Bangkok Jan 2013 Part I - Divana Virtue Spa & Nathong Restaurant

Earlier in Jan this year, hubby and I went on a short Bangkok getaway with another couple P and N. They are foodies as well, and we had a great time eating our way through Bangkok the 3 days we were there. Ok a little exaggerating but still, the amount of food we ordered and ate would be considered overwhelming for the average eater.

 

We took the first flight out and touched down early in the morning in BKK. Our hotel was Siam Kempinski whereas theirs was Novotel Siam Square. Hubby managed to get only 1 room with corporate rate alas we had to stay in separate hotels.

 

After separating our ways at the airport, we proceeded to check-in at our respective hotels and agreed to meet later in the evening for dinner.

 

As it was still early, we could not check into our rooms, so both of us took the free hotel buggy service to Central World and from there a short walk to Erawan Shrine for our ritual prayers.



 

After the prayers, we had some time to spare before our Spa appointment at Divana Virtue Spa, so decided to fill our tummies first at one of our regular haunt at Siam Square.

My order was Braised Pig Trotters with rice and egg.

Oooh, look at the pig's skin, the focus is not the fat but the collagen! LOL!

Hubby's favourite rice noodle soup.

After the yummy brunch, we proceed to Divana Virtue Spa at Silom, nearest BTS station is Surasak. I have been to the Divana Nurture Spa at Sukhumvit before and it's actually re-located to this current address.

The spa is housed in a lovely old Thai mansion and tastefully decorated with lots of floral and chic furnishings.

 

We were served iced pandanus drink with a cold towel.

Different massage oil for selection.

Merchandise on sale. I love the sweet rose and lavender shower gel!

Our treatment room. We were first treated with a foot bath.

Hubby's treatment was Traditional Thai Massage, whereas I went for the Aromatic Relaxing Massage. The massages were not bad, but we had better ones. Would say that in terms of skills, the therapists were average but the whole spa ambience is quite nice.

 

Love the bath tub but we didn't get a chance to use it.



 

After the one-hour massage, we were served some hot lemon tea and fruits.

 

After the spa, we took the BTS back to Siam and proceeded to check into our room. This was our second stay here at Siam Kempinski, we were offered the garden wing deluxe room this time.

 

I think the room was bigger than the one during our previous stay. The king-size bed is certainly inviting.

Spacious walk-in wardrobe for my shopping :p

Workdesk. Free Wifi available in-room.

Good size flat screen TV.

Cozy couch, daily complimentary fresh fruit.

 

Spacious bathtub with oversized bath tub. Dear son would love this one. Well, this trip was not for him.

 

After a good rest, we met P and N at the BTS station, took the BTS then MRT then a cab to Huay Kwang area, for our long-anticipated Nathong Restaurant. This place was recommended by a thai friend and we liked the food so much from a previous trip so we had to come here again despite the inconvenience.

 



 

We were quite early so the restaurant was still empty.

 

3 types of sauces to go with our food.

The tangy and spicy Tom Yum Goong.

Crunchy stir-fry morning glory. The stems were quite tender.

 

Crispy calamari.

 

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My favourite Thai prawn cake, perfect with plum sauce. This was not bad, but still I miss the ones at Sabieng Lae, Koh Samui.

Thai version of stir fried oyster omelette. This was a little wet, slightly different from SG's version.

 

The steamed river prawns are must-order! They are smaller in size but very succulent and sweet!

 

Steamed fish with lime and chilli. The fish was quite fresh and tender, well complemented by the chilli lime sauce.

 

It was amazing how many dishes we ordered in total! And just when I thought we were done, hubby ordered 3 steamed flower crabs. Oh well. Oh but the steamed crabs were good, very tender and juicy!

 

My tummy was bursting at the seams at the end of dinner! Thereafter, we proceeded back to Siam Square for a thai food massage and then back to the hotel for good night's rest.

 

Stay tuned for Part II and III where there's more food than you can eat!

Hands-on Gourmet Pizza Workshop

2 weekends ago, I attended a Hands-on Gourmet Pizza Workshop conducted by Chef Audrey Tan (Head Chef & Chef-Owner of Freshly Baked) at Shermay's Cooking School.

Why a hands-on pizza class? Well, my house (and kitchen) is currently under renovation and I haven't been cooking or baking for almost 2 months!! I'm feeling miserable (staying with my MIL at the moment) and miss cooking and baking terribly :(((( I seriously need some cooking/baking therapy and I guess the quickest fix is to attend a hands-on baking/cooking class.

I've been wanting to make my own pizza for a long time and even bought a Jamie Oliver baking stone already. It's still in mint condition and I can't wait to try it once my spanking new kitchen is ready (2 more weeks I'm crossing my fingers).

Anyways, it was a fun class and indeed therapeutic, the kneading of dough and all. And I ate lots of pizza! Thankfully the pizzas were cut into small sizes, otherwise it would certainly be carbo-overload.

Chef Audrey taught us how to make basic pizza dough, homemade tomato sauce, robiola sauce and made us many flavours of pizza using both the Pizza Oven "Express Napoli" and conventional oven.

 The all-time favourite Margarita pizza.

 Vegetarian.

 Mushroom

 Hawaiian

Robiola "White" pizza with truffle oil.

All the pizzas tasted scrumptious, especially fresh from the oven. But there was a slight difference the pizzas baked using the Express Napoli and conventional oven. Pizzas baked by the former were more crispy and had that omph factor, more so than those baked using the conventional oven. Well, I don't think I'm ready to have another piece of appliance in my kitchen. Shall see what happens after I try making the pizzas.

 Ingredients prepared for all participants.

 After kneading the dough by hand, shape and divide into 2 portions for proofing.

 My pizza dough, not round shape at all. *Fail*

 Spread some homemade tomato sauce.

 And off to the "buffet" bar to select our ingredients. I forgot to take a photo of how my pizza looked like before going into the oven.

 Tadah, my personal home-made pizza.

And my Robiola pizza, I think I added too little cheese here.

Now, I can't wait to go home and start baking!

Tokyo Dec 2012 - Part III

Continued from Part I and Part II.

In this Part III and final part of my Tokyo Dec 2012, I'm going to share about my shopping haul!!

Like I said before, Tokyo is a shopping paradise and I always find my luggage packed to the brim for each and every trip :p

Dried silverfish, bought at Tsukiji outer-market. Packed to order, according to weight, I think these were 100 or 200g pack each. I usually add them to fried rice, or stir fried eggs.

Dried Shiitake mushroom, also bought at Tsukiji outer market. They were very plump and fragrant, perfect for braising with meat.

Yuzu, bought at Tsukiji outer market, 100 yen for pack of 3, I bought 3 packs. I made Yuzu Chiffon Cake with these.

New potato and bamboo shoots bought at OIOI supermarket. The new potato was so cheap, 6 for 105 yen!

New burdock root, bought at OIOI supermarket. I like making salads with burdock or cook soup with it.

Nissen Violet Flour - good for making sponge cakes like strawberry shortcake and swissroll.
Caster sugar - this is more refined than brands like SIS, also good for sponge cakes.
They are cheaper by 20-30% than Singapore so no harm buying right :p

My favourite yuzu honey. Happy to find it sold at OIOI supermarket.

The Heinz soups were bought at OIOI supermarket.
The mushroom rice kit, plum rice kit and instant brown sugar & ginger latte bought at Muji.

Snacks galore! Calbee - vegie crisp, jagabee butter & salt flavour, potato chips yuzu & pepper flavour. Muji - pretzel maple syrup & salt, cheese & honey flavoured chips, Japanese plum crackers, Aomori apple waffle.

My all-time favourite yuzu drinks!! From convenience stores and Muji. Muji Singapore currently carries the Soda Yuzu. I checked with the store manager about the Honey & Yuzu; stock is supposed to arrive but so far I still haven't see it.

Lozenges for sore throat, sold at local pharmacies. Very soothing with tinge of flavouring, just like a sweet, unlike the strong flavours of strepsils. Most importantly, very effective!

Financier, bought at Tokyo Solamachi (Sky Tower mall). Tender and moist, nice!

My favourite snack, potato sticks from Potato Farm (Hokkaido brand). It is much nicer than Jagabee! 1000 yen at airport duty free. Saw it at Takashimaya (Singapore), going for $20+ :(((((
Luckily I bought 5 packs!

The Tokyo Banana cream cake is supposedly the most popular gift that people brought back as souvenir from Tokyo.

The Chocolate Banana Cream is a new flavour, not even sold at the airport yet (as of Dec 2012). We found this at Tokyo Solamachi (Sky Tower), luckily we decided to buy there instead of the airport. Chocolate and banana, what can I say, perfect combination! I brought it to a party and all the kids snatched them up in no time.

Yuzu jam, need I say more about my obsession with yuzu :p This can be used for baking too, I think!

 

Thermo mug and table placemats from Afternoon Tea.

Went crazy at Laura Ashley. These bento boxes were so sweet, especially the mini tubs used for sauces.

And these as well - oven mitt, recycle bag, passholder and ziplock bags.

Flora baking cases from Timeless Comfort at Shibuya Mark City.

And cupcake cases too! So pretty right?

More great finds from Timeless Comfort. I was drooling over them!

Kitchen accessories from Tokyu Hands and Loft.

Basket with cover and wooden plate from Natural Kitchen. 300 yen each.

More cupcake cases. Bought this at Jiyugaoka.

 

Lovely multi-tab clear holders, from Jiyugaoka too.

 

Cake pedestal, from 3 coins. 300 yen.

Socks from Muji and Kutsushitaya. I love the pair (bottom) from Kutsushitaya best, it's perfect for wearing with heels or pumps, not visible at all and very comfortable and durable. Those I bought locally tear after just a few times. Regret buying only 1 pair of black and biege.

Pajamas, sweater, clothes from Muji for dear son. Most of them at 20-30% discount.

Packing cubes from Muji. Love these, especially useful for packing clothes/stuff for travel. And cherry blossom shower gel. All at 30% discount.

Plastic dessert cups (comes with covers) bought at Kappabashi. Great for jelly, panna cotta, cold desserts basically... there are 50 pieces per design, thinking of selling some of them.

Christmas theme cupcake cases at 50% discount, bought from Kappabashi. Will be great for Christmas this year (thinking ahead!).

Well, these are part of my shopping haul (I think), hope it has inspired you to go Tokyo too! As for me, of course I would love to go Tokyo again! Anyone wants to engage me as a zakka-shopping guide?