butterisbetter

Hmmm. tried BiB a couple of weeks ago when we found Hideaway closed.

They are more expensive that Hideaway/Art Cafe

and on the American breakfast (always have it) Don't give fruit, or coffee refills and

are more expensive... so, though really nice people, are not as good value

(And they use the flavoured butter rather than the natural one and I really don't like it!)

David

Asfor coffee...

For our regular coffee we buyhigh quality beans. Then we brew them in a special and quite expensivemachine called a Technivorm. It’s especially expensive because we had to importit from Europe. It's got a lot of special features but by far its mostimportant one is that it has a giant copper heating element which can hold thewater at the precise optimum temperature for drip coffee. I think it's about 95degrees Celsius. You can look up reviews of the machine on the internet. If you come to the restaurant and want to admire the thing, youshould know that we keep it in the back. It's really ugly.. But we willbe glad to give you a guided tour around it's perimeter. However, wesuggest you don't let impressionable young children view it. It mighttake lots of therapy to undo the consequences

At any rate, we can't afford to give it away.. Except, apparently, to gotlost. Who is that masked man?

Make sure that you tell the parking security guard. A few weeks ago, I went and it was closed and he said that you went out of business. I know of a few people that didn't go back because they thought you were gone.

It must have been a Tuesday, but I can't remember what day it was.

Good luck.

Thanks for the heads up. It was probably wishful thinking on his part. We are gradually getting more customers and they are probably interrupting his beauty sleep. I guess somewhere along the way we reached a tipping point.

Hmmm. tried BiB a couple of weeks ago when we found Hideaway closed.

They are more expensive that Hideaway/Art Cafe

and on the American breakfast (always have it) Don't give fruit, or coffee refills and

are more expensive... so, though really nice people, are not as good value.

(And they use the flavoured butter rather than the natural one and I really don't like it!)

David

We really don't use flavored butter. Just basic unsalted butter.

Butter is Better Bakery & Restaurant on Chang Klan Road will now be open 7 days per week (formerly we were closed on Tuesdays),

So our new hours are:

Monday to Saturday: 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Sunday: 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Our Bakery inside Rim Ping Supermarket Mee Chok will still have the same hours:

Every Day 9:00 AM - 9:00 PM

The Royal Project has been producing butternut squash for several years now. Are you anywhere near one of their outlets. Here in Chiang Mai it's easily available. Thai Pumpkin would make a good substitute for the squash. It's denser than squash, but often sweet and very flavorful.

Every Friday evening the Alliance Francaise offers screens an old or not so old French Film.

Here's some info about it I copied from a blog "he Alliance Française shows its series of French films in a small room in their building at 138 Charoen Prathet Road. The building is directly opposite Wat Chaimongkhon, near the Chedi Hotel. Tell your taxi "Samakhom Frangset" and/or "Wat Chaimongkhon."A contribution of 30 baht is requested; you pay outside at the information desk of the Alliance Française proper."

Maybe the readers are coming down in price, but the cost of e-books is rising. I looked at purchasing some older books from Amazon and they are a lot more expensive than they would be if purchased from say, Gecko. And that doesn't include the money you get back if you return the book to Gecko. And you don't really own the e-book. You can't just pass it along to friends. It's tethered to you kindle or your ipad. So not only do you have to pay for the machine, but you pay more for the content. I don't get it.

You should be able to get it at a bakery supply shop. In Chiangmai, where I live, there are 2 stores that supply dessicated unsweetened coconut. I haven't bought it lately but last time I did it cost no more than 150 baht for a kilo.

If you come from Night Bazaar and walk down Tapae Road with the traffic flow for about 250 meters, Charoen Silp Watch Shop is on the left side, about 20 meters after Bangkok Bank.

Look out for a fairly large shop with a Rolex - Omega sign.

Go in, and the service area is just right in front of you.

Hope this helps.

It does. A lot. Thank you.

Can anybody give me a landmark near to this store. The person who needs it suffers from impaired lung capacity so it's out of the question for him to walk the length of the Thapae Rd to find the place.

Wow. Unanimous advice from THaivisa forum members. THis post should be bronzed. THanks everybody.

A friend of mine has a 100 year old watch that needs to be repaired. It still runs but at an accelerated pace due to a recent cleaning. Does anybody know of a skilled watch repairer in Chiang Mai?

Haven't a clue

But if I was going to do something like that I might take a trip out to Hong Dong and check out Dokmai Garden

I was going to suggest the same thing but jayjay0 beat me to it. If there is anybody who can help you find a competent landscape architect, it's Eric, the proprietor of Dokmai gardens.

I own a second hand bookshop and have to deal with this every day.

I understand that people do not understand why they are being offered what they consider to be "low' prices for their books, but believe me, if they were worth more, someone would buy them for more.

The truth is that most people only sell the books that they don't want on their shelves and that we already have thousands of copies of and will never be able to sell for a normal price. I buy them very cheaply to sell as "bargain books" as this is the only way I can sell more than a few of them and most people sell them, because they just want to get rid of them and would throw them away otherwise.

I know that I pay quite well for books that are new by authors that sell well or are very popular (100-200 baht and up), but mostly all I am offered is older beach fiction that most people have read already and sells only very slowly - if at all - OR JUST PLAIN JUNK. I have to import most of the ones that people actually want and buy and importing them is expensive.

I have lots and lots of these beach books for under 100 baht (bargain books start at 10 baht) and also a lot of less popular modern literature and I buy most of them back for 50%. If that is what you want, just search the shelves because we have plenty of them

Believe me, I would be quite happy to give you a good price for books that I know I can sell for a decent price, but books go in and out of style and something that was popular 6 months ago, just isn't any more and very few customers understand any of that.

When people ask me what titles I will pay well for and I show them, they often get indignant and say that they always keep books like that. That is up to the customer, but then don't expect bookshops to pay you well for bringing in books that might really belong in your garbage.

Why so coy about the name of this amazing book?

At any rate, I've used Gecko for years, and have never had a problem with them. It might be useful to keep in mind that with the drastic drop in tourism in the wake of the bangkok events , local bookstores may be overstocked with books and not in a position to buy most of them except those that are currently in very high demand.

Question:

Ok, so why is a book that I have bought from the most famous second hand bookshop in Chiang Mai at 250 baht ( bit expensive but worth the money ) after three months worth only 70 baht? And why is the same book on the shelves again after a week @ 250 baht?

I will start handing out free books!! Better than begging people to PLEASE give me more than 70 baht for this amazing book.

cuisinart ice cream makers are now for sale at central. they are really easy to use and give great results. i'm referrring here to the 2 liter kind that doesn't have its own refrigeration unit. basically you just stick the container for the ice cream mixture in the freezer for at least 8 hours before using. then pour the mixture in, turn the machine on and let it run for anywhere from 25-35 minutes. then empty the mixture into a chilled bowl and let it sit in the freezer for a few hours to harden up. I think the machine costs about 5000 baht.

I tried it. I thought it was kind of tough and not very interesting. And I like tough beef it it's flavorful. I have had the Matsusaka beef which is sold at Rim Ping and that stuff is flat out delicious.

Instant yeasts of various brands are widely available. SAF brand for one. Instant yeast is really good. Doesn't need to be activated first in warm water and sugar.

Just a word of warning, we quickly discovered that our gas-oven doesn't reach high-enough temperatures, for baking stuff, so had to get a decent electric one instead. I was told this is due to the bottled-gas being a bit crap.

In our bakery we have commercial ovens powered bypropane gas and they work just fine. They can reach a temperature of more than 400 Celsius. So the problem isn't due to the gas.

I believe that I read on the western food forum that Mission had stopped making peanut butter. About the other products, I don't know.

Please Please Please get on meals on wheels delivery!

I'm hungry

Good news for you! We are scheduled to go on it when they do their next update. Below is a tentative list of what we will offer. Most of our baked goods are listed here with the exception of products that either can't survive the heat, or if they do, you might not survive eating them. In the latter case I'm referring to baked goods that contain custards which have egg in them. Most of our cakes with icing are in the former category.

If there's anything else you might like, let us know. We are considering shipping the blintzes frozen.

When I copied my excel table into thaivisa all the formatting got lost. The numbers are the prices in Baht.

BREADS

Bagel Plain 25 Genuine New York Style Bagel

Bagel with Sesame Seeds 25 Genuine New York Style Bagel

Bagel with Poppy Seeds 25 Genuine New York Style Bagel

Whole Wheat Bagel Plain 25 100% Whole Wheat No White Flour

100% Whole Wheat Bagel with Sesame Seeds 25 100% Whole Wheat No White Flour

100% Whole Wheat Bagel with Poppy Seeds 25 100% Whole Wheat No White Flour

English Muffins 25 Real Traditional English Muffins

Deli Rye Bread with Caraway Seeds 85 Authentic Deli Style Light Rye Bread

Italian Bread 35 Baguette Shaped Italian Style Loaf

Italian Bread with Sesame Seeds 40 Baguette Shaped Italian Style Loaf with Sesame Seeds

Seven Grain Bread 55 Multigrain Bread with a Touch of Honey

100% Whole Wheat Bread 55 Baguette Shaped Italian Style Loaf

Challah Bread 55 Traditional Bread Rich with Egg Yolk & Butter

PASTRIES, CAKES, MUFFINS, COOKIES

Butter Scones 30 Genuine Traditional Scones Made with Butter & Cream

100% Whole Wheat Scones 30 Same as above but made with 100% Whole Wheat

Butter Blueberry Scones 35 Genuine Traditional Scones Made with Butter & Cream & Blueberries

100% Whole Wheat Blueberry Scones 35 Same as above but made with 100% Whole Wheat

Brownies with Walnuts 40 Dark, Dense, and Fudgy

Chocolate Chip Cookies 25 Made with Dark Belgian Chocolate & Butter

Oatmeal Cookies 25 Made with Old Fashioned Rolled Oats, Raisins, & Butter

Apple Pie 285 With a Flaky Buttercrust and Granny Smith Apples

Blueberry Pies 285 With Wild Blueberries and a Flaky Buttercrust

Cinnamon Buns 35 Soft Buns rich with Butter & Egg Yolk and Lots of Cinnamon and Icing.

100% Whole Wheat Cinnamon Buns 40 Soft Buns rich with Butter & Egg Yolk and Lots of Cinnamon and Icing. NO WHITE FLOUR

Sticky Buns 35 Tender Buns rich with Egg Yolk and Butter. Lots of Caramel Syrup

Blueberry Muffins 30 Made with Buttermilk and Whole Wild Blueberries

Banana Walnut Muffins 30 Made with Buttermilk, Bananas, and Walnuts

Banana Bread 125 Also Known as Banana Cake. With Real Banana and Walnuts

Chocolate Torte 240 Very Dark Dense Chocolate Cake with Dark Chocolate Icing

Questions:

Are these the real mccoy genuine real genuine bagals like they make them in New York or in London or just plain rolls shaped like bagals?

For the real thing you can put me down for a couple of hundred, I love em and will store them in my freezer. I`m serious.

These are genuine bagels. They are made with a dense dough and boiled before baking. That said, they are not quite the bagels of my early childhood. Back then, there was still a bagel maker's union and they had very strict standards about how to make a bagel. So you had to use 100% high gluten flour. Originally. I made them that way, but we were getting lots of complaints about them being too tough and chewy. So I lightened up the dough a bit. Not a lot, but still. At any rate, I would love to give the 100% high gluten flour bagels another go, if there was enough demand for it. Our whole wheat bagels are made with high gluten flour but because it's whole wheat, the gluten can't develop the way it does in white flour.

Is French bread flown in from Paris?

I used to eat Cuban sandwiches in Miami when I lived there and as far as I can remember, this is pretty much the same thing. Actually, the bread is good, but a little different texture from a typical hamburger bun, so I was just pointing it out so anyone who wants to try it would understand why.

Is the bread soft or is it the kind that crumbles when you bite into it or some where in between.

On a scale of 1 to 10 1 being soft where would you rate it.

egad I am asking someone who thinks BK and McD are on a par food wise. Yuk Ugh Yuk Ugh

If you're asking about the Cuban bread, it is soft. Thanks to the lard.

As luck would have it, the gas sytem feeding our baAking ovens failed today. So only a trickle of baked goods are coming out of our one electric oven.. It's just the baked goods that are affected. Everything else is per usual

Where are you on Chang Klan Road. Is it the old Bake'n'Bite restaurant? Will try next week

That's where we are. Almost opposite Giorgios's.

W

I think that they are equally mediocre, but, McDonald's is less expensive.

However, if you are looking for a home-made burger, Butter is Better has a really nice cheeseburger with Cuban bread and the burgers at the Duke's are a few steps up as well.

Is the Cuban bread flown in from Havana?

Seriously, I've never hI'mad Cuban bread except when (joyously) living in Cuba for three months many moons ago. I can't remember what's special about it - but certainly sounds like its worth giving it a try at BIB.

It won't make me start doing the conga, bolero, cha cha and salsa....will it?

We got our recipe from a couple of Cuban American guys. It tastes like the Cuban bread I had in Miami. But we do make it larger to accommodate the hamburgers. I don't know breaking out into a Conga, but I once had a seizure of St. Vitus dance after eating a bun. Or maybe I'm just looking through rose colored glasses at a bout of the DTs

_{I just visited dokmai gardens on tuesday, july 20 and i wasvery impressed. For one thing I got to see my first live cacao tree.Granted it was a sapling but I thought I could detect incipient cocoa podsalready.For me it was something on the order of "See Naples and die" I think currently they have over 900 species and more than half are veryclearly and informatively labeled. So much so that if Eric, should beoccupied elsewhere, you could learn a lot on your own. Eric did accompany on mytour so I got to pepper him with questions including questions about pepper. I don't know if anybody else has noticed large chunks of wood in the foodmarket. Turns out they come from a relative of the vine that producespepper. The wood has its own peppery taste and I think is used in soupsup here.}

_{Anyway, I was so impressed by the place that I got me a yearlymembership for 600 baht. Which allows me not only unlimited access toharass Eric with questions (he is really very gracious and enthusiastic aboutsharing his passion for plants) but it also allows me free access to hisswimming hole (an abandoned quarry) and the right to fish it.} L

Oh, and the grounds arebeautifully landscaped as well

I think Bake and Bite offers a home catering service now.