Siem Reap, Cambodia: A little tour

I'm really starting to get around Siem Reap now, so I thought I might give you a little tour of this part of the world and where I am living.

I'm staying in a small home stay, a few kilometres outside of Siem Reap, which costs me 180 bucks a month! Pretty amazing, huh!!  And I get a free bicycle as well!! My room is quite spacious really, if Spartan. I have a large double bed, a few benches to keep my things, an ensuite and the complex has an outdoor communal kitchen area which is really nice as I have been able to meet some other volunteers from other parts of the world (mainly European so far).

Here is the street my home stay is situated, and my trusty bicycle!! 

Around the corner on Shoe St, I have all the necessities I could possibly need.  Shoe St is lined with, well, shoe stalls, but it also has many local eat shacks, two petrol stations, and a hairdresser.

A hair salon around the corner from where I am living...

My local petrol station!!

One of the cool things I kinda like here, is that streets are named, either officially or unofficially, by what is on them.  For example, Airport Rd goes to the airport, Pub St has lots of pubs, my street comes off a street with lots of shoe salesmen... Shoe St!!  It makes remembering street names easier!!

Shoe St, with all their shoe stalls

One of the entrances to Pub St which has a lot of the...wait for it... pubs!!

Siem Reap, while poor, does have a lot of charm.  One of the things I like about it is there are lots of little streets and side alleys which you can continue exploring and find exciting new places to dine and drink at, or even get a massage!  I find this really nice! I like a place that can slowly reveal itself to you rather than be right and in your face from day one.

There is no shortage of different cuisines.  This morning I had an Indian curry for breakfast, I just had fresh spring rolls and a chicken and mango salad at a local Khmer food restaurant, and tonight I am going to a volunteers farewell at an Italian restaurant where the tiramisu is suppose to be to DIE for!  I love me some tiramisu!

I started teaching at a school last night (a difficult thing after the lunch I had yesterday :-S)! The children are amazing, quite bright!  I would love to tell you more about it, and I will, except I am due there in 10 mins so must dash!

I have just booked into a cooking class, which I will have tomorrow!  So hopefully I will have some recipes of some traditional Khmer food which I have actually tried and made myself!! :)

Until then!

Daniel

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The beginning - Breakfast!

Hello world! 
Tomorrow I embark on one of the biggest adventures of my life and I sit here wondering how I will share my experiences with my friends and loved ones!  I have packed up shop in Perth - leaving many of my valuables in the hands of trusted friends and some of my remaining affairs with my flat mate Robina, and flown to Canberra before I head off overseas for... I'm not sure how long.


So, I was chatting to a new friend of mine, Jason, whose mother is a chef.  Before I left Perth we spent a bit of time together as he was going through a not very nice break up and I had some spare room where I let him stay for the week prior to leaving.  During this time, we got into the habit of not only drinking the last of my wine (there was a lot to get through, and we didn't succeed), but we made an effort to go to a different style of restaurant every night.  Italian, Greek, Australian, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Lebanese, French... and as I was spending this week with amazing food and brilliant company I realised what I miss most about traveling - the people and the food!  Gosh I always miss the food!!!


I love the simple clean tastes of chilli and lemon grass in authentic Vietnamese, The delicious fresh taste of fish in Japan, the unique blend of chinese, indian, and malay foods that bring the unique malaysia cuisine to life, and don't even get me started on Europe... tapas, cheese, breads, cured meats.. pastas... wow!!


So I thought, it is very easy to send a little blog with photographs an descriptions, but I really wanted some of my friends and loved ones to experience another element of my travels - the food.  


This is what this blog is about.  While I travel, I am going to try to find recipes of local cuisine and post photo's, videos, and recipes so that if anyone is interested they can make these meals at home and try them for yourself.  You will be able to buy, cook, smell, serve and share different places of the world with your friends and family!


I will try as hard as possible to find recipes as authentic as possible but if I cannot do this I will search the internet with recipes/ingredients I think will be similar. So no hating!!


Remember - buy the freshest ingredients, learn about the food, play with it, smell it, and share it! And Never, ever, ever, eat alone!!


Anyway, to begin with, I want to share with you my favourite meal of today, the day before the start of my trip.  It was a simple breakfast that I love to enjoy when in Canberra from a local bread and cheese house called "Silo Bakery".  I had the privilege of dining with two old Perth friends, Amanda and Tristan and delighted in recommending a dish that Tristan loved and changed his opinion of the restaurant!  I'm not sure why but I think of Europe or Melbourne every time I see Silo's.  Its a really small quaint restaurant in the suburb of Kingston in the ACT full by 7:15 am, with a line of people wanting to get in.  Clientele range from public servants, to professionals, to cyclists enjoying a post ride coffee, all there to experience the high quality produce and coffee.  The restaurant does takeaway as well as dining in, with an array of beautiful sandwiches and tarts, a cheese room to select a cut away portion of delicious cheeses and breads, while also offering their own jams and chutneys.  Not the cheapest, but definitely worth it (I bought a jar of the chilli jam for $20).

The breakfast I always love to order is their chilli eggs.  I love, love LOVE that shit! A simple meal comprised of two slices of sour dough bread - toasted, two softly poached eggs, a good dollop of thick chilli jam and some roasted tomatoes.


Scouring the net, I wanted to find a recipe I thought would taste as similar to this as possible.  I felt the jam definitely had an Asian taste to it, a hint of lemon grass perhaps, and it reminded my of the chilli paste Sambal from some Malaysian dishes I have eaten, but maybe not as spicy.  So a sambal recipe my well serve as a good substitute to this jam.  I found a Thai Chilli Jam, which doesn't have any lemon grass in it, but you could easily add it.  The Jam was quite thick in consistency, nearly a pizza paste consistency, and worked well with the poached eggs.


So, for Chilli eggs:
Two slices of Toasted Sour Dough Bread (get from a reputable bakery - many supermarkets serve Sour dough flavoured bread in place of Sour Dough).  
"To qualify as a sourdough, the bread must contain a portion of wild yeast starter.  Otherwise it's just traditional, commercially leavened bread.  Long-period, cold fermentation is really tangental to the definition, as it's a technique used with both sourdough and commercially leavened breads, the purpose of which is to give bacterial and enzymatic activity time to work, in order to improve flavour depth and complexity (and in the case of sourdough, to enhance sourness)." - Definition sourced here 

Two Poached Eggs
The trick to good poached eggs seems to be the use of vinegar and salt in the water.  If you are unsure of how to properly poach eggs, try this recipe.

One good scoop of Chilli Jam (this will need to be made in advance)
A recipe I found for a chilli jam is here, feel free to alternate and adjust, potentially adding lemon grass or other flavours to your liking.

Optional: roasted tomato


Place the two poached eggs onto the two slices of toasted sour dough bread. drizzle of of the chilli jam oil over the eggs and place the Chilli Jam and optional tomatos on the side.


This is how mine was served from Silo's Bakery. My apologies for the image quality, its from my iPhone3.

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Siem Reap, Cambodia. The first week - thank Vishnu for the French!!

Thank God for the French, that's all I can say, or Vishnu, now I'm in Cambodia! While French efforts to colonise Asian countries, or any country for that matter, was never nearly as successful as the English, the French did do a few things well.  While implementing a stable government, infrastructure, sanitation, schooling and all other elements of society which made England powerful, but obviously boring, were implemented haphazardly by the French, they do seem to have focussed on the important things in life when it came to spreading their influence into far regions of the Orient - cheese, bread, milk and wine.   Go France!  

But before I scoffed too much about the method of implementation of colonisation, I had a think about Western life and diet, and if I took out all the dairy and bread I realised, pretty quickly, that while I may be able to survive a while, it isn't long before I want some crusty bread, or cheese and crackers... or milk in my tea or coffee... think about it.  I assume France thought these delicacies are what separated us from the animals, or the locals, or something, and they were probably right, except for the bit about the locals.  And do not even get me started about life without wine. Why would you even bother?

However, the history lesson into the poor treatment of Cambodians by pretty much, well, everyone (including themselves) aside (I will go into it later in another blog post), Cambodia is lov-er-ly.  The French must have got something right. 

I am quite happy to report that Cambodia, like Vietnam (also colonised by the French, by the way) have lovely fresh baguettes (at USD 30c) a reasonable supply of cheeses including camembert and brie, reasonable coffee, and milk is readily accessible, which actually really surprised me after living in Malaysia.  Either, things have improved greatly in 3 years in this region, or Cambodia is on top of it their game!  I assume the later!  Also, coincidence or not, you can eat frogs here. Not just the legs like in France, but the whole bloody thing!!  Stores here are lined with French (and other - including Australian) wines, and not just crappy 3 dollar a bottle wines either - e.g.  Moet, Verve, and Taittinger Champagne is all readily available and a wide varieties of wines at different prices are available at quiet reasonable prices - from about $5 into the hundreds of dollars. Actually, yesterday I googled a review of the Chateau Soutard Saint-Emilion Grand Cru, of Bordeaux, France, which was selling for USD $120 a bottle, and that was just at the local store.

So, I am quite happy to thank the French for making my stay in Siem Reap that much more pleasant and easier to adjust too.  Last night I was quite easily able to put together a wine a cheese platter for four people that would have been the envy of many, for about 20 bucks.  So, France, merci.  I wouldn't want to get sick and go to the no-hospital, but an evening with a lovely merlot with friends in balmy weather is to die for.

Aside, from thanking my lucky stars for the French, because of the French I find myself volunteering in local schools for the poor (free schooling supported by locals or NGO organisations).  Tash (my travelling partner while in Cambodia) and I made contact with a school called Jimmy's School, run by a local by the name of...wait for it.. Jimmy.  Tash and I will start there on Monday, I believe. So, I am looking forward to that.  We popped by last night while the children we in the middle of a lesson to see some very enthusiastic children learning English (see how that's done, France) and giving us lovely big smiles and hand waves. But more on that once I have started working there.

To end with, here's a lovely food story, since I think I am suppose to do something like that in this blog.  Tonight some friends I have met since arriving, who are leaving Siem Reap tomorrow, are having a banquet for street children. At 6:00 tonight we are all going to the local market to round up some little street urchins, and will take them to a local outdoor restaurant and let them order what they want.  Of course, by '"we" I mean "them". Though I will be there, they will be paying.  That's the best way really!! ;)  Remember, the best meals are those you share with others, whether old friends, new friends, or to be friends and I can't think of more deserving recipients.  To be honest, it really is heart breaking to see the poverty here.  Literally, you have children waiting at your table for you to finish your can of beer so they can collect the trash to sell for money.  So, I imagine, tonights dinner will be amazing!  These children are grateful for anything they receive and they also have some of the biggest smiles I have ever seen on any child!  They just need a bath - something neither the French or the English seem to get right!!

Daniel

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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Nasi Lemuk and Teh Tarik

Selamat Pagi!!

I hope we are all having a delicious morning!! I am currently sitting in a "Street food" cafe in Kuala Lumpur International airport waiting for one of my best friends Tash to jump off her flight from Perth so we can board our flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Now, I hate airport food. I hate, hate, hate it. But I can still blog about 2 traditional Malaysian dishes even if I am not eating the best that is available on the peninsular (of Malaysia) at this point in time, because I have tried both these.  

One thing I love about Malaysia food, is that it is a true fusion of Chinese, Indian and traditional Malay food.  I have chosen a traditional malay breakfast and an Indian Malay drink to write about.

The first is Nasi Lemuk.  Nasi, meaning rice, and lemuk, meaning fatty, or creamy, as it is cooked in coconut milk.  This stuff is awesome! I have even had a variation of it in Miri (Sartawak, on the island of Borneo, which was served to me on a regular basis while drunk, fending off lady boys).  So, this could be breakfast, or it could be drunk food.  Win win either way really!!

Traditionally the dish is made up of six different elements.  The rice, Ikan Bilis (dried anchovies), Sambal (chilli paste), sliced cucumber, Boiled egg, peanuts.  However, I love it with beef rendang as well. It just adds something else to it.

Being stuck in KLIA, I couldn't meet someone to show me how to make Nasi Lemuk, so here is a recipe I found online, and a recipe for beef rendang here.  For those who want to cheat, there is a fake recipe here.  Whenever I ate Nasi Lemuk in Miri, the egg (Telur) was fried, not boiled, and it tasted better I thought, so why not try that as a variation!!

Here is how my nasi lemur was served.  It has a chicken curry (Beek rending is much better) and a pupadum... I have never had a pupadum with nasi lemur before, nor do I actually care for it.  If you a a pupadum fan then maybe you'll like this, but I'd say give it a miss.

Also, most malaysia dishes (and other South East Asian countries) eat their food with a fork and spoon (Fork in the left hand, spoon in the right).  You use the fork to push the food onto the spoon which then takes the food to your mouth. Do try it. Once you've got the hang of it, eating the local food is much easier!!

Now the beverage a chose to have with my Nasi Lemuk, is a traditional Indian-Malay drink call Teh Tarik. Teh meaning tea, and tarik, meaning pull.  Hence, pulled tea.  Basically, once you've made the tea, you pull it from the glass and a pot until the desired head is acquired.

This stuff not only tastes amazing, and you can have it hot or cold,  but if you find an entertainer, watching it being created can be a show in itself.  Here is a video I found online of it being made (ok, this is being made in Thailand, but it's still freaking awesome!), and, of course, a recipe and more interesting information on teh tarik, see here.

OK, so, I hope you get to taste a little of Malaysia.  Sorry it isn't more comprehensive, but its the best I can do from an airport!!

Until next time, when we start getting into Cambodia!!!!

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