Tuesday, December 08, 2009
Som Tum ~ Green Papaya Salad
One of my favorite salads is the Thai Som Tum. I just can't describe how delicious it is. It's spicy, citrusy and has low calories! Just perfect for a meal. It really doesn't have a lot of ingredients in it, but the main ingredient is unripe papaya. Unripe papaya is hard to find in places like Bahrain. But I have discovered a couple of Thai stores in town that have wonderful Thai stuff =D
(This picture is taken when I was @ Monsoon last week)
Ingredients (good for 2 servings)
- 2 cups green papaya, shredded
- 5 green beans
- 1 tablespoon palm sugar
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 chili peppers
- 5 cherry tomatoes
- 1 1/2 tablespoon fish sauce
- 3/4 of lime
- 2 tablespoons of toasted peanuts
It's best if you buy a shredded papaya, but if you could not find that, just peal the skin of a whole papaya and shred it with a cheese grater. Using a clay mortar, crush the garlic and add the green beans and halved cherry tomatoes. Make sure you softly pound on the tomatoes to get the juice out of it and maintain it's shape. Add the chili peppers and start crushing. If you don't like it hot, remove the seeds from the peppers and crush them tenderly. Add the shredded papaya, lime juice, fish sauce, peanuts and palm sugar. Use the pestle and the spatula to push the mixture up and down. This way, the juice will seep through the mixture.
Really easy to make, isn't it?
Enjoy.
Labels: Bahrain, monsoon restaurant, som tum
Friday, November 27, 2009
BBQ Night
Happy holidays everyone =)
I had a wonderful night with my family. It was an amazing night with an amazing weather of 24 degrees C. What's better than BBQ in this great weather.
I got out all the grilling utensils from our storage room, cleaned our Weber grill, and set up our outdoor dining table. I even lit some candles to give it a romantic ambiance.
Initially, I was so enthusiastic to do the grilling all by myself -- I didn't think I needed help. But when my fiance showed up, I thought I could use his help a little. Poor him, he ended up grilling everything. I confess, grilling after all, is a man's job.
We only brought jumbo burgers and lamb chops. The burgers were frozen and the lamb chops were freshly marinated from the supermarket. I selected 3 different kinds: Australian BBQ sauce, Arabian spices, and "marinated" lamb chops (I wish I knew what spices they used. It was the best out of the 3).
Just before the charcoal turned into ashes, we were able to bake a potato. I drizzled some olive oil and put salt on the skin of the potato. I made sure to poke the potato before I wrapped it with aluminum foil. After 50 minutes of waiting, we unwrapped the foil, cut the potato in half, put some pepper Jack cheese and -- it was heaven! We ate it all before I had the chance to take a picture of it.
I had pretty much grilled all kinds of meat except for fish. What is the best way to grill fish? I'm open for suggestions :)
Ta.
Labels: BBQ
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Time Out Bahrain
One of my greatest monthly fixes is reading Time Out Bahrain Magazine, cover to cover. The magazine lists every event, information, restaurant reviews, basically everything in Bahrain in a month. People who have just moved here would find this magazine very helpful. And it's only for 500 fils ($1.3).
I've lived in Bahrain my whole life (minus the 4 years I've lived in the United States), and I still have trouble choosing a good restaurant to dine in with my family or friends. There are just too many good restaurants in Bahrain! So you'd usually see me contemplating and hovering between 2 or 3 restaurants. Until I started reading Time Out Bahrain.
In this month's issue, my favorite page is the Cheap Eats. I never knew we had that many variety food restaurants that are good yet cheap! My husband and I usually spend $100 on one dinner outing. So, a $10 meal is a bonus for us! We get to save and have 10 equally scrumptious meals.
Tonight, I'm taking a break from restaurant foods and decided to eat our cook's home cooked food. But I've already decided where to go tomorrow--it's Thai night! :)
Labels: cheap eats, time out bahrain
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Bahrain's Match and Eggs
Today was New Zealand vs Bahrain match. Bummer. My team lost :( It's so sad not to see them win their very first World Cup entry dream. I think our team is truly jinxed. I can't remember ever really being happy and ecstatic for them. Maybe because they haven't won anything, yet. I think they need another 50 years to enter the World Cup. Oh well.
The match started really "early" today. Around 10:00am. Yes. Early. I am a person who loves her long, lazy, 10 hours plus sleeps. I usually get up in the early afternoons, like 1:00pm. So, today was realllllllly tough getting up. My girlfriends and I got together at one of our friend's house to watch the match. It was so sweet of her to make breakfast. She made pancakes and eggs. There were fresh juices, yogurt and tea as well.
I like eggs. But not the smelly, not-cooked-well kind of eggs. I usually use a mixture of spices and herbs to cook my eggs. I would put cumin powder, coriander powder, fresh chopped parsley and of course a little salt and pepper. Mix it all together and then pour it into the pan. Once both sides change into golden color, take it off the heat. Bada baam bada boom. It really tastes good. You could eat it with a naan (Indian style) or with a bread (English style).
How do you like your eggs?
Ta.
Labels: Bahrain, eggs, World Cup
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
New Beginning
Wow! It's been nearly 3 years since my last post!
So much has changed, both to the good and bad.
Starting with the b.a.d. news, I got sacked from work -- it wasn't that I wasn't performing well (I was performing really well actually and submitting deadlines way before they're due), but due to the inevitable of something called "financial crisis", our company was affected really badly. It does not exist anymore :(
The g.o.o.d. thing is .. I am engaged and soon to be married. It happened so unexpectedly..I promise I'll tell you (if anybody is reading this) everything about.
I was watching Julie & Julia the other day...and I have to thank Julie Powell for giving me the boost and encouragement for writing again. I adorrrrrrred her idea of blogging & cooking! What's better than that, especially for someone, like me, who does not work :)
So, good bye for now..and more to come :)
Ta.
So much has changed, both to the good and bad.
Starting with the b.a.d. news, I got sacked from work -- it wasn't that I wasn't performing well (I was performing really well actually and submitting deadlines way before they're due), but due to the inevitable of something called "financial crisis", our company was affected really badly. It does not exist anymore :(
The g.o.o.d. thing is .. I am engaged and soon to be married. It happened so unexpectedly..I promise I'll tell you (if anybody is reading this) everything about.
I was watching Julie & Julia the other day...and I have to thank Julie Powell for giving me the boost and encouragement for writing again. I adorrrrrrred her idea of blogging & cooking! What's better than that, especially for someone, like me, who does not work :)
So, good bye for now..and more to come :)
Ta.
Labels: blogging, Julie and Julia, marriage
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Finding My Switzerland
Can you let go of someone really precious? Someone you were hold of for quite some time?
Are you selfish if you didnt let them go? Does it mean you love 'em IF you let them go? Just wondering..
Are you selfish if you didnt let them go? Does it mean you love 'em IF you let them go? Just wondering..
There are many options in life that one--at least for me-- finds it hard to choose from. There are tens of opportunities that I see each day--work opportunities, marriage proposals (ok not so many), food choices, new friends, and the list goes on. Where do I see myself in these choices? and does the choice I make shape who I am and who my friends and family are? I believe choosing is made in the moment. Do I want to drink tea or coffee? with milk or sugar or both? With buscuit or piece of chocolate? Do I want it poured in a to-go paper cup or in a mug?
One of the hard choices I made involves me leaving my country and living in another one. I have been contemplating and thinking about every dot..about leaving my family, my job..It is a very hard decision to make..I thought about it for more than a year now. I know it will be hard for the first few months or so to adapt. Nevertheless, I will have a new family and new friends..
BTW, I would rather have a coffe with cream in a to-go paper cup so it wont spill out ;p
..Cheers..
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
I cried with you too Sinora
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