Recipe: Som Tum (papaya salad)

Shredded young papaya


Palm sugar

Cherry tomatoes

Kra thiem (garlic), fresh and roasted prik Thai

Steamed shrimps

All ingredients are mixed in the mortar.

A plate of delicious, healthy som tum

Som tum is one of my favourite Thai dishes. It's delicious and takes a few minutes only to prepare.

Ingredients:
1 medium dark green papaya, peeled and shredded
4 garlic cloves
4 fresh or roasted Thai chilies (cili padi);add more if you like it spicy and vice versa
2 cherry tomatoes, diced or halved
1/2 cup chopped long beans, in 1inch pieces

Shrimps, steamed
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon dried shrimps, roasted
1/2 teaspoon palm sugar
1/4 cup lime juice
2 tablespoons chopped roasted peanut

1. In a mortar, crush the garlic cloves, dried shrimps and chilies into chunks.
2. Add in papaya and the remaining ingredients and gently combine them with pestle and spoon.
3. Place the dish on a plate and sprinkle the chopped peanut on it.

Serve immediately.

Sarika Waterfall, Nakhon Nayok, Thailand

Nam Tok Sarika or Sarika Waterfall, is one of the famous waterfalls in Nakhon Nayok province, in Thailand. It is located at Tambon Sarika, Muang District of Nakhon Nayok Province, which is about 15 kilometers east of the township, along Suwannason Road, not far from Khao Yai National Park. Its water stem from Sarika brook flowing from Sarika Mountain. The water falls from a high cliff which makes the current scatter and it has nice, lushes greenery that makes it a great picnic site.

To get there, take Highway No.305 (along Rangsit canal) passing Ongkharak district. It is about 110 kilometers from Bangkok. We left our place at 11am and reached our destination at 1.15pm as we stopped at a mosque on the way for prayers.

Passing Nakhon Nayok little town.

Road going uphill towards Sarika Waterfall

At the main entrance

Entrance fee: Local visitor: Adult-40baht, children-20baht
Foreigner: Adult-200baht, children-100baht
Opening hours: 8.00am-6.00pm

We managed to get the local fee as I spoke in Thai, asking for directions going to the site. If not, it would have cost us a bomb just to be there for three hours.

Walking trail: we had to walk 500m, climbing up and down the trail to get to the site.


Swinging on a branch of a tree


Finally reached the site.

Toilet cum changing room

Just look at how beautiful it is. Keiron couldn't wait to get into the water.

Presenting.... the Sarika Waterfall

Me, reading with my legs dipped in the refreshing cool water of Sarika waterfall.

A plate of nasi lemak, which I cooked, by the Sarika waterfall.

On the way back we stopped by at this stall to get some nam ma prao yen (cool coconut water). They are really fresh and cheap; 10baht each. I had one while Keiron had two.

We also stopped at a Muslim food stall along the way to the waterfall site, selling kai yang bbq chicken, pla duk grilled catfish, som tum (papaya salad) etc.

Che' Daeng, preparing the som tum for us.

Keiron really enjoyed himself playing with water like a lil' boy experiencing his first encounter with a real waterfall...though it was not his first time. I had to coax him to leave and we finally did at 4.30pm. He kept on repeating that he would want to go back again, and have nasi lemak there soon...

Halal food in Cha Am, Thailand

Muslim restaurant in the middle of the little town of Cha Am, heading towards the sea.

Mussels and cockles being sold at a night market in Cha Am. You can get the vendor toboil the seafood for you at no charge at all.

There are many Muslim vendors selling all sorts of food stuffs at the night market. This auntie sells khao tom khai, chicken porridge. which costs 15baht per bowl.

Haneefa and her son, Muhammad buying chicken balls and nuggets.

Prachuapkhirikhan, Thailand

On a samlor, a widely used public transportation. It costs 40baht per person.

mussels costs 20baht per kilo

at the Prachuap Bay jetty

Ao Manao or the Manao Bay, which is about three km from the Pracuap Bay is known not only for its lovely beach but also for its fresh and cheap seafood (aahan talay).


Vendors selling hor mok (otak-otak). 6 pieces for 50baht.

hor mok

poo talay (sea crab) costs 350baht per kil0. believe it or not, this particular crab which I chose is exactly 1kg.

Prachuapkhirikhan is a seaside resort in Tambol Klongwan, located about 290km south of Bangkok; about 3 hours by car. Tambol Klongwan is between Myanmar and the Thai Gulf and not far from the narrowest point in Thailand. It boasts nice, peaceful beaches. We had a great time at Ao Manao, where the locals spend their weekend with their families. Very few foreigners were spotted. I had a marvellous time eating fresh steamed crabs(poo talay), oysters(hoi naang rom), prawns (goong) and hor mok.

Sunrise at Prachuap Bay. Taken from the Hadthong Hotel room right across the beach.

http://www.hadthong.com/ #+66326010506 info@hadthong.com

Visit to Ban Subsanoon School, Saraburi, Thailand

On 9 August 2008, I had the chance to visit one of the schools adopted by SEAMEO, which is the Ban Subsanoon School, located in the Saraburi province, which is about 140km north of Bangkok. The school itself is about 80km away from the town of Saraburi, which makes it 22okm away from Bkk. It took us 4hours as we were traveling by truck. I went there with Khun Manus, one of our general staff.

7.00am: Me, Kun Manus and Khun Ed, the driver, all set to head for Saraburi with a truck loaded with furniture, books and other stuffs for the school library.

11.00am Finally arrived at Ban Subsanoon School. The school's pretty quiet as it's a Saturday morning and no activities in going on at that time. The two boys in the picture were going into the school compound to meet their friends. The school gate is always open as students can play football, basketball or merely read and do their homework at the many reading areas in the school compound at their own time.

Happily looking gals, working together doing their homework under shady trees.

Creative Freeze Learning Refrigerator; an old regrigerator turned into a book cabinet

where books are placed at an outdoor reading corner. The idea is that the books available for reading are safe and kept dry even if it rains. The refrigerator is fully stocked on Monday morning and removed

on Friday evening for safety purposes.

This is one of the many reading areas in the school compound.

Recycling corner; used plastic water bottles are collected and then

sold off to the recyclying vendor. The brooms are used by the students to clean the school compound

every morning. Notice the blue board behind the brooms...that is the students' cleaning duty roster for the whole term. Each student is assigned an area; everyone has something to do during the daily cleaning session.

from left: Khun Kanitha Goklang (Vice Head), Khun Manus, me

and Khun Kesorn Ploypradab(English teacher) pose with the stuffs contributed by SEAMEO.

Lynn and the school children.

In front of the school library, all set for lunch after handing over the furniture and all.

Some facts on Ban Subsanoon School:

33 years old

total number of students: 584

total number of teachers: 24

level of students:

kindergarten (5-6 years old)

prathom 1-6 (7-12 years old)

matthayom 1-3 (13-15 years old)

daily shedule:

7.40-8.00: cleaning session (all students are involved according to the duty roster)

8.00-8.10: assembly

8.10-820: sermon given by a monk

8.20-8.30: teacher announcement

8.30-11.30:lesson starts

11.30-12.30:lunch break

12.30-3.30:lesson resumes

3.30-5.30:co-curricular activities/sports

School library is open to public from Monday to Friday: 7.00-8.00am, 11.40-12.30pm and 3.30-5.00pm.

from left: me, Khun Kanitha, Dato' Ahamad Sipon (SEAMES Director), Dr. Tinsiri(SEAMES Deputy Director), Khun Wirayude(SEAMES Finance Manager) and Khun Piyapa(SEAMES Liason Officer) at the presentation of scholarships and books worth 60,000 baht for the school library on 18 August at SEAMES office.

# SEAMES=Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Secretariat

Are you drinking the right tea?

1. People who use their 'brain' to work or students who study hard day and night should drink more Chrysanthemum Tea.
2. People who need a lot of energy to work or those people who exercise a lot everyday should drink Wolong /OolongTea.
3. People who travel on a bike or work in dirty and polluted places should drink Green Tea.
4. For people who like to sit down all day long without doing anything, not even exercising must drink Green Tea and Flower Tea.
5. People who smoke and drink a lot of alcoholic beverages should drink more Green Tea.
6. Carnnivores; people who must eat meat at least once a day, should try to drink some Wolong/Oolong Tea.
7. People who go to the washroom too often or not often enough should drink more Honey Tea
8. People with high cholesterol and high blood pressure should drink Wolong/Oolong Tea and Green Tea.
9. Those who work with computers everyday need to drink a lot of Tea (any tea will do).

Whenever you are working with the computer, it's good to make some tea and drink it when you are free. Drinking Tea is healthy as it can protect and prevent the harmful ultraviolet light from harming us while using the computer. Furthermore, it is also refreshing for our body when we are tired and helps making our body feel fresh again.

Using Lemongrass by Brenda Hyde

Usually the tender white part of the lemongrass stalk is used for adding to dishes, but the remainder can be used for stocks or infusions or even dried to use in potpourri and tea. So, don't waste any part of it! Some cooks will grind the stalks and use this for seasoning. Or you can treat it more like bay leaf and leave it in larger pieces that can be removed before serving.
Try tying several blades together with cooking string and place them on top of fish as you are grilling, baking or broiling. Another neat thing to do is to take a few of the blades, tie them together and pound them with a meat tenderizer to bruise them, then use them as a brush to baste meat or seafood as you grill.

Lemongrass is a great herb to use with chicken. Stuff a roasting chicken with it before baking and season with garlic, pepper and salt for a great dish. Below are some of the recipes using lemongrass:

Lemongrass Marinade
3 fresh lemongrass stalks, chopped
2 tbsp. finely chopped onion
1 tbsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. dried hot pepper flakes
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. sugar
4 1/2 tsp. fish sauce
1 1/2 tsp. salt (optional)

Mix together and marinate 2-4 pounds of chicken. Marinate 4 hours or overnight. Grill or broil until done. You can also use a cut up chicken and roast it in a roasting pan.

Shrimp Marinade
2 tsp. minced garlic
2 tsp. minced fresh ginger
2 tsp. fresh lemongrass, finely chopped
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1 tbsp. hoisin sauce
2 tsp. honey mustard
4 green onions, chopped
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar

Mix all and add to 1 or 1/2 pounds shrimp. Marinate for several hours. The shrimp can be sauted in a large skillet or grilled.

Lemongrass Fried Rice:
vegetable oil
1 onion, diced
1/2 tbsp. minced garlic
1/2 tbsp. fresh minced ginger
3 stalks lemongrass, minced, white only
4 cups cooked rice
juice of one lemon

In a large nonstick skillet heat a little bit of oil. Saute the onions, garlic, ginger and lemongrass til they soften-don't brown. Add the rice and saute all for about 5 minutes til heated through. Add the lemon juice and salt if desired. Serve with chicken or seafood.

Lemongrass Tea
1 tsp. lemongrass
1 cup boiling water

Pour the water over the lemongrass and steep for 5 minutes. Sweeten as desired. Makes one cup of tea.

Lemongrass and Mint Tea
1 cup chopped mint
1 cup chopped lemongrass
2 cups boiling water
3 cups brewed black tea
juice of one lime
Lemonade concentrate or a sweetened lemonade mix-enough to make 2 quarts (use it as is, not mixed).
Steep the mint and lemongrass in the boiling water for several hours or even overnight. Mix with the 3 cups of cooled brewed tea. Add the remaining ingredients and then add enough cold water to bring it to one gallon total.


Brenda Hyde is an avid gardener, freelance writer, mom and wife. She is also editor of Old Fashioned Living.