Fresh Fish BBQ in Koh Phangan

I had the pleasure of staying on the island of Koh Phangan while in Thailand. Koh Phangan is located in the gulf of Thailand and is most famous for the monthly Full Moon Party (i'll save that for another post). Me and my girlfriend were lucky enough to stay in a beach front (air conditioned!) bungalow on Haad Salad beach. The beach and scenery were beautiful as was the food. There were about 15 different resorts on our beach, most of which served fresh BBQ fish every night. The fish menu at our bungalow included red snapper, white snapper, sea bass, king mackerel, barracuda, squid, king prawn and lobster. You could also get side orders of salad, potato and sweet corn. The fish was always caught that day and always tasted delicious. I can't pick a favorite because they all tasted so damn good. 

Here is a shot of the fish, the grill is firing behind it, the menu is next to the grill, the bar is behind that and one of the waiters is looking out onto the water.  This was at My Way Bungalows, the bungalow we stayed at. 

On the left was a German man who seemed to be the head chef. He was very friendly and told us all about each fish and what they tasted like. To the right was the cook. You can see her handling the potatoes, salad, and sweet corn. 

This beautiful girl modeled the fish for me.

Another shot of the grill station and the cook getting ready for the evening.

This particular night they had a rare fish. The German guy called it a parrot nosed fish, but I don't think that's the official name for it. Fun fact: I saw this fish a few days later while snorkeling in the ocean. Next to this fish is the red snapper.

Here is one of our meals. I don't remember which type of fish this was. I think it's king mackerel. The fish was always swerved with a side of garlic and chili sauce and salad. Also pictured is the sweet corn, potato and Singha, a popular Thai beer.

Money shot! The garlic chili sauce went so well with the fish.

Here is our meal from another night. I believe this fish is barracuda. 

Larger shot of the barracuda dinner with the ocean in the background. Perfect.

Bangkok, Thailand

Welcome back foodies.

Many of you may have noticed that I took a short hiatus from my blog. Part of the reason was that I ran out of original material to post (interesting Chinese food I mean) and then I sort of got lazy, I guess. Anyway the important thing is I am back and I have compiled lots of good material from my recent visit to Thailand! I am currently in Finland as well and will post some authentic Finnish meals in the near future.

This blog is titled "Authentic Chinese Food," but since my stay in China has come to an end I am going to make it simply a food blog because it's my blog and I can do that. I like food and so do you, why else would you be reading this?

So I'm walking around the night market my first night in Bangkok and I notice this nice colorful array of Thai spices and snacks. Thai markets are very chaotic, noisy and dirty so an organized stand like this stands out (no pun intended).

Okay THIS is my favorite food in Thailand. Huh? Not pad Thai? No. Then what is it? Sweet BBQ Chicken. Seriously? Yeah. Not exactly what you think of when someone says Thai food, but man do the Thai love their BBQ chicken. Street food is VERY popular in Thailand and can be found anywhere from crowded streets to dirt roads in the jungle. This kind of chicken is a popular item. It's an entire leg (sorry I only have this picture and not the food cart or the whole chicken but oh well, use your imagination) marinated in a sweet sauce then BBQ'ed. Tender, juicy, sweet and a little spicy of course because what would Thai food be without some chili pepper. I eat this with sticky rice (not pictures, sorry!) This was my first meal in Thailand and I won't forget it. 

Thai breakfast. Rice, cabbage salad with shrimp and spicy chicken with lima beans (I think). Rice is an essential food for the Thai. No rice, no meal. The boiled cabbage salad with shrimp was good, similar to Chinese cabbage. The chicken was A LOT spicier than I expected. To be honest, Thailand was a lot spicier than I expected (the food that is, what did think I meant?). It was good don't get me wrong, but I don't usually do spicy in the morning. It definitely woke up my sinuses up. Notice the small portion size. I mean the whole meal is just barely bigger than my palm, and though I do have big hands this was not enough. Overall a decent meal. 

This was really good. Zucchini and onions with scrambled eggs and two deep fried breaded ground pork balls. The pork balls were delicious. They were breaded with sesame seeds which gave them a nice flavor. Very good lunch. Cost about $1, not bad.

My First Chinese Wedding

I went to my first Chinese Wedding last week. It was more a wedding party than an actual reception. It was held in a hotel ballroom in Zhuji. There were a couple hundred people there to see the vice principle of my school get married. Me and my other foreign teacher friends were the only non-Chinese. There were many different acts during the party where friends and family got up on stage and gave a speech or sang a song. And of course there was lots of food. Check it out.

This is duck tongue. Yes, duck tongue. It was an appetizer. It was chewy and rubbery but once you bit off a piece it tasted kind of like duck. 

Close up, it really looks like a tongue.

Steamed and flavored dough. This was another appetizer. I'm not totally sure what it was, but my Chinese friend told me it was dough. It was steamed and marinated in some sauce. Tasted pretty good.

Fried prawn. Full shell on, fried in some kind of garlic sauce with sesame seeds. The shells are so soft you can eat the prawns whole without peeling them, even the heads. One of my favorite dishes from the night. 

LOBSTER. I've had a lot of crab in China, but this was my first time eating Lobster. Really soft and tender. People at my table didn't seem to crazy about it, so I ate about half the dish. Another one of my favorites

MUTTON. Always one of my favorite dishes in China. Usually I have it fresh off a BBQ, which is the best way to cook it in my opinion. This was cooked in a kitchen so it didn't have the same flavor you get from a BBQ. Still very juicy and tender.

Money Shot. Falling off the bone good. Pistachios on my plate were a snack. I had a couple.

This is a fish soup I believe. It didn't eat it so I have no comment. Sorry.

A whole fish. Bones and all, everybody picks away at it with their chopsticks. Very soft and tasty. Cooked in a ginger sauce.

I'm not sure what this dish is called but it's a very popular dish in China. There are fish balls, prawns and pork wrapped in thin tofu "paper". The fish balls are basically just fish meat rolled up into a meatball. The pork tofu wrap is really delicious.

 Seared beef. Soft and chewy and really tasty.

Here is a tofu soup. I didn't try it but Chinese people love it.

Here we all are in the middle of dinner. Gnawing away at our food, drinking, laughing, chatting, but mostly eating.

I went to Suzhou this past weekend. Suzhou is a small city outside of Shanghai with a bright nightlife and international cuisine. While walking the streets for dinner one night my friends and I stumbled across a Halal-Chinese restaurant. Since one of my friends is Muslim we decided to check it out. It was empty when we walked in but people started to show up once we were in there. Maybe foreigners attract customers? I definitely feel "famous" as a white male here, but that's another topic for another post. Anyways, overall the food was very good. tasted just like normal Chinese food I've had but obviously there wasn't any pork. The owner was really hospitable and it seemed like he lived and worked there with his family and his brother's family as well. Check out the photos.

Outside of the restaurant. Notice the Arab text above the Chinese.

Empty but clean.

The wives cooking in the kitchen.

Owner and husband doing some of the cooking as well.

Small restaurants like these usually have photo's of the dishes on the walls. You just point to what you want.

Beef stock soup. Complimentary with our meals. Salty and warm. Delicious

Sauteed beef and spring onions. 

This was some kind of spiced ground beef. Interesting flavor, very good.

Vegetable fried rice.

Here is a video from the streets of Suzhou. That's mutton leg.

Chinese Breakfast Burrito

One of my favorite street snacks in China is their breakfast burrito. A lot of street stands sell it, but very few do it right and with consistency. This guy is one of the few. He is located in Zhuji about a block away from my school. It is a quick and cheap breakfast to grab if I am in a hurry. Only costs 7 RMB ~$1. The burrito tastes sweet and soft like a crepe. Inside you can get any combination of chicken, Chinese hot dog, egg, lettuce, garlic, pickled cabbage, chives, dried seaweed, and cilantro. Once your burrito is filled you can get a sweet bean paste or hot chili paste and a crunchy waffle thingy. Super delicious, warm like blanket, lots of great flavors, soft crepe on the outside, and crunchy waffle on the inside. You really can't go wrong with it. Check out some of the photos.

Here's my guy. He starts by throwing a glob of raw dough from a large bucket onto a hot metal top and spreading it around in a perfect circle. 

Steam rises as he spreads the dough. My mouth begins to water.

Here are the eggs. He cracks the egg onto the dough as soon as it's spread out. He knows I like 2 eggs.

Next step is the meat. I always get the marinated chicken. 

Here are all the ingredients, or where they should be. He was running low on the cabbage, garlic, cilantro, and seaweed but this is where they would be. The tin bucket with the dark sauce is the sweet bean pasta, so delicious.

As he spreads the eggs around here are the crunchy waffle things. Not sure what they're called but they have a great crunch.

Quick video of his technique. He can make a full one in about 45 seconds. 

Final product in a bag on my desk :)

Here it is in all of its glory. Perfectly brown on the outside.

About to take the first bite. Cilantro, green onions, crunchy waffle and chicken all in eye's sight. Mmmmm.

Western Cooking Class

Today I had the great pleasure of teaching Tianma International School's first Western Cooking Class, along with my fellow foreign teacher Sharon. We taught our students how to cook pasta and tomato sauce and how to make salad. One sauce was vegetable based and the other was meat. The students were from grade 5 to 7. This was my first time teaching a cooking class and it was a lot of fun. I love food and love to cook so the opportunity to share my hobby with my students was a pleasure. Everyone had a great time and my students loved the food. Check out some of our pictures.

Kitchen is hot! Bacon is frying for the sauce, pasta is steaming, and vegetables are being chopped. 

Everyone posed for a quick photo, except for King, he's the one too focused on frying the bacon. Smart man.

Here's Sharon's table almost done cooking. 

Here everyone is eating the pasta. Kelly is the Chinese teacher saying that my pasta is BETTER than Sharon's, that's right. At the end of the video the kids run over and maul the pasta bowl.

King serving the students. He is a natural leader. Smart and rebellious as well.

Salad! They were sceptical at first but once they tried it they couldn't stop. Here they are scraping the bowl for all the green. A few third graders smelled the goods and snuck upstairs for our food too. 

Bill and David enjoying their pasta. Seventh grade students.

Lanky and Anna mid-bite.

Eva and Mike happy with their salad. They are some of the third graders that snuck into the class.  They're both extremely smart and their English is at about an 8th grade level. Angels.

Coco didn't seem to happy being documented eating her food. She is a teaching intern.