little things in life...

Life has a way of throwing of throwing you a curveball from time to time (excuse the slipping into sad cliches but it is the end of the night and i just wanted to share before going to bed) This time though the bases were loaded in the bottom of the ninth and the curveball was called a ball four. (i promise that is the last baseball reference)

Anyhow my Mom had been going on about some chocolates that were in the fridge that my Dad had been given by a friend. So i went to the fridge and there sitting on the shelf in the fridge were two square boxes, wrapped immaculately as only the japanese can do, and emblazened across the top of the box were the words Royce



Well i opened the box and laid out in the tray were neat rows of rectangle blocks covered in chocolate powder, included in the box was a neat little pick cum knife, which i used to spear one of these chocolate pieces up and slipped into my mouth.



That events was two days ago, ever since i have been walking around with a little smile on my face as i knew that at anytime i could go down to the fridge and have my choice of either "cherry marnier" or "caramel" flavoured slices of heaven.


Now like all good things they have come to an end, they are all gone but my world is brighter with the knowledge that these little scrumptious treats exist but even more than that that there is a shop in Bangkok that sells them too! Thank god! or I and mine would be spending weekends yo-yo-ing between Bangkok and Singapore coming back with a little square box tucked under our arms on the return leg.



My new slice of heaven.

I started off with baseball cliches and to provide this scribble with a bit more gravitas and depth I am going to steal the words of another to illustrate what i was trying to convey.

Life has its own hidden forces which you can only discover by living. - Soren Kierkegaard (1813 - 1855)

BTW In case your wondering Tommi also discovered a bit about living!

The Importance of Som Tum

What is Som Tum?


Som Tum is a spicy papaya salad originating in the northeast of Thailand (E-saan Region). Som in E-saan is sour and Tum means pounded. Some foreigners may call it "Papaya Pok Pok" from the sound produced when preparing the dish in a mortar.

The main ingredient is grated unripe papaya, seasoned and pounded to a softened state in a mortar. Chili, garlic, peanut, tomatos, lime, palm sugar and fish sauce are also added while yardlong beans is optional depending on the kind of Som Tum you're ordering. The dish combines the classic 'Thai' favours of sour lime, hot chilli, salty fish sauce and sweetness from the palm sugar. There are many various kinds of Som Tum but the popular ones are Som Tom Thai which is prepared with dried shrimp and bean while Som Tum Pu Kem is prepared with salted preserved crabs or even Som Tum Pon La Mai (fruit Som Tum).

Som Tum is traditionally served with raw water spinach, raw basil, raw morning glory, raw winged beans or raw cabbage. People like eating BBQ chicken or "Gai Yang", sticky rice or "Kao Niew" and other E-saan food on the side. Wnen people say they are going for Som Tum, it doesn't mean they are going only for this dish but that they are really going to eat an E-saan meal which is Som Tum and all of the other E-saan dishes.

One of our favourites Som Tum restaurants in BKK

"Look Kao Niew" (ลูกข้าวเหนียว) or "Sticky Rice's Son" on Lang Suan Soi 7, about 200 metres from the main road (Tel. 02 652 2405). JW Bunny's recommendations are: Som Tum Thai and Som Tum Pu Ma (it is prepared with raw seafood crab), spicy minced duck salad (Laab Ped), deep fried salted chicken (Gai Tod Gluer), deep fried cumin chicken (Gai Tod Cumin), dried pork with fried basil leaf (Moo Dat Diew Kra-pow Grob), E-saan sausages (Sai Grok E-saan), BBQ pork (Moo Yang), BBQ pork neck (Koe Moo Yang), spicy minced pork salad (Laab Gai) and spicy pork salad (Nam Tok Moo). Don't forget to order stickey rice and rice noodles to eat with them.

Enjoy eating E-saan food with JW Bunny's choice......Yum Yum!!