Thailand summer of 2013

Reclining Buddha, train station in Hua Hin, room with a few near Chaing Mai, temple in Chaing Mai and a spider. 

Beaches all over Thailand

Here are some pictures from our summer 2013 trip to Thailand. We traveled north to south from the mountains near the Burmese border to the beaches in the south. Thailand really is a land of beautiful places, people and excellent food. Can not wait to go back!

Thailand--Flowers

Flowers in Thailand

After almost 2 years here is what I hope will be the first of many updates. This summer we went to Thailand. Amongst the beautiful things to see and do are flowers! Here are just a few pictures of some of the beautiful orchids and other plants we saw. 

Ann Arbor

Bell and clock tower at the University of Michigan

Random University of Michigan buildings

State and Michigan theatres

Around Ann Arbor

Drinks!

This past march I spent three weeks at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Very very unexpectedly the weather was really nice and warm and by the time I left the folders were blooming and it really felt like spring. Here are some pictures that I took while wondering around the city in those three weeks.

Boston

Boston!

Really good cupcakes at Sweet.

Shabu-shabu

Brunch at the Island Creek Oyster Bar

A few weeks ago I was in Boston. I hadn't been there in 10 years or so. I really enjoyed the city. Didn't really do much. Just walked around and tried not to get to wet (the weather is not great in March). As always food was one of the highlights of the trip. First we stumbled upon a cupcake bakery called Sweet. The red velvet cupcake was really really good, and it inspired me to bake cupcakes when I get back to Paris. Let's see if they will be as good...

Then we had dinner in Chinatown at a hotpot restaurant. Shabu-shabu is what the japanese call it, but I think this restaurant was more Taiwanese. Of the two broths that we tried I like the spicy one (can't remember what it was).

The last morning right before I went to take a plane for Ann Arbor, Michigan, we had brunch at the Island Creek Oyster Bar. Oh it was tasty. Started with some oysters and a Bloody Mary then I had the lobster omelette while PT had the crab cake with a poached egg. Accompanying this we had a honey lemon biscuit and a blueberry muffin. What can I say it was an excellent way to end a really nice weekend.

Baking experiment

It's been a long time since I posted something (I've been really busy with a new job). We receive a blender for Christmas, so the other day I decided to try out the blender not for smoothies but to make a cake mix! Feeling lazy and not really wanting to follow a recipe I made up the following:

To a blender the following ingredients were added and blended together:

1 banana (not really ripe)

5 tbsp of flower

5 tbsp of sugar

~ 50 g of room temperature butter

some milk (may a cup)

1 pack of instant baking yeast

After mixing all the ingredients the batter was poured into a cupcake mould and a madeleine mould and it was baked for approximately 20 minutes at 200 oC.

It was an interesting experiment. The final result was actually quite good. Next time I am going to use a banana that is a bit more ripe and add some vanilla.

Tortino di Melanzane e Zucchine in Carpione

The ingredients: zucchini, eggplants, tomatoes and some garlic

The finished product

Zucchine in carpione

Since I could not climb, or really do any other physical activity I decided to cook two dishes that I have been meaning to try out for a while. The first was tortino di melanzane or translated in english little eggplant cake. The second was zucchine in carpione (I really don't know how to translate it in english). They are quite different but both dishes require chopping in layers and cooking zucchini, so I decided to make them both on the same day.

Tortino di melanzane:

4 eggplants sliced

6 small zucchini sliced

3 mozzarelle

1 tomato sauce

1 clove of garlic

extra virgin olive oil

a few basil leaves

oil for frying

The eggplants and the zucchini were cut, cooked in vegetable oil and left to rest on paper towels. In parallel to a sauce pan a clove of garlic was heated in a tablespoon of olive oil, the tomato sauce was added and left to cook for a few minutes after which the basil was added. Now the tortino was constructed by layering the ingredients: eggplants then tomato sauce then mozzarella then the zucchini then tomato sauce and mozzarella again. The layers were repeated until all ingredients were consumed.

The tortino was left to rest for a few hours and it was then placed in the oven at 200 oC for 30 minutes before serving.

Zucchine in carpione

4 zucchine sliced

1 red onion cut really thin

1 clove of garlic

some sage

1 cup of white wine vinegar

1 cup of white wine

1 tbs of extra virgin olive oil

The zucchini were pre-cooked but frying in vegetable oil, and they were left to rest on paper towels. to a large sauce pan the olive oil was added and heated. When the oil was hot the garlic and the onions were added and cooked until golden. The vinegar, wine and sage were then added and the mixture was cooked on slow heat for a few minutes after which it was poured over the zucchini.

Everything was left to cool and it was served chilled. Vegetables cooked in this was may be stored for a few weeks in glass jars.

Manchester

The oldest railroad station in the world.

Brick buildings around the city.

Street signs.

I think it was a fish market at some point.

Churches and canal boats. Some of the churches are for sale.

Lovely pub dinner: stake and ale pie!

I decided to enjoy the last few days of free time before the job starts up in October. So I spent a week in England. First in Cambridge and then in Manchester. It was the first time I went to Manchester and it's not as ugly as people say. Granted I had amazing weather. It NEVER rained and it was actually hot and sunny (as you can see from the pictures). The friend I was visiting said she had never seen weather like that.

I pretty much spent the whole time there walking around the city. I really like the architecture. Most buildings date from the industrial revolution and are big and made out of red bricks. It's possible to see older buildings such as the Manchester cathedral, but not much else dates from before the industrial revolution. The first rail road station in the world is in Manchester and it was build for the Liverpool-Manchester line, now it's part of the museum of science and industry (MOSI). I have to say that I really likes MOSI. I spent a few hours there and only say a small portion of the the site and just a few exposition.

No visit to England would be complete without a proper pub dinner: a few pints of ale and a steak and ale pie with chips! We went to the oldest pub in Manchester the Old Wellington and they know how to make pies.