Land of Smiles, Food, Spa - Bangkok 29-31 Aug 08

This is the second last of my travels backlog. Looks like I won't be able to complete all of my travel entries before end of 2008. My bad :(

The thing about overdue entries, while they brought back fond memories, I couldn't remember all the details as vividly.

Anyway, Hubby and I were in Bangkok for a whirlwind 48hrs getaway end August. That was just before the political unrest. Although there were protests ongoing then, it was mainly confined to the Government House; life was still normal in the tourist belt and we didn't see or feel anything tension at all.

We flew by AirAsia on a Friday night 10pm (Sin time) and returned on Sunday afternoon 4.45pm (Thai time). In this way, we didn’t need to take leave at all. As time was of essence for such a short trip, we chose to stay at Grant Hyatt Erawan Bangkok for its proximity to Erawan Shrine and abundance of shopping malls within walking distance. Security was tight at the hotel, meaning guests could feel more at ease and assured.

We stayed in the Grand King Room, which was similar to most deluxe rooms at international class hotels. Nevertheless, I was impressed with the additional fine touches like the small ‘walk-in’ wardrobe, bedside touch screen panel that can control everything from lightings to air-con to privacy options. Most significantly, the king size bed with silky, plush duvet. I wish I could sink into the bed and not get up, ever.

Was feeling rather hungry, decided to indulge in a little supper and ordered a club sandwich for sharing with hubby. Room service was pretty fast, my orders arrived in 20mins, just nice after a hot shower. We sat on the cozy bed, munched on the hot fluffy fries and sandwich overfilled with ingredients, sheer bliss! By the time we hit the bed, I guessed it was already close to 3am.Woke up super late and decided to go for a pampering spa treatment. But before that, we went to Erawan Shrine first to offer our prayers, a must-do for all our visits to Bangkok.

Now for our spa indulgence, we decided to try Lavana Bangkok Spa, located at No.4 Soi Sukhumvit 12 Sukhumvit Road, within 5-8 minutes walk from BTS Asoke Station. This is a recommendation from hubby's friend who is currently working in Bangkok, so it must be good :)

As we entered the Soi, spotted a few hawker stalls selling fruits and fried fritters. Since we hadn't have breakfast and lunch would be after the spa treatment, decided to grab some juicy pineapple and crispy fried fritters.

We walked further into the Soi in search of the spa and were pleasantly surprised by the scale of the spa, as we initially thought that it was just a small establishment. In fact, we were totally impressed with the overall atmosphere, furnishing, service, treatment quality and the price of the treatments. Took lots of photos, see the next blog entry for details. Bangkok is really a haven for spa, have blogged about Pranali Spa and Divana Spa before.

After a 3hr spa treatment, we were famished and headed back to Erawan Bangkok for lunch at Nara Thai Cuisine. This is a restaurant recommended by a few Taiwanese bloggers who gave very good ratings so we decided to give it a try.

It was passed lunch hour so we needn't wait for a table. Most of the patrons were locals, so we believed the food should be quite authentic.

I ordered my favourite lemongrass drink which was ok, nothing to shout about.

This was the appetizer that was highly recommended. There were chicken satay, deep fried dumpling, spring roll, pomelo & prawn salad and thai fish cake. The overall presentation was definitely aesthetically pleasing, whetting my appetite immediately. Taste was quite good too, I love the thai fish cake especially.

Next up was Tom Yum Seafood Soup. I'm not into Tom Yum as it was too spicy and sour for me, but hubby love Tom Yum soup a lot. So usually I would just take a bowl and he would finish the rest.

The soup was authentic alright and passed hubby's QC.

This was one interesting dish which we had never try before - Stir-fry squid with salted egg. I love the chewy squid wihich was enhanced by the unique taste of the salted egg.

We ordered a pineapple fried rice for sharing. I prefer the thai-style pineapple fried rice to the chinese-style, where some spices are usually added to enhance the taste of the rice.

Although we were bursting at the seams, we still must try the dessert. Hubby had the "Red Ruby" - water chestnut morsels encased in tapioca starch and served in sweet coconut milk.

While I had Coconut Sorbet. The sorbet also came with a few pieces of the red ruby. I love it, surprisingly light and refreshing.

After the heavy late lunch, it was shopping time. We visited the newly launched, revamped and rebranded CentralWorld, which used to be called World Trade Centre. It was huge. But I still prefer Siam Paragon, so we headed there after an hour.

I shopped at Siam Paragon for a couple of hours while hubby headed to MBK. For dinner, we once again decided to go for MK Gold Restaurant, the thai version of steamboat. This restaurant seemed to be our regular haunt already.

Since we had a heavy lunch, decided to go light and ordered veggies and mushroom only.

Except that hubby must always order the duck meat, which was tender and succulent.
I always love the iced chinese tea which was very refreshing and fragrant.

After dinner, we walked around a bit before heading back to the hotel for a good night's rest.

The next day, we decided to go Central Chitlom before check-out. More shopping for me!

For lunch, we headed to the top level of Central Chitlom and dine at Food Loft, which has an Open-Kitchen, self-serve concept with multiple cuisines to select. Just hand the bar-code card to the stalls to place order.
Shrimp paste fried rice. Not bad.

Deep fried prawn spring roll.

Ginger soup with ginko nuts.

Soon, it was time to return to the hotel for check-out and to the airport.

Realised that I didn't take any photos of the hotel interiors, guessed we were always rushing in and out of the hotel.

The only photo I took of the hotel, an elegant decoration by the lift lobby. Hope the political unrest could be resolved soon so that I can return to the charming Land of Smiles again.

Resources:

• Lavana Bangkok Spa - http://www.lavanabangkok.com/


• Nara Thai Cuisine - Erawan Bangkok, Lower Ground Floor, Tel: +662 250 7707-8

Lavana Spa, Bangkok

Lavana Bangkok Spa is one of the spa recommended by hubby's friend who is working in Bangkok. He offered us several options and after browsing their websites, decided to try Lavana which is a full-fledge spa.

Initially thought that it was a small establishment, was pleasantly surprised when we saw this large building as we approached the vicinity.

Was even more impressed by the interior furnishings which was comfortable, spacious and tastefully decorated. We felt relaxed already.

Cold towel and warm herbal tea served while we browsed the treatment menu.I decided to go for the 3.5hr Lavana Journey package with a Shirodhara head massage, oil massage and herbal ball. Priced at 2880 thai baht (around S$120), it was definitely a steal as a similar package in Singapore would have cost twice the amount or more. Hubby went for thai massage and foot massage, also 3.5hr.

We were led to separate treatment rooms by our therapists.

Ambient and relaxing room, with soft spa music in the background. The treatments were totally relaxing and rejuvenating, my stress and tight muscles were slowly kneaded away by the skillful hands of the therapist.

Attached bathroom for shower after the treatment.

Hot towel and herbal tea served after the treatment.

After the treatment, I was led back to the reception area. While waiting for hubby, I was served a creamy brulee-like dessert topped with finely chopped pistachio. Yum!

An array of spa merchandise available for sale.

I really like the furniture and interior design, with very clean and neat finishings. Wished I could do the same for my home.

The staff told us that the spa had a special free American breakfast for all customers from 9am to 1pm daily. After the treatment, we could actually linger inside the room and slowly enjoy a sumptuous and leisurely meal. As we wanted to go for lunch at Nara restaurant, we had to decline the offer.

Yet another great spa experience in Bangkok! I will be back for more!

Lavana Bangkok Spa

No.4 Soi Sukhumvit 12 Sukhumvit Road., Klongtoey, Klongtoey, Bangkok 10110

Tel : +66 (0) 2 2294510-12 Fax : +66 (0) 2 2294514

E-mail : lavana.bangkok@gmail.com

Opening Hours : 09:00 am - 02:00 am

Last Reception : 23:30 pm

http://www.lavanabangkok.com/index.html

Valrhona Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

I really am obsessed with my new oven. Been baking non-stop every night after work. Even when I ended work around 10+ and reached home 11pm, I still baked till 1am. Am I crazy or what? LOL :D

This Valrhona Dark Chocolate Cupcake was learnt during my very first baking workshop at Shermay's Cooking School last year. The simple preparation method and ingredient list boasted my confidence; most recipes at the school are almost foolproof. I got hooked and also realised that baking is very therapeutic for me.

The buttercream itself is easy to make. Once ready, it's up to one's imagination to decorate the bare cupcakes. Realised that much patience and meticulous labour is actually involved in the decoration part.

While I have yet to master the decoration skills that of Chef Joycelyn (not sure if I could ever), I guess with some effort, results could be pretty good looking as well.

My Holiday Baked Treats 2008

Been busy baking these few days for my gang's annual Christmas celebration. We know each other for around 15 years! Now that most of us are married and some with kids, our group has expanded to include the spouses and babies. Really fortunate and blessed to have them :)

This year, I volunteered myself as the 'baked treats' I/C, while W is in-charged of food. My menu included Sticky Date & Toffee Bundt, Home-made Egg Nog and White Wine Jelly with Red Fruits, all recipes from previous Shermay's Cooking School's workshops.

As for presents, decided on box of treats with Mocha Walnut Fudge, Pecan & Cinnamon Biscotti and Valrhona Cocoa Meringue Cookies.

This "instant" fudge is quite easy to do and can be made in advance. Only tedious part is cutting the fudge into individual cubes and wrapping them in gold foil. As our weather is very humid, the fudge tends to melt quite quickly, so I have to wrap them fast yet neat and presentable enough.
Biscotti is quite easy to bake as well, only catch is the slicing of the biscotti into fine slices after the first bake. The slices tend to break easily. As I have some leftover candied orange peel in my fridge, decided to add some into the biscotti instead of just pecan. Result is not bad.

Meringue cookies are not difficult to make either. Only thing, it takes 2 hrs to bake (low temperature baking to retain airy-ness of the cookie).

After baking all the 3 items, carefully packed them into clear plastic envelopes and into pretty boxes.

Boxes of baked treats all ready for my friends.

White Wine Jelly with Strawberry & Rasberry. Instead of wine glasses, I used plastic wine goblets (available from Cold Storage). Had wanted to make the bubble jelly effect on the top layer but ran out of gelantine mixture and too lazy to make another batch. Really liked the festive colours of this dessert. The white wine is a nice addition to the otherwise sweet jelly and tangy fruits.

This was my first attempt on Sticky Date & Toffee Bundt. Specially bought the cathedral-shaped silicon mould as I love the whole presentation when Chef Joycelyn demonstrated this recipe during her workshop. The pudding was totally yum; texture was dense and moist. The cake itself is not too sweet; for added sweetness, just top with more toffee sauce.

The PARTY!

Bountiful table! Most items were ordered from Crystal Jade Festive menu, with a few home-mades by W - Country Veggie Soup, Whipped Butternut Squash and Veggie Sticks with Seafood Sauce Dip.

I love these greens by W! Was munching non-stop on celery and carrot sticks and dipped with the lovely seafood sauce (brand: The English Provence Co., from Cold Storage)

A belated Merry Christmas & upcoming Happy New Year to all!!!

So glad that I attempted so many new recipes these few days :D And now looking forward to another gathering on New Year's eve (this time at my place with hubby's colleagues). More baking and cooking ahead!

Assorted Bakes

Have been busy baking past 2 weeks, partly fulfilling some orders.

Although it was tiring to bake after work, at least it was a therapeutic process (faced much grudge and grievance at work >_<)

Carrot, orange & walnut cupcakes with white chocolate cream cheese frosting - box of 16. One of my favourite recipes and cake. Quite tedious though, long list of ingredients to prep.

Cream puff with custard filling. Relatively easy to make. I must start experimenting on other filling flavours like durian, chocolate...

Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Cupcakes and Valrhona Dark Chocolate Cupcakes - undecorated. They looked so bare without any frosting! These were customised for a colleague's house party - kids and adults could do some hands-on frosting on the cupcakes.

Bags of Swiss Meringue Buttercream with different piping tips - vanilla and chocolate flavours were prepared for self-frosting.

Some decorating samples and ideas for reference.

Happy news :D

I ordered a 58L oven and it'll be arriving this coming Saturday! Been looking forward to it since I've been baking with a 18L oven all these while and it wasn't productive as the oven can only bake a small batch at one go. Although I have another Microwave Convection Oven, some bakes didn't turn out well (e.g. Chiffon cakes are ok, but not cupcakes).

I have a long list of recipes to attempt for 2 upcoming parties and really excited to try some new recipes!

Yay!

Christmas Special Workshop: Traditional Baked Goodies III

Attended my last baking workshop for the year at Shermay's Cooking School 2 weekends ago. This demo class was taught by Paris-Trained Pastry Guest Chef Keiko Ishida. Have attended a few of her workshops previously and always very impressed by her impeccable and meticulous presentation style in all her baked treats, just as Chef Joycelyn.

It was amazing how she could accomplished demos of all these recipes within just 3hrs 30mins and yet remained so composed.

• Opera - 8 layers of chocolate & almond sponge with freshly whipping cream covered with a Valrhona chocolate glaze
• Kardinal Shittea - traditional Viennese yellow sponge and white meringue cake with coffee cream and crunchy almond
• Colombier (Tree-shaped Orange Almond Cake - orange flavoured almond cake baked using a tree mould
• White Wine Jelly with Festive Red Fruits - a beautiful Christmas chilled dessert filled with raspberries, strawberries & redcurrants

The texture of the Tree Orange Almond Cake resembled a little of the Malay/Nonya Kueh Bolu. But this is made from mainly ground almonds, top flour, eggs, icing sugar and butter, whereas Kueh Bolu uses sugar, wheat flour, tapioca flour.The Colombier could also be baked as a cake and decorated with sugar glaze for very Christmassy feel.

The Kardinalschnitte is an Austrian coffee cream sponge cake. Ingredients are simple, essentially meringue - egg whites and caster sugar and sponge - egg, egg yolks, caster sugar and top flour. Method includes careful piping of strips of meringue and sponge; baked then sandwiched with coffee cream.
An elegant and angelic presentation with icing sugar and sliced almonds.

White wine jelly with red fruits - this is so pretty! Simple to make yet creates a stunning sophisticated effect. I'm going to make this for my upcoming 2 parties!

Opera - this is a traditional French chocolate layered chocolate and coffee cream cake, made up of 8 layers - starting with Biscuit Joconde (Almond Biscuit), Chocolate Ganache (Chocolate Cream), Biscuit Chocolat (Chocolate Biscuit), Coffee Butter Cream, Biscuit Joconde, Chocolate Ganache, Biscuit Chocolat, Coffee Butter Cream and finally top layer of Glacage Au Chocolat (Chocolate Glazing).

The process is really tedious and requires a lot of patience and attention to details. But effect is awe-inspiring. Chef Keiko definitely gives us the hope that this is achievable at home.

The smooth Glacage Au Chocolat (Chocolate Glaze) is a perfect canvass for decoration. Handwritten wishes with chocolate glaze, silver candy balls, gold dust and there we have it, the rich and luxurious Opera.

All participants went home very happy with a box of goodies - one portion of each recipe! Chef Keiko was so generous; she must have spent a lot of time preparing all these.

Tim Sum Class at Creative Culinaire

It's the Saturday but I woke up bright and early and made my way to Creative Culinaire to attend a Tim Sum class from 8.30am to 1pm. The hands-on class was taught by Chef Yeo Poh Soon, who has 20 years of experience in Tim Sum restaurants and has headed the kitchens of Crystal Jade, Tung Lok, and Spring Court.

Recipes included:

• Flaky Egg Tart - I love the Chinese type of egg tarts and have always wanted to learn how to make the flaky, 1000-layer skin and the silky smooth egg filling.
• Savoury Dumplings (Hum Swee Kok) - Dumplings wrapped in chicken and deep fried. Didn't have much impression about this tim sum as I hardly order it.
• Pan-fried Vegetable/Meat Pau (Shen Jian Chye Rou Pau) - Vegetable and meat filling wrapped in little ‘paos’ and then pan-fried.

Participants were paired and watched demo of the recipes by Chef Yeo before proceeding to make our own.
Pan-fried Vegetable/Meat Pau (Shen Jian Chye Rou Pau)

The dough making process looked quite manageable, and can even be eaten on its own when steamed as mantou. Filling was straightforward as well. For me, the most tricky part was the wrapping of the pau. I couldn't catch the gist of the wrapping at all and my pau turned out real ugly. LOL.

Anyway, after wrapping, steam for 5 mins, then panfried the bottom of the pau till golden brown.

Chef Yeo's paus were perfectly wrapped with at least 18-21 folds in less than 10 secs. Must have taken years of practice.

Freshly panfried pau. So yummy! Crispy at the bottom and soft at the top; fillings were delish and not oily at all.

Flaky Egg Tart

The recipe is really tough! The skin consists of Outer Skin and Inner Skin. To achieve the flakiness, the outer and inner skins must be rolled, beaten and folded carefully in swift motions as the outer skin melts quite quickly. Every step is crucial to the success of the egg tarts, from folding the skin, shaping, moulding, making the filling to baking process. Now I appreciate the flaky egg tarts sold at restaurant even more. Really not sure whether I could attempt this at home because it is really quite tedious.

Chef Yeo's egg tarts looked pretty and tasted really good. Egg filling was tender and not too sweet. Skin was flaky, soft and texture was even.

My partner and I had some trouble with rolling and folding the outer and inner skin as the outer skin was melting and sticking to the rolling pin.My ugly looking flaky egg tarts. The skin turned out uneven and hard as we didn't beat and fold the skin well enough.

Savoury Dumplings (Hum Swee Kok)

Didn't have time to make this as we ran out of time. Only saw demo by Chef Yeo.

The Tim Sum Class was interesting, had chance to learn something different from Shermay's Cooking School. But felt that to demo and hands-on for 3 recipes was a little too rush. Everyone had to scramble for ingredients, steamer, oven, sinks etc. Well, I am tempted to try the recipes, especially the egg tarts, but given the tedious process, likely to put this off for now.

Creative Culinaire The School Pte Ltd
Address: Eng Hoon Mansion #01-03/04, 17 Eng Hoon Street, Singapore 169767
Tel: 63241663
Fax: 63249490
Email: j.jireh@creativeculinaire.com
Website: http://www.creativeculinaire.com/

First attempt at Traditional Kueh Lapis

Had quite a number of egg yolks left over from my chiffon cake bake sales. Was pondering what to do with them when I came across passion baker's blog on Traditional Kueh Lapis. She adapted her recipe from Florence's blog. Since I have available egg yolks and it was a public holiday, decided to give it a try.

The batter itself was not difficult, but the challenge came in grilling the batter layer by layer, at 5 minutes interval.

It was really a test of patience, having to tediously spread and grill the batter layer by layer. Luckily I had a timer which I set to sound off to remind me that time's up. Me being a multi-tasker, I could never sit in front of the oven to watch the cake cook.

Didn't bother counting the number of layers, just kept on baking till I finished the batter. Finally, after some 15 layers, my Kueh Lapis was done! I think I could have over-baked it a little and seemed that the surface was not really even.
The whole cake seemed quite oily as well, must be all the fat from the egg yolks.

Presenting my first traditional Kueh Lapis. Yummmm... taste-wise was still acceptable. Layers looked clearly visible. However I felt that the texture was a tad hard. Probably I over-baked each layer or my oven was too hot? My oven don't have top and bottom fire. After pre-heating the oven, I simply switched to 'Grill' mode. And probably my layers were too thin as well?

If there is going to be a next attempt, I should try adding slightly more batter to each layer. Instead of 15 layers now, perhaps just 10-12 layers will do. Could probably adjust grilling time to just 4 minutes.

Well, next time.

Orange Chiffon Cake - my first bake sales!

Was busy busy through the past weekday nights with my first bake sales!

It all started when I brought some orange chiffon cake to the office for my colleagues on Monday. Initially it was meant for a mahjong session at a friend's place but the session was cancelled last minute. So decided to bake one more (one cake is not enough) to bring to the office since I have all the ingredients.

In fact, I would bring some of my test bakes to the office once in a while. While my colleagues were enjoying the cake, one of them asked me if I would take orders? While bake sales is always at the back of my mind, I hadn't get down to really do the math and planning. But since there is a ready order, I thought, why not?

Ended up with a total of 12 cake orders for delivery on Thursday and Friday! Wow! So, after work on Tuesday, had to rush to Phoon Huat to purchase some of the ingredients/materials and then to supermarket for the oranges. And also to conceptualise a practical, economical yet eye-catching packaging.

Thereafter, it was baking, washing, more baking, more washing on Wednesday and Thursday nights. Started quite slow at first, practice makes perfect and by the time I did my 3rd batch of cakes, it was quite a breeze (2 cakes per batch).

Have gained much experience from this exercise indeed, from ingredient preparation, improving work flow to the trick of using my 2 ovens. I have one small 18L Convection Oven (no fan mode) which I used for most of my bakes. With such a small oven, there are definitely constraints but I have to make do with it and so far results were quite satisfactory. The another is a Double Grill Convection Microwave Oven (with fan mode) which I seldom use and it doesn't yield good results for some recipes. To speed up my baking process, I used both ovens concurrently with each batch of batter (batter is split into 2 tube pans). Interestingly, the Microwave Convection Oven took 40-45 mins to cook the batter while the normal Convection took almost 60-65 mins. Both cakes turned out almost the same in terms of texture, taste, colour. I also realised that an electric mixer is definitely useful in whisking egg whites; but I still prefer finishing off the desired almost stiff peak form by hand.

Colour of the orange chiffon turned out a pretty shade of light brown. Although the chiffon cake looks such a humble cake, every step in preparation must be carefully managed or else the results may not turn out good.

Texture of the cake is quite springy, light and fluffy to the bite and taste-wise rich with orange aroma, just the right moisture and consistency. Hubby commented I have made a remarkable improvement and it is not easy to get compliment from him! So happy! The cake is so light that I could polish a few slices at one go.

For packaging, carton box would be easier to transport/pack but kind of boring-looking. So decided to design a simple label and stick it across the box to seal it. Thought this is quite neat yet adds a striking touch to the plain carton box.

8 boxes of orange chiffon cake ready for delivery on Friday!

Anyone interested may drop me an email at dreamersloft@gmail.com :)