Having "Me" Time

I've been up since 5.30am this morning.  I'm up this early not because I'm ill, nor do I have somewhere to go this early in the morning, but I'm up because I was so exhausted yesterday I came home and fell flat on my bed at 9.30pm and a good eight hours later, I am up.  I have to say that I feel totally refreshed and alive once again.  Since it's the weekend (and because I'm getting hungry) I thought I'd take you on a little trip to have duck noodles at an old Bangkok market. If you've been following me since last year, you'd probably know how I love having noodles for lunch. I still do (though now I can also have them for dinner) and when I discover a noodle place that's delicious, I just get all happy and giddy.  Today's duck noodles is the one at Nang Lerng Market which is near to the Nang Lerng stadium where horse races are held.  It's on the border between old Bangkok and modern Bangkok and not too far by taxi.  It's ar...

I love lazy Sundays.  I love it especially when the weather is not so warm outside and there are Christmas songs playing wherever you go.  I love the feeling of not having to rush anywhere or having to be at a certain place in time for an appointment.  What better day then than to go explore a new restaurant and find something good to fill our stomachs?   Today, Alex and I went to a new ramen place recommended by my brother.   Thank you.  The ramen was absolutely delicious.  It's name is easy to remember.  It's called Ra-men Restaurant.   What do they serve? Ramen. The ramen I have to say was one of the best ramens I've had in Bangkok so far.  Chabuton was good but slightly too salty for my taste.  Ramentei is delicious, but the ramen at Ra-men restaurant was good. Very good.  The soup wasn't salty and the noodles the right consistency.   I had "Hiyashi" which is the cold ramen noodle t...

Happy Weekend!  It's been one week since I went to KL, gosh time goes fly by fast.   If you are in KL, a fun street to go walk around is "Jalan Petaling."  It's the main walking street in KL's Chinatown.  It reminds me somewhat of Khaosan road with all the roadside stalls selling everything you could possible want from brand name bags to sunglasses.  It's a fun walk. Just outside the entrance to Jalan Petaling though is a local "Beef noodle" soup pllace called "Shin kee."  Housed in a pale yellow shop house it's a tiny space crammed with chairs and tables and you have to move for others to get out, but the food is worth it.  As in Thai noodle shops, you have a choice of having the noodle with soup, or without, with just beef balls or with also sliced beef. At first I had the noodles with soup and it was just aromatic and delicious.  The egg noodles are slightly fatter and have a different texture to that...

This noon, while waiting for the Metropolitan Electricity Authority office to open, I decided to go have lunch at my favorite beef noodle shop in town. It's at Sri Yan which is an old market area in the 'old' part of bangkok between Samsen road and Nakorn Ratchasima road and just a few minutes walk away. An old sign hangs above the entrance saying it has the approved mark of "Shell Shuan Shim" which is Thailand's equivalent to the world renown "Michelin Guide." The sign is a testament to the shop's age. It has the original logo before Shell decided to change it 28 years ago. The beef noodle restaurant must therefore have been around at least 30 years, yet it still brims with customers every lunch time. Seats are filled quickly, and so are the orders. They are so successful, they have two cooking areas and the shop extends to the back making it equivalent to two restaurants. Waitresses run back and forth, extremely efficient in their ...

Here's an entertaining story.  In my family we mostly have noodles for lunch and everything else is eaten during dinner. It became a convention that I grew up with and didn't question much.  I thought it was the "norm" in most households. I spent my childhood in Europe and did my studies in the US. Whenever I had noodles, I had it for lunch. I never considered having it for dinner. Then I moved back to Thailand. I still ate noodles for lunch. There are so many varieties, I could never get bored of it. Then one day, Alex asked if I wanted to have noodles for dinner? "Noodles for dinner?" I repeated with a surprised look on my face. No, I didn't want noodles for dinner. It felt strange, "noodles don't belong at dinnertime." It's a "lunch" food! It just didn't feel right in my brain. It felt misplaced and abnormal.  The concept of "noodles" and "dinner" just didn't match. Did other people ...