THAILAND: Phuket Part II

Some say photography takes away from the appreciation of the present - you're too busy composing photos to really live in the moment. But who says you can't photograph and relish the moment at the same time? Photography captures an instant with a vivid clarity, drawing from your mind a flourish of specific smells, sounds and tastes, that memory alone would have struggled to retain. 



The holiday high has faded and the memory of Thailand has begun to slip away down the relentless, running streams of time. If not for the photos, the memory of the meals we had would by now have amalgamated into a mass of seafood and glass noodles. 


These photographs are of our last three meals in Phuket. 

seafood thai glass noodles

Fresh, deep-fried calamari 

Steamed red snapper

such gluttons we are.

Seafood dinner by Patong beach:

Home-cooked breakfast on the last morning, with a recipe hastily found on my iphone: 

French toast and sweet thai mango

The view from the back of our tuktuk as we rushed to the airport: 

In the end, we only made it onto the plane in time because the flight was delayed by half an hour. (Thank god for poor quality low-budget flights!)

SINGAPORE: Stellar at 1-Altitude

The humungous dinner 10 of my friends and I had at Stellar was gratifyingly flavourful. Our table was situated right by a glorious floor-to-celing glass window on the 62nd floor of 1 Raffles Place. 1-Altitude being the highest alfresco bar in the world, the bird's eye view we were bestowed with was breath taking (see last picture). 

Anyway, enough about the view; the food too, was rich with an interesting and beautiful fusion of flavours - my ravioli, for one, had paired porcini mushrooms and pistachio with beetroot. Despite the number of hits on the menu, there were a few unfortunate misses as well. The sushi was regrettably lackluster, a feeble attempt at giving the menu a "fusion" feel. Nonetheless, every other dish was exquisitely prepared with an amazing attention to garnishes so often looked over. 

Crispy Iberico pork cheek and fresh crab meat, baby turnips and carrot oil $28

US prime sirloin (220g), $65

Truffled risotto, Poached Maine lobster, $48 

Hand rolled black pepper gnocchi with scallops, mussel broth, burnt sage and coppa cracklings, $34

My dish - Ravioli in two styles: Porcini, feta and pistachio & Beetroot and ricotta, Beurre noisette, baby beets $34

Chocolate Seduction: I-Caramel cocoa signature with varying layers of hazelnut chocolate mousse and praline feulletine, valrhona orange sauce and warm chocolate almond lava cake, $16

Mille Feuille Symphony: Violet scented meringue, lavender baked shredded phyllo pastry, Manjari chocolate and lime cream, $16

Thanks to Marc for sourcing out the place and every one else at dinner who bore with me while I photographed their long-awaited food! 

THAILAND: Past and Present

After several trips to Thailand almost 4 years ago during my IB years, it was about time my friends and I visited the sun-drenched beaches and charmingly undeveloped streets of Phuket to relive those golden days. 

Krabi, 2008: This is where it all began - the crazy antics of teenagers heady with fresh independence from their parents, the harmless made-up games with all too dramatic consequences and the thrill of clandestine rule-breaking.  

Krabi, 2008

Where we stayed in Krabi - nothing compared to our resort but treasured all the same

Half of SJII 2009

Phuket, 2011: Things don't change much when you're 17 and when you're 20.  

Patong Beach, taken post-jetski ride

The random and surprisingly good Thai place along Patong Beach:
I loved loved this place. It was the first place we saw the minute we were dropped off and one of the best places we ate at. Maybe it was the thrill of our first day in a new country but the food was authentic, the squid was fresh and the pad thai tasted phenomenal. My only regret is that we couldn't find mango sticky rice.  

Pad Thai

The best jelly noodle vegetable soup I ever had: msg-free and rich with flavour

$2 pineapple shakes, how I miss you so

Thai green curry

Savoey Restaurant (for tourists): 

Having had 3 Thai massages since touch down, it was time for all of us to satiate chris's appetite for cholesterol-intense seafood. I don't know why we decided to stop at Savoey Restaurant, an obvious tourist destination, but I think we were tired of looking for a genuine Thai seafood place after walking around for a bit, though we did find one a really good one for dinner. This place was slightly overpriced as far as food in Thailand goes but it was pretty good, sinful food. 

Savoey Restaurant: huge fresh prawns

Stir fried shrimp glass noodles in an omelette

snapper grilled in butter and garlic sauce

The next morning(ish): We made breakfast since Matthew and Zhen abandoned us for the sea. After seeing their pictures, I think maybe learning to dive wouldn't have been such a bad idea. Then again, waking up at 11am to cook breakfast in your air-conditioned kitchenette is a pretty good trade-off. 

I finally perfected the Unconventional Grilled Cheese Sandwich technique with the pan provided in the hotel's kitchenette (: 

Weijin's food styling and photographing attempt!

Movenpick Resort at Bangtao Beach: the living room and balcony between the rooms

Phuket Town Night Market at 5.30pm:
  We didn't eat any of it because we didn't want to spoil our dinner, but we wanted to. 

Patong Beach: 
There's something oddly soothing about the beach at sunset. A sense of calm seems to wash over the sunbathers as the sun sets in brilliant hues of pastel pinks and lemon yellows. As the heat of the sun succumbs to the cool velvet night, we walk along the shore, waiting for the rest to meet us for dinner after their day of diving. 

Pierre Hermé Ligurian Lemon Cake

Ligurian Lemon Cake with Meringue Frosting: photo taken by Juns 

It's refreshing when you find you have far more in common with an old friend than you realize. On National Day, Juns came over with her Pierre Hermé dessert recipe book and we spent the afternoon baking his Ligurian Lemon Cake, interspersed with food photographing after every potentially picturesque step. Pierre Hermé uses 2/3 cup of mild Ligurian olive oil for the batter, hence the name. But, as we are not professional bakers with access to any exotic-sounding ingredients outside of Cold Storage, extra-virgin olive oil was used instead and it worked perfectly. 

 

fresh out of the oven and flipped onto a plate

The secret behind resisting the food model? Bake another, behind-the-scenes cake with the left over batter and dig into that one instead when both come fresh out of the oven. 

Haphazardly spreading meringue over the cake

Now comes the fun part - we used a blow torch to brown the meringue (another quirk that I love about these whipped egg whites we call meringue)

With the left over batter, we made tiny cupcakes: 
To be baked for 6 minutes at 165°C

Pierre Hermé Ligurian Lemon Cake
Ingredients:
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 cup sugar
- Zest of 2 lemons, very finely chopped
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 3 tablespoons whole milk, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and still warm
- 2/3 cup mild extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 pint fresh raspberries

Instructions:
- Center a rack in the oven and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 10-inch round cake or springform pan, dust with flour, and tap out any excess.
- Sift flour and baking powder and reserve.
- Place sugar and lemon zest in the bowl of a mixer and rub the ingredients together between your fingers until the sugar is moist, grainy, and very aromatic. Fit the bowl into the mixer with the whisk attachment in place, add the eggs and beat on medium-high speed until the mixture is pale and thick, about 3 minutes.
- Set the mixer on its lowest speed and beat in the milk. Add the sifted dry ingredients, beating only until they are incorporated, and then add the lemon juice, warm melted butter, and olive oil, again beating only until blended.
- Pour about one third of the batter into the prepared pan - it should be just enough batter to form a thin, even layer. Top with enough raspberries to cover the batter, then pour on the rest of the batter, using a rubber spatula to gently spread batter so that it runs down between the berries and just covers them. You’ll have a very thin layer of batter, and that’s the way it’s supposed to be.
- Bake the cake for 30 to 33 minutes (mine needed 40 minutes), or until it is golden and pulls away from the sides of the pan; a cake tester inserted into the center should come out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and immediately unmold it onto a cooling rack; invert so that cake is right side up and allow it cool to room temperature. Once cooled the cake is ready to serve or to decorate.


P.S. Juns is not to be confused with Jun, a friend I met in London and mentioned in my Ginger and White post.