Eatable things from me

First I gotta say, I always believed that I couldn’t cook. I didn’t know how to cook and I’d never wanted to cook (if it’s not necessary).You know why I have such a bad feeling about cooking, cause I didn’t have to cook!
Going to a restaurant or buying street foods are so easy for Thai people, also me! Well, I did try thought, but it was not succeed at all. For a stupid reason I guess, I am so scared to get hurt or burn from any cooking stuff, knife, oil, etc. By now I still have this feeling.
When I was in the US, it was rarely for me to have chance to cook- not really, cause I had chance to avoid cooking. I lived with my big sister Ning and my brother in law Edugan. They were cooking 95% of the time. The rest was only when they were not home, I got to feed myself. Also I worked in a Thai restaurant which had a nicest owner in the world. Yeah, never stayed away from good foods.
Until the time came! Boom!! I got married and living in France… Lucky me my husband Nico is a good cook, but he’s French. But I love Thai food, he could cook some but of course I prefer original Thai foods (the real taste I know since I was born) Thai restaurant here is freaking pricey. Therefore, I tried to cook by myself, no need to pay for restaurants!
And…Yeah I cook some by following a cooking website. This is my favorite site : http://www.kruaklaibaan.com/forum/index.php
1. Green curry: I tried many times (well, 3rd time by now actually) and this time seems to be the best. It’s testy, not too creamy.

 

2. Somtam: this is awesome! I love it! but green papaya is so hard to find and it’s pricey (around 7-10 euros)- so sometimes I use green apple instead – but we’ll get a another testy taste. Hint: big shrimps are the must!

 

3. Tomyam : this soup makes me almost cry, I’m so proud when I can cook it. The pictures look not so nice, but the tastes is really good – and I set it up with garlic fried rice..so yummy!

 

4. Pad Thai: this one it’s tricky, need lots of ingredients. I could find some but not all, so it’s look like fried noodle.

Let’s hear it for New York,New York,New York

♣In New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made,
There’s nothing you can’t do.Now you’re in New York.
These streets will make you feel brand new,big lights will
inspire you,let’s hear it for New York, New York, New York…♦

“Empire state of mind”, this song came up in my mind when I hit New York City at the first time. I could make it because of my sister Ning. As soon as she knew I would leave soon, she tried to make some trip for us. New York City is one of the place I must go!

 

I was so excited when I knew that I would have chance to hit the city after taking a little break from Washington D.C trip. By that time was in Easter, for many reasons we headed to NYC. I feel so thankful of my sister and her husband,Edugen. They brought me there,and this was not the first and the last time I got many things from them.

 

According to the weather in Michigan which was freaking cold by that time, I checked the weather forecast in NYC, it wasn’t that bad. I took some clothes which was great for summer or fall, without knowing that I would get sick from the wind. Definitely, it was colder than I believed. Ning and I were super freezing but we loved being shot by the photographer (Edugen). Even though we were smiling in the pictures, we were extremely shivering all the time.

 

We had only one day to stay in the big apple, so we spent all of the day doing ton of stuff, we started by getting out from a famous train station which I saw many times from movies. We took a yellow cab and passed “Ground zero” the place used to be World trade center building. We took a boat tour to visit the Statue of Liberty. 5th avenue was the place I must go,yeah we did it

. 

 

On 5th avenue, we did some shopping of course but not so much because we didn’t want to carry around.Well, but how cool it was, we didn’t have to pay tax for buying things.

We passed by Apple store which looked so crowed cause it was the first of i-Pad launched, then we stopped taking a short break at Central park, too bad we didn’t have time, Ning bought some show tickets, we gotta make it.

By the time we walked all the way long to hit the show place, there were a pillow fight which was kind of tradition I didn’t get it that much but it looked fun…not really!

Apparently, we could make it. The show has a strange name, called Fuerzabruta. I really don’t know about the meaning or anything. The show was amazing and unique. I loved it!!! seriously, it was very cool.

 

“Time Square” was the place we went after the show and it was the last place of the trip. This place at night was so beautiful. So many artificial lights,billboards, commercials and stuff. I would regret if I couldn’t make it that day.

 

The Big Apple, it’s a dream place of many people. It such a real city. The question is Do I like it or not, I would say I would rather to live not to travel. One day to discover the big city is pretty difficult, but at least I did and I could say that I know some… New York City!

Vegas Vegas Vegas!!!

The last trip before I left the States for good, Las Vegas, sin city: famous destination of gamblers,shoppers,etc.  After I got an overbook flight when flew back from Paris, a benefit of being  in trouble was getting a free ticket for domestic flight. By that time Nico came to visit me in the States, we designed to make a trip (as usual) for us.

The Hangover: one of our favorite movies which filmed in Las Vegas,Nevada became a reason of what we chose to travel. As I said, it was the last trip before I left, I asked my American best friend Frank and Cheryl his girlfriend (now became ex) to join us. Nico and I flew to the city first because another couple got to work. We spent 2 days just together then wait for others to catch up. The first night  was amazing. Nico picked the Mirage,a great 5stars hotel for two of us. Everything was so fancy!

We were hanging around the city all day long, trying to see some shows and stuff. One thing we couldn’t miss was going to the outlet mall. I totally forgot the name and how to go, but I remembered that we spent lots of cash there especially Nico got a very nice suit from Burberry, and I got some good deal bikini from Roxy and Ripcurl,etc.

The weather in Vegas was kind of crazy. It was pretty warm and dry during the day,and chilly during the night. Don’t even talk about inside all of casinos, I felt like I was in a fridge, it made me freezing somehow.

When Frank and Cheryl arrived we planed to hit Grand canyon. However, it was very far to drive there and we didn’t have so much time. We could make on “Red Canyon” which was not as fantastic as the Grand one but it was amazing and fun!

We drove all day long, stopped on side way, shot some pictures and the arrived to The Hoover Dam, and hit a little part of Arizona.
I still remember how hot and dry it was, I got sunburn by that time. However, when we backed to Las Vegas, we got some chilling weather again at night even though we went in May.

I totally understand why people called “Sin city” by not being hesitated.  The trip was great, fancy,and spectacular. Nevertheless, I’m not a gambler, it could make me bored sometimes,for sure that we gotta make it at least once in your life.

Also, no wonder why so many people desire to get here, Las Vegas…

May 2010