Chana masala bisque

As you may have guessed from my lack of recipe posts as of late, I haven't been cooking a whole lot lately (lately being in the two months since we moved to Bangkok). It may sound crazy, but for one it's actually cheaper to eat out here than cook. Really. There is an abundance of cheap, fresh and delicious street (and mall) food everywhere you turn, and it's pretty much impossible to cook Thai food (or pretty much any other kind of food) at home for the same price. Also...and this is probably the biggest reason...the shipment of all our household goods which we sent from Paris still hasn't arrived yet. I was beginning to get really annoyed with this but then just learned that they will be delivered to our apartment tomorrow (yay!!!), just one day shy of our two-month anniversary here.

Terminal 21: Bangkok food court eating at its best!

After almost 2 months here in Bangkok, I'm convinced that shopping has to be the national pastime of Thailand. Bangkok has no fewer than 180 malls and shopping centers, including several mega-malls such as the luxurious Siam Paragon, Emporium and Gaysorn Plaza, electronics mecca Panthip Plaza, tourist favorite and budget-friendly MBK Center and the classic Central World. Terminal 21 is one of the newest of the bunch, having opened its doors only in October 2011 and connected to the Asok BTS station on the Sukhumvit line (just two stops away from us). Like most Bangkok malls, it's a modern, multi-floor extravaganza. It's called Terminal 21 because it's supposed to resemble an airport, which each floor having the theme of a different city (London, Paris, Istanbul, Tokyo, San Francisco).

Larb (minced tofu salad)

It goes without saying that one of the biggest pleasures of living here in Thailand thus far has been getting to really discover the wonderful cuisine. Thai restaurants in the U.S., France and elsewhere in the West present a minuscule picture of this vast cuisine, often limiting their menus to phad thai, tom yum and the standard curries. So in my exploration of Bangkok's restaurants, street food stalls and mall food courts (yes food courts...some of the best food in the city can be found in them!) thus far, I've been trying to make myself be adventurous and try Thai dishes that I'm not familiar with. Sometimes it's tempting to stick with the stuff that I know and love, especially favorites like som tam (green papaya salad) and tom kha (coconut milk soup). But in general, I've been trying all kinds of unfamiliar Thai food and loving it!

Kothu paratha

My excuses: I drafted this post when we were still living in Paris and never got around to posting it. I haven't done much blogging since moving to Bangkok since we've been so busy with exploring the city, but I promise that lots of spicy stuff is coming soon! In the meanwhile, enjoy...kothu paratha!

When I first moved to Paris almost six years ago, I was surprised and delighted to find that there is a true Indian quarter in the city! Not just Indian, but Tamil!!! Given that the cities of Pondicherry and Karaikal in Tamil Nadu were once French comptoirs, it's natural that a good number of the Indians living in France come from these areas. Add to this a large community of Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka and it's just total Tamil-land! Thus if you visit the neighborhood along Rue Faubourg-Saint-Denis between Gare du Nord and La Chappelle metro stations (and beyond), you'll see saree shops, barbers and beauty salons, grocery stories, travel agencies, music shops, a Ganesh temple...all with signs in Tamil! Walls are rife with posters announcing the latest bharat natyam performance or Sri Lankan Tamil political rally while the aroma of fresh jasmine, masala dosa and Madras coffee fill the air. Whenever I would go to this neighborhood (quite regularly to buy groceries or eat at Saravana Bhavan), I would totally feel like I was back in Chennai!