p.m. which it is. So the next morning we are at the “minute clinic” at the CVS 15 minutes before they open. Good thing cause 5 people show up just after us. By this time Stacey’s throat is hurting also. So we see the Doc together and she swabs out throats. Poor Stacey, she test positive for Strep, but I don’t. Go figure. We are both given scripts for Amoxicillin. I take one on the way home and 20 minutes later we are home and I am having an allergic reaction. Boom like a bomb. I am hot and itchy. My eyes hurt. Then I feel my face starting to swell and I know this is serious. I tell Stacey we need to go to the emergency room, fast. It’s not far from the house, but by the time we get there my lips and tongue are so swollen I can’t talk or swallow. My chest is hurting and we are both really scared. We go to the desk and I think I’m dying. I really think I am dying. Stacey is very scared and is actually jumping up and down pleading for help. Well of course the nurse is very calm, this doesn’t help Stacey a bit. She wants action. I sitting there drooling like a rabid dog, not able to talk. I’m really scared. I have had cancer and have been through a bone marrow transplant. It was a two year ordeal and not once did I think I might die. Sitting there yesterday in the emergency room I thought I was dying. Poor Stacey is even more upset and the nurse is still clam as a cucumber. I wish she would have thought to tell Stacey “we see this all the time, we can handle it”. Finally they start giving me drugs to counter the reaction. I am turned over to another nurse, I tell him I feel like I dying. He said I’m not and it will get worse before it gets better so hang on. Well I can live with that, knowing what to expect helps. And that’s just what happens. It hurts more for a few minutes and then starts to subside. Soon the swelling starts to go away and I can speak again.We were there 2 hours, they gave me a few scripts, one a shot to give myself in case of and emergency.

I didn’t die.

BANGKOK ANYONE?

Bangkok is half way around the world from Atlanta. It takes more then 24 hours to get there including ground time for layovers. We switched planes in Tokyo after 13 hours and had 7 more hours to Bangkok. It was worth it, Bangkok was awesome.
Chef was making the trip for business and we ask if we could meet him there. He said yes, so we did. We actually got there a few hours before he did. Since we were staying in the same hotel we had no problem finding him.
So if you are wondering what it may be like in Bangkok I will tell you what happened on our first trek out of the hotel.
We had decided to go to China Town first. Chef would be working most of the time starting the next day so we wanted to find good food and see some sites while we had some time together.
We leave the hotel and have our map and know we want to get on the underground train which will take us close to China town. We found the train station we needed on the map and it was just a few blocks from the hotel. No problem. Yea right. We get to the corner where the map shows us the station is, but just can’t spot it. We are standing on the corner, map in hand trying to figure it out when a young Thai lady ask what we are looking for.
So Stacey tells her and she explains where we are to go, then tells us she will walk us there. So off we go and I just know we are in for something, this woman must want something from us. My research has warned me about the scam artist. What I have read is Bangkok is a very safe city, the only thing to look out for is the scams. Locals trying to steer you to a particular destination so they can get a commission from the shop owners.
Well this young lady walked us to the train station, taught us how to use the ticket machine, showed us how to read the subway map and then using her own pass to get herself through the turnstile walked us right up to the door of the train we needed to get on for China Town. After we thanked her she smiled, said enjoy you visit in Bangkok and turned and left the station.
And that is how it was the whole trip. Nicest damn people in the world, great start to our stay in Bangkok.

George

For George it’s all about balance. You can see it in his distinct black and white coat he sports everyday. You can see it in the way he moves from bed to bed. first his then She Shes then Browns. You can see it in the way he pees and marks the yard. He so badly wants the balance right that he has peed everywhere in the backyard. Not one spot has not been peed on by George. Most spots many, many times. You can see it in the way he jumps on you and gets your cloths dirty and jumps on you again to get the other part of cloths dirty. As you can see below for George it’s all about balance.

VALENZA

We had never heard of the restaurant Valenza and Stacey didn’t know she had a distant cousin who was the chef at Valenza. Click on it and read about it.

We went the other night. It was Stacey and me and her sister and her BF. They were on their way from somewhere to somewhere else and had to go through Atl…and bla… bla… bla…

So Stacey makes RSVP for the four of us at Valenza and we had no idea what to expect. The last time I was in this situation it all turned out great. This time was the same.
The young lady who seated us asked which one of us was Matt’s cousin, both Stacey and her sister Sam spoke up.
Next thing ya know he, Matt the Chef, is at the table, he is serving a plate of cured meats along with some great cheese, bread that had been grilled, tomato’s that he made a jam from and some olives. All very, very good.

After he introduced himself and we all said hello, Matt ask if we wanted to order from the menu or if we wanted him to cook for us. Well, when the chef ask if “you want me to cook for you” it’s a no brainer.

After that plate they just kept coming. He sent out grilled calamari along with mussels in a white wine sauce.

Next we enjoyed scallops that had been grilled to perfection. Followed by homemade ravioli. This was one of the best dishes of the night. Two different fillings - one pork and one with butternut squash. Both busted wide open with brown butter, sage and pecans.

Rabbit on polenta with kalamata olives did not suck either.

He brought us three different desserts and like everything else that night - they were awesome. Matt came to the table and had a couple of beer and we tried to figure out how we were related.

It was great to meet a new relative and we look forward to feasting at his restaurant again. Soon.

chow

PIGS FISH AND BEDS

Some of my latest creations, all available at your local SOSOSOUTHERN retail store.

Goodmorning New Orleans

I have fallen in love with the place and to say “place” when talking about New Orleans is a mouth full. Cause that’s what it is all about “place”. And what makes “place” is a gumbo, pun intended, of people, food, drink, history, ect. I could go on and on when it comes to New Orleans and it sense of “place”.

To get an idea of what I’m talking about try doing this. Each morning when you go to your computer, or whenever you go to your computer to read the news paper or check out CNN or whatever it is you like to check out regularly on the Internet, start going to this site. I do almost every morning and I always find a good read. And being that it is the Food and Dining section of the Times Picayune I never find bad news. Give it a try and see if you don’t long to jump on an airplane just to go try a new restaurant or try the latest cocktail you just read about.