Category Archives: Food

November 24, 2011 · 10:07 am

Giving Thanks in Chiang Mai

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love that it’s all about food. There’s no pressure for gifts, no religious association, just good food and company.

Today we’ve particularly missed family and friends. I missed my Aunt Shernaz’s thanksgiving soup and I even missed the way her oven always takes an hour longer than it’s supposed to for the Turkey. The wait is always worth it.

On the brighter side, our family has so much to be thankful for this year. After all, we are living the dream of traveling around the world! We spent Thanksgiving celebrating the two things we are most grateful for right now – our health and time with each other. We did this by cycling 40 miles together in the hills north of Chiang Mai.

We’re thankful for health. When I found out I had multiple sclerosis five years ago, I had fears of not being able to ride a bike, let alone being physically capable of traveling the world with two kids. Luckily, thanks to a great group of doctors, support from family, friends and colleagues, and most importantly a positive outlook, MS has been a reason to experience life to its fullest. Given the unpredictability of MS, things could have turned out a lot worse, so our family is thankful for our collective ability to enjoy unrestricted physical activity on our trip (like cycling to a reservoir and then carrying our kids across its overflowing dam).

Each year, Sandeep and I lead a team to cycle 30 miles around Manhattan to raise awareness for MS. We figured that, on Thanksgiving, cycling around Chiang Mai would be a great way to celebrate the adventures of a healthy family living with MS.

We’re thankful for this unrestricted time together. In New York, we I tried to maintain a work-life balance that allowed us to be home for dinner and work-free on weekends. However, we still checked-in constantly, and maintained a level of stress that comes with active careers. Sandeep is still working, but his (very long distance) telecommuting has enabled him to set hours and expectations so that we can still enjoy our life on the road.

Spending more time together means listening to Ava go on and on about she only knows what, and having the patience (and interest, most times!) to do so. It means taking 15 minutes to walk to the end of the road to entertain Kayan’s fascination for every flower, rock and car. And even though Sandeep and I have struggled to have our independent conversations, we have been able to recall and share a lot of random stories from our pasts and ponder our future.

We had Thanksgiving lunch by the reservoir at the top of the mountain. We didn’t have a turkey, but enjoyed Thai fish with all the trimmings. The only thing that could have made this Thanksgiving better would have been the ability to share it with those at home.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

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Filed under Food, Health, Thailand

November 23, 2011 · 11:05 am

Malin Night Market in Chiang Mai

Night markets are popular all over Thailand. Chiang Mai has it’s famous night bazaar, which generally spans the area between the Old City and the Ping River. In addition to the Walking Streets, many neighborhoods also have their own night markets.

Today we visited the night market at Malin Plaza, opposite Chiang Mai University. Malin Plaza hosts this market every evening after 6PM, and the minute the stalls open it swarms with hungry universtiy students and locals.

Like all night markets in Thailand, food plays a central role. Malin has several dozen Thai, Japanese and Korean vendors. Need a break from food? You can stroll through the maze of clothing stalls, get your nails done, have a massage and even get a tattoo.

The great thing for us about Malin was that it was less crowded than the night markets more frequented by tourists. This meant that Ava and Kayan could roam around more freely. Unfortunately, after an ice cream sugar high (when Ava taught Kayan how to eat ice cream from a cone), Kayan took his freedom to mean he could lick the plaza floor. Sandeep was so disgusted he stopped eating his tonkatsu. My tempura soba was too delicious so I kept going.

If you visit Chiang Mai, I would recommend going to one of the neighborhood night markets such as Malin or day markets such as Thanin. If you don’t know Thai, it’ll take a lot of signing and guessing, but that’s half the fun.

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Filed under Food, Thailand

November 16, 2011 · 10:30 am

Earning our Dinner in Chiang Mai

Following our afternoon at the Chiang Mai Zoo, we ventured on foot to a restaurant that seemed to be adjacent to the alternate zoo exit on our Nancy Chandler Map. I love this map. With it’s details and annotations, it’s become my all in one guidebook to Chiang Mai. I am so full of love for this map, that I underestimated the disclaimer on the legend that reads “This scale is approximate only. We consider content more important than 100% adherence to scale.”

Finding the  alternate zoo exit was a challenge in itself. After the hyenas, the only sign we saw was a wooden board than read “Tropical Forest.” That was not an exhibit. We were in the tropical forest surrounding Chiang Mai. By this time it was dusk and I did not want to be stuck in a zoo in a forest with toddlers as bait.  After several minutes of complete solitude a motorbike passed and then made a U-turn. The concerned rider came back to ask if we needed help. “Yes!” The four of us seemed to exclaim in unison. “Do you know the way to Palaad Tawanron restaurant?” She assured us that it was 1 km away, to the right of the zoo exit.

We walked uphill for what seemed like 1 km, by which time it was getting darker. We finally found the zoo exit. The watchman was as surprised as the motorcyclist to see a family on foot. Once he knew our destination, he told us that we were 1 km away.

At this point we saw signs for the restaurant, which should have been assuring, except this is where they told us to go.

Sandeep carried Ava up the steep and windy hills while I pushed Kayan’s chubby body up in the stroller. And just when I had convinced myself that the worst that could happen is we spend the night in the forest eaten by mosquitoes, we came face to face with a very large and very angry looking wild mountain goat. Sorry, no picture. I was in full panic by now.

The goat ambled on his way while I fought  thoughts of him being followed by the Wild Africa exhibit. Another motorcyclist passed us and asked if we needed help. “Yes!” We panted. We explained. “Only 1 km.” With that, he sped off.

And then I saw the light. Quite literally.

We’d never been so happy to find a restaurant. The view was spectacular and the food very satisfying after our adventure. We ordered the house special fried pork leg, which was really an entire pork leg. We thought we’d never get through it, but were famished from our ‘trek’. Even the kids ate everything, including their vegetables.

If you get a chance to go to the Chiang Mai Zoo, go. It’s set on expansive grounds in the hills west of the city. The kids enjoyed the many parks and Kayan even fed an elephant for the first time.

If you go to the zoo, do make the trip to Palaad Tawanron. Just know that it is not as close as your map may say. Anyone who tells you it’s 1 km is using that as some bizarre figure of speech. And it’s all uphill. If you trek it, you will have earned your meal. That is if you escape the wild animals on the way.

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Filed under Animals, Food, Thailand

November 15, 2011 · 11:35 am

Our Family Seeks Familiarity

No matter our ages or temperments, there are just certain things we think we have to have.

This morning Ava refused to board another Tuk Tuk unless it took her to a playground. In New York City, the kids were spoiled with countless playgrounds in our neighborhood. Chiang Mai, although it’s full of lovely temples, gardens and a river, has only one real outdoor playground. So off we went.

Kayan woke up from his nap crying for cranberry juice. Fresh passion fruit, watermelon, mango, dragon fruit, orange, guava juice or coconut water are available everywhere. But not cranberry. I was able to trick him with a concoction of apple and pineapple juices. He was suspicious, but it worked.

Sandeep couldn’t deny his Indian cravings any longer so we went on an evening hunt for Biryani. We found it at the Anusarn Market in the Night Bazaar, which has half a dozen Indian and Pakistani food vendors.

I’ve been missing my random trips to our corner bodega. This evening when I craved chocolate I went down to the Seven Eleven. So it’s not as quaint as a New York City bodega or a Thai corner store, but it was open at 10 PM and it had that Mars bar I needed.

Luckily these are all simple pleasures that we’ve been able to meet in Thailand, which is more equiped and easy to navigate than most other countries we are visiting. Let’s see how long we can fuel our habits.

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Filed under Food, Thailand, Travel With Kids

November 9, 2011 · 4:53 am

Finding Food and Transportation in Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai is our first extended stop. We’ve rented an apartment at The Grand Napat for one month, in hopes of creating regular family living in a strange city.

Our first order of business was to find a grocery store. The apartment concierge sent us to Tesco, which is the Thai equivalent of Walmart.

Tesco Market Chiang Mai

I was so overwhelmed by the choice and size that we left with an odd mix of goods:

– 36 eggs. That was the only size available.
– $5 jar of peanut butter. Some things are necessities no matter how much we try to integrate.
– No salt. We gave up looking after isle 22.

After discovering some local markets brimming with fresh produce, I’ve decided that one run to Tesco is enough.

Wararot Market Chiang Mai

Eating out can get tedious, but the food here is so fresh and reasonably priced that we may cook in less than anticipated. No meal has cost the family more than $5. That includes fresh juices, soups and main dishes. I feel really silly about that jar of peanut butter, but it works when in a bind.

We were told Tesco was a 5 minute walk, but with kids everything takes three times as long and double the hassle. We opted for transportation back. This brings us to task two of Chiang Mai – figuring out transportation. One way is a songtaew, which means ‘two rows’. Songtaews are are semi-covered mini vans with fixed routes and rates. We did this after the grocery run as it was our only option.

Songtaew Chiang Mai

Sandeep was a little nervous of the kids sliding out and somehow thinks a tuk tuk is safer (??). We tried a couple of drivers for shorter routes and think we will pledge allegiance to Khayan. Ava is very confused that his name is the same as her brother’s. We don’t meet any Kayans in New York City. It must be a sign.

Kayan meets Khayan

Check out the back of Khayan’s tuk tuk. It’s loaded with Yi Peng Lanterns for the festival on November 10th.

Chiang Mai Tuk Tuk

Stay tuned for more on that. It is the reason we chose to come to Chiang Mai in early November. Here is a quick preview.

Yi Peng Festival Chiang Mai

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Filed under Food, Thailand

October 30, 2011 · 11:22 pm

Last Weekend in Americana

We’ve already had somewhat of a culture shock moving out of the city and into the suburb of Dobbs Ferry to stay with my amazing aunt, uncle and cousins. Our first morning, Ava whispered to me over breakfast “Why is it so quiet?” Being the only one on the train tracks at 10 AM was a lonely change from the excitement of the city subway. And what’s one to do on a Friday night?

We decided that since we were out of the city and it was our last weekend in the U.S., we were going to make it as American as possible. So we went bowling. And I reaffirmed that I’m really bad at bowling.

Bowling Score

Part of the consideration for leaving November 1st was that we would miss winter. The weather gods, however, seemed to want to make sure we didn’t leave without the experience of a good winter storm. It snowed six inches on Saturday, causing a tree to fall and take out the deck. Sandeep got a dose of suburban life clearing the yard of its branches.

Snowing in Dobbs Ferry

We’ve also only been eating American food. That’s included pulled pork sandwiches, ribs, fried green tomatoes and fried pickles, all at Cedar Street Grill, which rivaled any city restaurant. My Aunt even decided to celebrate Thanksgiving early, so this morning was spent slicing potatoes, baking pumpkin bread and marinating chicken (yes, we fell short on the turkey).

Early Thanksgiving

The kids carved a pumpkin and are pondering their Halloween outfits for tomorrow.

I don’t think we could have been any more Americana than we were this weekend. And what a wonderful way to say goodbye.

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Filed under Food, Pre-Trip