cooking – Adams Adventures

Our time in Asia was coming to an end, but before we started the long journey home, we had one more stop in Bali. Bali is somewhere I’ve always wanted to go because of their culture, cuisine, and scenery. While I was in other parts of Asia, however, I began hearing that Bali was dirty and not as enjoyable as I’d always imagined. Of course, we wanted to see for ourselves and I’m glad that we did. There is something about their commitment to tradition that is incredible to see and the food did not disappoint. In the future, I hope to return to Bali to explore the yoga scene, but for now, I hope you enjoy reading about our tour-packed visit last November.

When we arrived in Bali, we went to a boutique hotel called Griya Santrian. We were starving so we had a quick lunch, pizza for Scott (I think he needed a break from Asian food) and Beef Padang for me, and then took a nap on the beach until the rain came. The rains in Bali were unlike anything I’ve ever seen and they kept us indoors for the remainder of the first day. The opportunity to relax and watch a movie was just what we needed because the following day was FULL.

We ate a quick breakfast at our hotel and were picked up in a van for a Temple Tour. In the end, we saw so much more than temples. Our first stop was a wood carving studio. We watched talented artists carve masterpieces in very short periods of time. After touring the shop, we purchased several wood sculptures to bring back to our friends and family. We moved on to a painting studio which was even more incredible. The building itself was extremely ornate and stunning to look at and it had room after room of gorgeous original paintings. We brought home several pieces from there as well and many of them hang in our home as focal points. Apparently, Bali is known for it’s art and artists and it wasn’t hard to see why.

IMG_20171117_170934 — Master carvers at work

00002IMG_00002_BURST20171117184331_COVER — The temple with infinitely many rooms full of paintings

IMG_20171117_175916 — One of the artists at the painting gallery

The next stop was Tanah Lot, an amazing temple right on the ocean. It was given to the village by a priest. I made sure to dress appropriately for temples (shoulders and knees covered for women), but we never did get to enter any of the enclosed Hindu temples. It didn’t dampen the experience any because these buildings were amazing to look at from any vantage point.

We happened to be in Bali during a special time. It was the week after Galungan which is a Hindu Temple Festival that symbolizes the victory of good over evil and offering thanks to the gods. It is also the time with the gods come down to Earth. During this celebration, all statues are wrapped in sarongs to clothe and acknowledge them. Also, penjors are erected all over town (bamboo poles with offerings) and huge parties are held at the temples throughout the island. We got to see a lot of the preparations for these events.

Even the gateways are dressed with a sarong

DSC_0594 (1) — A close up of a statue dressed up.

People participating in the festival by praying and making offerings

Little girls preparing to dance and perform at the festival

DSC_0612 (1) — Standing in a gateway with a penjor to the left of us in this photo

After Tanah Lot, we had lunch overlooking a rice field and watched the fog start to roll in on our sunny day.

Following lunch, we went to my favorite temple called The Lake Temple or Pura Ulun Danu Bratan. There was the most torrential rains I had ever seen during our visit to this temple. We were walking through flash floods that sloshed up to our knees and it was surprisingly warm. The umbrellas we are carrying in these photos did very little to keep us dry, but we had fun taking shelter under beautiful gazebos on the temple grounds. As we snuggled up under these roofs, we had the interesting experience of having Asian tourists ask us to take photos with them. We had several groups of people say we looked like movie stars and they kept commenting on our height and our teeth. Apparently, they weren’t very used to seeing Westerners, and we had fun chatting with people and taking photos with them.

The park heading towards the Lake Temple

Some of the flooding we were experiencing

The last temple was called The Royal Temple or Taman Ayun. This temple was totally different! Each pagoda had an odd number of tiers symbolizing a certain member of a royal family. The entire compound was surrounding by canals and gorgeous gardens. We got to get up close to the architecture more at this final stop. One moment of note was the slaughtering of the pigs. Our guide was very excited to show us this cultural event of sacrificing the pigs and preparing them for the festival. Knowing that I might offend our guide and his culture, I had to walk away, but I did appreciate the significance of the event and their heritage. Scott watched the event and took photos, but I won’t share them here. Instead, I’ll post the photos of the incredible scenery and other festival preparations we were able to watch.

My personal favorite part was the Barong. The Barong is a lion-dog-man creature who represents good in the fight against evil. He is the king of spirits in Hindu mythology. The Balinese do a Barong dance at these festivals to represent his fight against evil.

DSC_0642 (1) — Building penjor (made from bamboo)

DSC_0665 (1) — A close up of an offering

A close up of the Barong (made entirely from seeds, beans, etc.)

The Royal Temple was our final temple to visit, but not the last stop on this tour. We continued to drive around with our guides who gave us so much interesting history about the island. Such as, Bali is a Hindu island in the Muslim nation of Indonesia and there are some tensions regarding those differences. We learned more about the Penjor and that they are built by the men and the offerings are made by the women. Then we discussed Luwak Coffee (some of the most expensive in the world) and decided to stop at a Luwak coffee farm for a sampling. Basically, kopi luwak are lemur-like creatures that are so picky that they only eat the most perfect coffee berries. Then when the coffee passes through their digestive system, it is harvested, roasted and turned into a coffee that costs between $100 and $500 per pound. We got to meet some kopi luwaks and sample several different types of coffee made at this particular farm. We did bring some back for family, but unfortunately, it was instant and not quite as good as the fresh brewed stuff at the farm.

IMG_20171117_175821-EFFECTS — A particularly pretty penjor and offering alter

IMG_20171118_010901 — Just a couple of kopi luwak

After an amazing cup of coffee, we were finally done with an awe-inspiring day of touring. We had a light dinner and an early bed time because the following day would be full of even more touring an a lot of eating.

Our last full day in Asia was our pork tour! We were guided by a really sweet Balinese girl throughout the island to taste the most famous Balinese dishes. Bali is famous for their pork and, thanks to Anthony Bourdain, we knew we had to experience these delicacies. We made several different stops on this tour and they were ALL amazing, the captions on the photos below describe the place and the dishes we had.

IMG_20171118_174643 — The first stop was literally a tarp-tent on the side of the road. Someone was cooking skewers over an extremely primitive stove and we ordered sate babi (pictured below), a pork skewer in a sweet and spicy sauce. I *loved* it!

IMG_20171118_181024 — The scond stop was the famous Anthony Bourdain dish: Babi Guling. Basically it’s a bunch of different parts of a suckling pig (including organ meat and skin) that are cooked in different ways and served over rice with a pork soup. Also delicious! Most people rave about the skin, but I liked the tender marinated meat best.

IMG_20171118_184634 — The next stop was a BBQ place that was a lot more modern. It had tons of famous artwork (such as the Mona Lisa) with pig faces replacing the famous figures. We sampled some delicious ribs.

IMG_20171118_192319 — Next we went somewhere that was considered more for the young, “hip” crowd called Pork Star. This was our favorite dish! It was pork meat with a spicy, coconut sauce and crispy onions and peppers on top. We stayed at this restaurant the longest and had a beer or two trying to digest a little before the last stop.

IMG_20171118_194810 — The last stop was a restaurant with stunning grounds. You could eat in your own gazebo or in the restaurant itself. We order Iga Babi Goreng Sambal Matah (I can only describe this as a pork ceviche type dish) and some more ribs that were quite different from the ones earlier in the tour. We were about to explode from eating so much, but this stop was just as delicious as the other four.

When the pork tour was over, we slipped into a food coma for most of the afternoon on the beach outside of our hotel while the weather was still nice.

IMG_20171118_224046 — There’s even a penjor on our beach!

The next day was our FINAL day on the most epic trip. We got up, watched the sunrise, bonded with some stray beach dogs, and took it slow while we geared up for another very long day of travel.

Snapchat-947570837 — She liked a double chin scratching…I think she would have come home with me =P

It’s going to be really hard to beat our first time in Asia. The food, sights, culture, and experiences were unforgettable. I can’t wait to revisit this corner of the globe over and over again…if I’m lucky.

Our next stop on our November 2017 trip to SE Asia was the bustling city of Bangkok. So far, Bangkok is the largest and busiest city we’ve seen on our travels. The traffic was INSANE so public transportation was a must! Since it was so hard to get around, we were limited to how much we could see in a short time. Most of our visit was spent eating and shopping and taking in the urban Asian culture.

The first day we were in Bangkok we spent most of the day in a taxi trying to get from the airport to the Riva Surya Hotel where we were staying. Driving through the city, we realized how dedicated the Thai people are to their king and that many people use some sort of smelling salt to stay awake while driving in the basically non-moving traffic. Once we finally arrived, we ate a nice lunch on the river, went to the gym in our hotel and pretty much relaxed the rest of the day away.

IMG_20171105_191320 — An intersection with tributes to the king

IMG_20171105_195609 — View from our hotel during lunch

IMG_20171106_034025 — View from our hotel at night

Our first full day in Bangkok was a day of eating delicious Thai food. We weren’t sure where to go in Bangkok so we took a cab to the center of town where we found Siam Square and the Siam Paragon Mall. This mall was amazing. You could literally buy or eat anything you want in this place. Scott was enamored with a whole floor of the mall dedicated to luxury cars and I loved the apparel and the seeing the largest food court of my life. You could buy anything in this food court including whole chickens and sweet buns shaped like teddy bears. We also went into a gourmet market and picked up some teas, spices and durian products for my sister who has a love of foreign delicacies.

IMG_20171106_230616 — More traffic on the way to Siam Square

Snapchat-1523853613 — A display in the mall…I couldn’t resist

My favorite part of Siam Paragon, however, was our stop for some tea. TWG stores are all over the world but I’d never had the pleasure of visiting one. Not only does it have the largest selection of loose leaf teas I’ve ever seen, but we were able to sit down and each have a pot of tea made especially for us using tea perfecting techniques. Of course, we had to buy a whole bunch of it to share with friends and family and each other.

Snapchat-503934135 — This is JUST the tea menu

Snapchat-756216718 — Scott’s drinking White Passion Tea and I tried Immortal Tea

After tea time, I bought a new dress and we took a cab to the COMO Metropolitan Hotel to eat at their restaurant, Nahm. Nahm is the only Thai food restaurant to be listed amongst the top 50 restaurants in the world, it has a Michelin star and it consistently ranks in the top 10 restaurants in Asia. Since Thai food is my favorite cuisine, I was dying to try this place. It truly did not disappoint! The atmosphere was actually pretty casual and inviting, but the food was AMAZING! Scott had a Strawberry Mule while I sipped a glass of Rosé. We were served an amuse bouche of pineapple and spiced meat and we ordered a pork and lobster canapé (spicy and so flavorful). For our main courses I got the coconut curry with blue crab and Scott ordered chicken with ginger sauce. By far one of the best lunches I’ve ever had.

We went back to our hotel after Nahm and rested our stomachs before a quick afternoon workout at the hotel gym. Then we got ready for yet another culinary experience. For dinner we wanted to get the best view of the city possible so we chose to eat at Saffron at the Banyan Tree hotel and then get cocktails at The Moon Bar. The dinner at Saffron didn’t really compare to our amazing lunch at Nahm, but The Moon Bar was incredible! This lounge was on the 59th floor and had 360 degree views of Bangkok. The service was really nice and the atmosphere was swanky and fun.

The next day was our last full day in Bangkok and my favorite day in this city. We finally discovered the Sky Train public transportation and getting around the city became much easier!

I dabble in cooking my own curries at home and when we first started planning our trip to Thailand, a cooking class was top of my list. We found Pink Chili Cooking Class in Bangkok and it was more of a cultural experience than just a cooking lesson. We met our guide and she took us through a local market which was much larger and more foreign than the ones we saw in Chiang Mai. There were huge stalls of fresh produce, bins upon bins of rice, sauces and spices I couldn’t begin to name and pretty fascinating (or maybe even disturbing) displays of meat. We saw full pork heads, every part of a chicken, live toads, and live eels just to name a few delicacies displayed. Another interesting thing is that nothing was kept over ice. I’m assuming the goods sell so quickly that preservation isn’t an issue, but it was odd to see a slab of meat just perched on a tile countertop. I could have stayed in this market for hours, but we were there only to purchase the freshest ingredients possible for the meals we would be cooking for lunch that day.

Snapchat-88296569 — Poor toads…maybe they were being sold as pets?

There was gold everywhere you looked in Thailand!

We took our super fresh ingredients straight back to Pink Chili’s kitchen where we began chopping and slicing immediately. The first thing we made was our own red curry paste with mortar and pestle. We then continued on to make sweet and sour chicken, crispy spring rolls, red curry with chicken and eggplant, a sweet chili sauce and pumpkin in coconut milk for dessert. I thought absolutely everything was DELICIOUS! I just wish we had some of these ingredients back in Seattle so that I could recreate this curry.

IMG_20171107_231704 — The cooking set-up

IMG_20171107_231808 — Ready to slice and dice!

IMG_20171107_231839 — The freshest ingredients

IMG_20171108_002041 — Grinding that curry paste

IMG_20171108_012631 — Smelling our delicious curry

Snapchat-1274065896 — Showing off our sweet and sour chicken

Snapchat-2067800448 — The full meal (except dessert)

We made some fun friends during our cooking class and one of them took a polaroid photo of us newlyweds before we all went our separate ways. Scott and I took the Sky Train back to Siam Square and wandered around for a while and then decided to check out a Thai movie theatre.

We went to a 3-D Imax showing of Thor Ragnarok and sat in a love seat style chair at the very top of the theatre. They had amazing popcorn and some funky tasting Sprite and, of course, some Hello Kitty decor. One of the more unexpected things about seeing a movie at a Thai theatre is that they do a tribute to the king before the previews where everyone stands up. The movie was great and exactly the relaxing night we needed to end our time in such an intense city. The next morning we would be getting up and catching yet another early flight to Phuket! That will be a much longer blog full of AMAZING photos by Scott. As always, thanks for reading and going on our adventures with us!

Adams Adventures

Tag: cooking

But first…Bali

Hustle, Bustle and Feasting in Bangkok