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Easy Vegetable Carving: Lotus Bowl Centerpiece

By on February 6, 2011 in She Rants and Muses, She Uncooks, She Veges

easy vegetable carving

An edible mini lotus pond is a perfect centerpiece for your dinner party, especially if you serve Thai food.

I’m both amused and terrified every time someone writes me asking for advice on how to carve fruits and vegetables “like the Thai people do.” When that happens, I’d search the archives looking for something—anything—that might lead them to think I actually have that kind of talent. Of course, I’ve found nothing, and am left wondering where folks get that idea.

I can’t carve, at least not like this. And that’s just one of the many, many artistic things I can’t do. Continue Reading →

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Cucumber Relish for Satay: Ajat, Ajad, Achad (อาจาด)

By on September 22, 2010 in She Deglutenizes, She Stocks a Thai Pantry, She Thais, She Uncooks, She Veges


Since it took me 10 minutes to make a bowl of this flash-pickled condiment, I thought the writing of this post was going to take 30 minutes at the most. I would snap a few pictures of the cucumber relish, post them on here, write a couple of paragraphs, and move on with my life. Boy, was I wrong. Continue Reading →

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Som Tam Recipe (ส้มตำ): Thai Green Papaya Salad With or Without a Mortar

By on June 8, 2010 in She Deglutenizes, She Thais, She Tosses, She Uncooks, She Veges

som tum thai papaya salad recipe
Some of the requests I’ve been getting in the past several months include, “How do you make X without Y (Y = a cooking apparatus with which X is traditionally prepared)?” Ranked number one among such requests is, “How do you make Thai green papaya salad without a mortar and a pestle?”

On a bad day, I would cringe and wonder, in this day and age when even the most exotic of cooking tools can be purchased online, what would be the excuses for not investing in such tools if the success in creating one’s favorite dishes depends on them? But on a good day, I tell my sometimes impatient, self-righteous self to shut the heck up. True, the tools may be more readily available these days, but there are issues of shipping costs (would anyone care to calculate how much it costs to ship a granite mortar across the country?), storage space, etc. Besides, I am a trouble-shooter by nature. The process of figuring out creative solutions to a problem thrills me to no end. Macgyver is my kitchen patron saint.

Well, guess what. Today’s one of those good days. Continue Reading →

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