just_Elaine

Pla ___ manow (fish, type of fish, lime) - steam fish with lime

Yam makua yow (eggplant salad) - usually grilled eggplant, skinned and with ground pork and shrimp in a nice sauce with a hard boiled egg as garnish.

Yam tua pbuu (wingbean salad) - kind of the same as the eggplant, but have had it also with squid.

Laab moo - minced ground pork "salad" although some versions I like and others I do not. Also some places have laab gai (chicken instead of pork).

If you happen to a Northern place then gaeng Khea (moo/gai pork or chicken if you want; this curry has lots of different vegetables that are not available elsewhere) would be good.

Also, have the fruits. There is a wonderful variety of fruits here. Usually the pineapple is excellent. My favorites are papaya, bananas, mangos and mangosteen (which will not be season while you are here).

I forgot to mention som tom (green papaya salad) and the som o (pomelo salad) which can be really delicious.

Hope you have a good and delicious time...

Does anyone have any idea where I can buy chinese pancakes, I want to make crispy duck for some friends but cannot find the pancakes anywhere, surely somewhere must have them - pleeease help!

I made the pancakes once and they came out pretty good, but I don't seem to have the recipe. It wasn't that hard to do. I would look for mu (or moo) shu pork pancake recipes because where I am from they serve a steamed layered bun for peking duck instead of the pancake that you are describing.

We've been to the Beirut Restaurant on the lower level of a shopping mall on Sukhumvit. I think that is the one on Soi 3 that was mentioned earlier. It is pretty good. We've tried some on Sukhumvit close to Soi 1 that we were terrible. If anyone finds any that are really good, please mention it!

Jayenram, Jingjing... recipies please? Or is it a secret kah

Here is a recipe from a man from Sri Lanka. This was modified to take out ghee (clarified butter). It is delicious and we find that it is better than most restaurants.

Dal

2 cups dal (we use the orange ones; I think you can substitute the yellow ones, but they might take longer to cook)

3 1/4 cup water

1 1/4 teaspoons ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon ground tumeric

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons curry powder (I usually use a madras curry powder in a green colored tin)

11/2 teaspoon olive oil

1/2 teaspoon Kadugu (black seeds - mustard seed; these are reddish brown/black; I have seen them in a small Thailand shop in Pai, but I haven't looked for them)

3 pieces fresh chili peppers sliced into small circles

1 small onion chopped

6 pieces garlic peeled and sliced

1 wedge lemon or lime

Sort through dal & pick out any stones or black items. Wash/rinse several times--knead dal while washing. Water will be soapy-like at first, but this will lessen with every wash. When water is clear, add water. The height of the water should be about twice as high as the dal. Put on stove and bring to a boil. Add cumin, tumeric, salt and curry powder. Stir dal occasionally. Cook at med-high heat.

In a separate non-stick frying pan, add olive oil. Heat and add kadugu. Stir and wait a moment then add peppers and cook for 1 minute. Add garlic and onions. Cook until onions are brown.

Watch the dal. When water level of the dal is a little lower than dal, then it is time to add the onions. If you are not quite ready, lower heat and cover and then add onion mixture.... To add onion mixture, add a little dal into the onion mixture. Stir and pour all of the onion mixture into the dal. Stir add the juice of the lime/lemon. Cover, turn off heat and let dal sit for a few minutes.

----------------

Enjoy! I've made the above recipe often...

I've had other versions of dahl from Pakistani people that were delicious, but I never got recipes. Some had ginger others had coriander; some with white dahl, some with black dahl. It would be nice to see some of these recipes....

Just fyi -- more choices from chiang mai newsChiang Mai News Christmas Specials

I was thinking if they had a free shuttle, it might not be so bad. I tried to find something online, but found more bad news instead:

Trip Advisor opinions for Best Western

You are booking during the New Year and most hotels charge extra during that period.

Anyway, I agree with the other people here. We usually initially stay at the Lotus Pang in a deluxe room (we use asiarooms.com to book). (It connects to a shopping center that has food courts and grocery store (called Top). Also, there are a couple places there to get foot massages that I've tried. Our recommendation to friends and family for Chiang Mai is Doi Suthep, Elephant Camp (can't remember the name of the one we normally go to), shopping at Baan Tawan (although it seemed to not be as good last year) and the Night Bazaar, getting massages (Traditional Thai or foot), go to Warawot market (see all the different food, flowers) and take a cooking class (to learn about Thai food ingredients and have a good meal - hopefully). However, it really depends what you like to do. Go to the library or buy a guidebook. I think Lonely Planet guides are usually pretty good.

I think the first time we went to Chiang Mai, we booked a van. It was an all day thing and we drove up the Golden Triangle, rode on elephants for a couple of hours, took a boat. So there are trips like that that one can do. Usually, it can be arranged after you get there.

That's my 2 cents...

I did the 3-day course at Sompet, it was very good, the atmosphere was easy and friendly and the lessons stuck! they're referred to in other threads on this board - I don't have contact info - but they came to our house and picked us up, it was about $30 for 3 days.

Here's the Web site for Sompet Thai Cookery School.. url="http://sompet.paragonfury.com/stccourses.html"]Sompet Thai Cookery School courses[/url]

It looks like they do it for free while you wait...

http://bangkok.usembassy.gov/passports.html

Oh, I forgot to mention that the result is from BKK-FLL (Fort Lauderdale).

I tried the United site for Feb 19 (Tuesday with 21 day advance purchase) and return Mar 11 (Tuesday). I put in BKK-MIA, but checked the alternate airport box. This fare came in at under $1600. Hope this helps.

I don't know much, but when I want a line break, I code it like this <br /> . Why not try it and see if you get the same result?

I've gone to both Ram and Grace - I agree that the facilities are different. I feel that Grace is better equipped and that's where I go.

I would have to disagree with the last post.

I am just fitting a European type kitchen and have been looking long and hard for the same.

European ovens are very hard to find and very expensive (buit in unit single oven 35000 baht). If you do need one then Homepro do them. It is easy enough to get hobs though.

I ended up compromising and bought a 3 burner hob and a large microwave with buit in convection oven and grill. I used one of these in England and ended up rarely using anything else. And I love cooking!

Good luck with your search.

Just fyi. A few years ago, we lived in a place with a gas oven and we found that it didn't work as well as electric ovens we've used. So maybe it is better to go with gas for a cooktop and then a separate unit for baking & roasting.. ??

We have a glut of lemons on our tree in the garden just now, but in another 3 or 4 months there won't be any, and lemons in the market will be expensive.

Does anyone know how we could preserve either our lemons or just their juice?

On a food channel, the host sliced up lemons and froze them like that. Supposedly, when you then want a drink with lemon, you just throw a slice into a glass. I haven't tried this.

Agreed, the juice is availible in many places (supermarkets and street vendors) but I don't consider it worth the cost. I wonder if I have only tasted watered down versions before?

Very chilled sugar cane juice is ok. But I prefer fresh orange juice.

What was "the recipe" for, could other juices be used ?

A cocktail. My friend calls it the "Mangosteen Martini". A few of us have been playing around with fruity cocktails, so we'll email each other cocktails we've created. Then the others will try to recreate it and maybe improve on it. So, yes, we could use something else, but then it'll be a different drink. We'll just have to create a new one! We find that Passion fruit is really good in drinks (just fyi).

Thanks. That's too expensive and if it's not that good, I'll just eat the fruit and forget about the recipe someone sent me... Thanks again...

Has anyone seen mangosteen juice here in Thailand? Where?

Mangosteen, passion fruit, mango, pineapple, little bananas.

I noticed some new chocolate places around Chiang Mai. How does Duc de Prasin chocolates compare with others you've tried ?

Oops, sorry about the double post... I got an error so I thought the first one didn't go.

Is 'Duc de Prasin' just a fancy name for thai (cheap) chocolate?

Or is it the name of a place? Where is it?

Sorry Ajarn. I didn't see your post. Someone answered this already - it's by the British Council. Here's some additional information:

Chiang Mai Regional Office & Retail Shop

117 Bamrungrad Road

Watgate, Muang

Chiangmai 50000

Tel : 053-244-631,

053-246-571

Fax : 053-246-571

Opening hours:

Daily 8.30 am. - 7.00 pm. (Mon-Sat) and 9.00 - 6.00 p.m. (Sun)

The Nation had a good article on December 7, 2007 giving some information on the Bangkok operation.

Nation Article

Duc de Praslin Web Site

I still like the Duc de Prasin the best. However; I was there last night (23rd) and most of their Christmas chocolate is sold out. They either have the small lolli-pop size St. Nicholas (40 baht) or the large Christmas bells (350baht) remaining.

Thanks for the information. I guess I won't head over there right away then.

Elaine

I noticed some new chocolate places around Chiang Mai. How does Duc de Prasin chocolates compare with others?

Happy Holidays!

I heard that Hualamphong Food Station was closed a couple of years ago. Then we came across an article that said it moved, but the telephone number in the article was not in service. Has anyone been to this restaurant recently?

Thanks,

just_elaine

I think someone already mentioned Pub 54. Here is a link to the 2006 version:

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p54/index.html

I just tried BKK-LHR with 20-Jan-2008 departure and 26-Feb-2008 return date on the Eva Air web site and it came back with two economy fares: 32000TB and 35000TB. However, they then add tax of 12100TB so it'll come to 43100TB and 46100TB.

BA on the other hand is charging 10055TB in taxes online. So it is possible to get a BA ticket for 39505TB, but the flight back to bkk is a code share which is run by Quantas. She needs to leave and return on Tue, Wed or Thur. Dates I tried was 1/22 and 2/288.

I think that there may be exchange rate differences and those taxes and fees are really getting expensive!