Holiday in Thailand

Tania & I are on holidays in Thailand for a bit of a break from India. The first place we're staying at is "Le Meridien" resort in Khao Lak (not Phuket as we thought - long story for another time).

That's the Andamon Sea you're looking at.

Holy Cow !! Some more photos of the local cows

"Holy Cow !!" is what we say to each other whenever we spot a cow or three around the place...which is quite often.

Here's a collection of photos of our local cows. The white one was photographed out hte front of our apartment. I think it then moved down to the local shops a few days later, to hang out with the brown one.

I know I will get sick of photographing them but in the meantime, indulge me.

The things you see !!

Birthday dinner

Tania & I went back to “It” restaurant at “The Grand” hotel for my birthday. It was a lovely night & we had a great meal. I’ve attached photos for your drooling pleasure:

A tower of mushrooms with asparagus for Tania

A combination of lobster & prawns for me(avacado's weren't quite so nice - nowhere near ripe)


A lamb chop/osso bucco combination for Tania

A chicken & turkey combination for me

Chef Alfonso (a very nice bloke) made Tania a complimentary Zabaglione

My Zabaglione

What does a $US20,000 carpet look like ??

The day after our at-home dinner, Tania, myself & a couple of friends went carpet shopping at Mr Shabir’s. He showed some lovely carpets...including this magnificent, antique (it’s over 100yrs old) piece that is only $US20,000 !!

Tania absolutely adores it; I think it’s a lovely piece but neither of us could justify spending that much money.

Instead, the five of us walked out with a variety of carpets (not telling how much) to “try-before-we-buy”. They let you do that here: take home carpets to see how it looks & feels before you commit to buying the piece. I think it’s a great idea.






An update to this story: we had the carpets for just under two weeks & while they looked great at the showroom, they just didn’t work with our furniture. A call to Mr. Shabir & he came out one night during the week with a selection from the showroom. We ended up replacing all the carpets we took home from the showroom, with ones that look much, much better (& cost much, much more).

A dinner at home

For a change, instead of going out, Tania & I hosted a dinner at home with friends from the High Commission.

It was a very simple meal (photos for your drooling pleasure):



A selection of nibbles (incl. Bruschetta with tomato/onion/basil or caramelised onions/goat’s cheese; polenta squares with truffle paste/truffle oil or caramelised onions)



Lasagna ala Sandro with a healthy, leafy salad

Tania’s chocolate dessert (not so healthy & so rich that none of us could finish it !!)

Sights of Mumbai

Some of the things we saw wandering around the city:

Mumbai - Dinner at Indigo Restaurant

Dinner on the Saturday night was at this lovely restaurant called “Indigo”, again located just behind the Taj Palace, in this lovely, Victorian-era house.

Compared to dinner the night before in “Rat Alley”, this was going to be quite a different meal (& the bill reflected this – let’s not go there !!).

We were sat down & then presented with a menu titled “Dinner with Ms. Tania Wilson” which listed a special menu for our dining experience. Mind you, the ordinary menu listed some quite mouth-watering choices as well so it made deciding quite difficult (just look at http://www.foodindigo.com/dinner.pdf).

Our menu consisted of the following:

Pre-starter

Potato and Green Garlic Soup (with shaved Truffles and Pine Nuts)

Appetizer

Crispy Duck Confit, Orange Segments, Onion Marmalade (with Bitter Greens & Port reduction)

Roast Mushroom & Goat Cheese Tart (Baby Greens & Walnut & Dressing)

Main Course

Pork Tenderloin, Braised Swiss Chard, Caramelized Onion & Bacon Mash Potato (with Fennel Apple Slaw, apple & cinnamon jus)

Semolina Crusted Pan-Seared King Fish Steak, Beetroot & Cashew Upma, Ginger Brococoli (with a tangy tomato sauce)

Green Garlic Risotto, Fennel, Asparagus & Leeks (with Parmesan cream)

Dessert

Indigo’s Hot Amaretto Souffle (yum !!)

The meal was served with matching wines: a Yalumba 2006 Shiraz Viognier for the pork; a Tasca d’Almerita 2007 Regaleali Bianco for the Fish; a Mount Nelson 2005 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc with the risotto & a Ferreira Porto Tawny with the dessert (the port went down very well as it’s been some time since I’ve had a sticky...they’re not that easy to get your hands on here)

The potato & green garlic soup

Manfred also decided to have the soup (it's a Coriander Chicken Broth with Tortellini & Crispy Okra)

This is the Confit of Duck (very tasty !!)

This is the Mushroom & Goat's Cheese tart

This is the green garlic risotto

This is the pork dish

This is the fish dish




This was the pouring of the sauce into the souffle

This is the Calebaut Chocolate Marquise, Torrone, Baked Yoghurt with Spiced Strawberry Coulis