I am a world traveler. These are my stories.
Following the great success of the Khmer cooking class, several of us decided to meet up at the #1 rated restaurant in Phnom Penh: Romdeng.
The whole menu was stellar. The attendees for the event just seemed to multiply until we had assimilated all the nearby tables and were building an ever growing web of falang. For some reason our order for red ants got lost in translation, so we just ordered more spiders and dug in.
It’s no secret that this trip has been all about discovery. Self discovery, and discovering the world. One of the best (and strangest) parts of this has been discovering new food!
The Khmer Empire ruled over much of South East Asia a thousand years ago. Nowadays, you can find hints of their cuisine on the menu is most neighboring countries. Yes, even Thai food takes a bit from Khmer.
Thai cooking classes costing what they did ($$$), I didn’t take the time. Khmer cooking classes, costing $20 or less for the day, I couldn’t refuse.
I discovered Frizz quite by accident. One of those shot in the dark meals that yielded glorious fruit. This was the best food I ate in Cambodia.
The class started with a trip to the market to see just how things function. The local color was out in full force and it was a trip to remember. Even though I can’t remember the names of all the weird things the cook showed us.
Next, we ran back to a building near the restaurant and started in. First, we made fresh spring rolls. Some were better than others.
Next, a strangely tasty dish called Amok that is cooked in a banana leaf cup. It’s a Cambodian signature dish.
Making Curry powder from scratch takes a small eternity without a power tool of some sort. Mortar and pestle is neat for nostalgias sake, but that was hard work.
I shot about 30 minutes of video so you could see and hear the experience, but I had the microphone on mute, so it was pretty useless. You’ll just have to use your imagination.
I only went for the half day class, but I got the cookbook for all the recipes. If you are in Phnom Penh, go to Frizz and get cooking.
Wrap-Up:
Frizz Restaurant
#67 Street 240, Phnom Penh
T: +855 (0)23 – 220 953 / +855 (0)12 – 845 525
You can find very interesting things in an Arabian market.
Though, even more interesting might be the people who are buying them.
I’ve said many times how much I loved Essaouira and the people in it. One of the highlights was an evening some of us spent wandering the old market with Mohamed. I compiled a quick video of the spice shop where we picked up some amazing tajin spice so you can see a little bit of the haggle process and some of what goes into that amazing food!
Tuscan food is celebrated, and for good reason: it is delicious!
Florence is an excellent base for getting into this sort of thing if you are interested in it as it is near so much of the Tuscan countryside and home to a number of great cooking schools.
Being the cheapskates that we are, Jo and I found the least expensive one in town and tried it out. It was so good, I went back again a week later with my lovely companion, Paula.
Tavola is an Italian word that describes a table set with food. By the end of the night, I can see why they named the school as such.
Each night that there are different classes held at the school for different types of dinner: four courses, pizza and gelato, pasta, whatever the chefs feel like putting together.The place is usually swimming with tourists and it makes for an interesting night of conversation as well as delicious food.
Among the dishes we made were salami dulce, ravioli, pizza, focaccia, gelato, biscotti, and risotto. It wasn’t even all about the food as we received tons of information all night as well. It was great to have flour described in detail and really understand it and how to use it.
Remember, no matter what you are cooking, the secret ingredient is always Love. Whether you have the uniquely wonderful privilege of cooking with my friends, or you are going it solo, the human touch, that added immeasurable additive, will make all the difference.
This is why we remember weekend and holiday family dinners with such warmth. This is why dinner parties and barbecues are still favorite activities around the world. This is why homemade salsa creates friends out of strangers, and loved ones out of neighbors. Creating food is one of my favorite ways to show my love for another person; at the most basic level I am literally sustaining their life force; I am giving them life.
Buddha, a lover of food and people himself, said “If you knew what I know about the power of giving, you would not let a single meal pass without sharing it in some way.”
Maybe it isn’t as revolutionary an action as some, but I enjoy it and I love to see other people eating and enjoying something that I made. If you are in Tuscany, you could do worse things with your time than take a cooking course. I’m just saying.
What you’ll need
Ok, so maybe not that last one, but that’s where I got the recipe, so let’s roll.
First off, this is to make two cups of coffee. Start by taking two heaping teaspoons of Turkish coffee and dropping them into your Turkish Coffee Maker. then add 4 sugar cubes, and two coffee cups worth of water to the mix.
Stir until the sugar cubes are about 50% dissolved.
Put your coffee maker over the lowest flame setting on your stove, and watch it. Eventually, a dark ring will start forming around the edge of the cup. Watch it. This ring will slowly close in on the center of the cup, then start increasing in speed, you want to pull it off of the flame and fill each of o your coffee cups to halfway.
Place the coffee maker back on the flames for about another 15 seconds to boil a bit and put a bit more heat into the coffee. then remove it from the flame and fill the cups the rest of the way.
Ta-daa!
While you don’t need a Turkish girl to make it, you should definitely find some Turkish Delight or some good chocolate to serve with it. It makes all the difference!
Also available upon request, reading the future in the coffee grounds!
For those of you who don’t speak Spanish, that says Frog Juice.
If you are like me, you immediately hit google to see if it was available near you. No, it is probably not. This is something that seems to be indigenous to Peru. When I was much younger, Joecartoon.com had a version of this that I discovered thanks to my good friend Jared. For a good laugh, click here.
The reality of frog juice is somewhat different than the cartoon. Thus, to expel any public myths about this old school health beverage said to cure all manner of pain in the head, I, your intrepid adventurer, have set out to see the whole process from grisly start to tasty finish. Enjoy!
As with all things, be sure to find a reputable dealer, as it is often difficult to tell if it is a toad or a frog, and the toads will make you ill, while the frogs will make you better. Never buy used frogs, as it will lessen the restorative powers of your juice.
Travel DO or Travel DON’T??? Your call.
In Ecuador and Peru, I have seen an item on several menu’s called Kuy. When asking around, I discovered this was actually a guinea pig indigenous to the area. Something of a delicacy, and eaten only on special occasions, the guinea pig is served whole; ears, eyes, teeth, and claws all still attached. The following video should give you an idea of what you are in for.
For anything other than the novelty factor…
Travel DON’T
Santander has been a running joke between me and a friend Jason in Arizona since we had to travel there for work a few years back. Bucaramanga is in the Santander district of Colomba.
When we arrive at the station, Carlos even goes to a store and buys me a container of fried ants and we eat them together along with a couple of guys from Holland. They taste rather like popcorn at first, then get a bit of a mineral or iron aftertaste. Also, one may wish to have a drink around as the pieces of the exoskeleton tend to linger.
I am staying in the worst part of town. Suprisingly, the hotel room is relatively clean and quiet. I need to pay the guy, so after stashing my bag, I take off in search of a cajero, and ATM. On the way, I manage to pick up a short bald guy named Bernardo and he gives me a guided tour of the city, entirely in Spanish, and then takes me to the ATM and to a good cheap restaurant for a gigantic steak and yucca. What an opener.
In the morning, now that I am actually in Bucaramanga and I have all the ants I could possible eat, I don’t really know what to do with myself. I do know that I am in desperate need of a haircut, so I wander back to where bald Bernardo’s barber, being part of the tour, is located.
I will reiterate, I love the barbers south of the border. I may never go to a salon again. The level of detail these people put in with that effing scary blade is startling. Once I am beautiful again, and covered in hair, I decide to walk around and find some food. There is a great place called something like Nutricom that has a fantastic lunch spread and an English speaking busboy for about $3. I just happened to be walking down a street and liked the placement of tomato on the sign.
Relatively unimpressed with Bucaramanga as a city, I am resigned to getting my bag and catching an all night bus to Bogota tonight. All over Colombia people stand around hooked up to cell phones on chains like some form of telcom octopus and charge people to use the telephone. A well placed call to Carlos, who works for a bus company, tells me that I can show up at the terminal every hour on the hour all night and catch a bus to Bogota.
As I am handing the phone back, and before I can pay, the young girl running the booth starts speaking to me in Spanish. “Yo quiero hablar con usted,” she says. Translated, I want to speak with you, sir.
Laura doesn’t speak any English, she understands a few lines pertaining to age, nationality, etc, but won’t speak anything other than Spanish. Lacking anything better to do, I just sit down on the curb next to her and spend roughly the next hour chatting and entertaining myself with her and her customers. Laura makes about $10 USD a day and she works four days a week, 14 hours a day, and attends college the other three days. She is 16 and she lives on her own. Knowing what little I know about the economical and social forces at work here, I am astounded and impressed by her fortitude and willingness to work so hard for what she wants.
At one point, another young girl with braces (veeeeery common in Colombia) walks up to me and begins speaking in English. She tells me it is truly dangerous for me to sit out on the street like I am. She can tell I have a camera and probably have money judging by the shoes I am wearing and that even in Broad daylight I am running the risk of being robbed every minute I just stand here. She is gracious and sincere and I can’t remember her name for the life of me. Given her warning I decide to go put away my stuff and figure out the rest of the day.
I’ve traveled around the city a good deal and through each city have kept my eyes open for a type of teas called aromaticas. They are supposed to be the real deal with herbs and plenty of local mojo. Finally, on a whim I dropped into a shop across from the Sagrada Familia and they have them! This thing smells awesome!
Visiting the Sagrada Familia in Bucaramanga takes a little less time and a good deal less money than visiting the slightly more popular partially constructed church of the same name in Barcelona. It seems to have gotten it’s name from the actual statues of the sacred family perched over the doorway.
By now I have stashed my bag at another less dodgy hotel and am mostly killing time till Igo to the bus station to head to Bogota. I wander back through the bad section of town to chill out with the phone girl and practice my Spanish. We kick around a cafe for a while and she starts asking me to translate rap and reggaeton lyrics for her. She helps me negotiate the taxi to the station and I make it about 15 minutes before the bus leaves.
This bus is effing cold.
Ok, so, when one thinks of the most memorable and enduring aspects of ancient civilization, one might think of the egyptian Pyramids or the Sphinx. Perhaps the Parthenon or Coliseum in Italy. But how about food?
or better yet, how about snacks?
The ancient Mayans leaned how to make a dark and tasty treat from a very unlikely source.
The pods of the Cacao tree go through a rather rigorous process to become the chocolate that we all know and love today. Being the adventurous sort, I decided to take a look at how it tastes before undergoing any presto changeo. Take a look:
As you can see, it leaves a little something to be desired. 🙂
