Southwestern saffron rice and beans (the perfect lunch!)

I don’t know about anyone else, but lunch during the week is always a bit of a conundrum for me. We have a canteen at work that serves good, cheap Thai food. You can get things like fried rice, chili noodles, omelets and tom yum noodle soup made to order or choose from whatever selections they have that day…for vegetarians that includes things like stir-fried pumpkin with egg, steamed vegetables, phat makeua yao (Thai eggplant with basil) and on Thursdays, som tam (green papaya salad). So I’m quite lucky in that respect. But sometimes I get sick of the canteen, and it’s admittedly not the healthiest of eating options. There are tons of restaurants all around my office, but I’m usually quite pressed for time at work and thus not always in a position to go out, and nor do I want to spend the money. So recently, I’ve gotten back into the habit of regularly bringing my lunch to work, which I used to do all the time in other places I’ve lived. Though so simple to do, I love the feeling of accomplishment that comes with making and bringing my lunch, especially when colleagues seem amazed that I am organized enough to do so!

Pan-fried tofu with tangy Thai sauce

Not too long ago, I discovered a delightful Korean cooking website called Maangchi. Since I've really been into Korean food since my trips to Seoul last year, I've been digging Maangchi's cute videos (which she's been posting on YouTube since 2007), yummy recipes and excellent explanations of Korean ingredients. She has a dedicated section of vegetarian dishes, including various banchan (side dishes) which are the real highlight of Korean cuisine, in my humble opinion. One of my favorites is her recipe for pan-fried tofu with spicy sauce which was the inspiration for this delicious tofu dish.

Zaalouk (Moroccan eggplant salad)

It was just a little over a year ago that we made our last trip to Morocco. The smells of spices and incense in Marrakesh's Jemaa El Fna Place, obscure alleys filled with beautiful pottery, carpets and slippers, the warm comfort of slipping into a hammam on a cold evening and finishing with a thé à la menthe (mint tea)...it all seems like yesterday, rather than what is essentially a whole world away from our life in Bangkok. But I love and miss the flavors and culture of that part of the world, which I regularly enjoyed in Paris living in the Barbès neighborhood as well. Thus I was super excited when my French-Moroccan friend Sofia decided to have a Moroccan-themed dinner party at her place over the weekend and asked me to help with some of the cooking. Sofia had just returned from a trip to Morocco armed with spices, preserved lemons, prunes, orange blossom water...all the things needed for a delicious Moroccan meal.

Curried black eyed pea soup

Any of you who are from the U.S. South will know that most of us Southerners (I count...sort of... having grown up in Texas with parents now in Atlanta) eat black eyed peas on New Year's day for good luck. I was determined to introduce Luis to this tradition this year and get 2013 off to a lucky start, though I had no clue about the legend behind this little superstition. Turns out that some say it dates back to the Civil War, when Union troops raided Confederate food supplies and took everything except salted pork and black eyed peas, which were considered as unfit for human consumption. But thanks to the black eyed peas, the Confederates were able to survive the harsh winter. Another account says that black eyed peas were the only thing which newly freed Southern slaves had to celebrate the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, on the 1st of January of 1863. Regardless of which version you believe (and there are others...West Indians apparently also eat black eyed peas on New Year's day), one thing is for sure...black eyed peas are a staple of Southern and soul food cuisine!

Eating out...top 15 dishes of 2012!

So…I’ve already told you about my top 10 recipes of 2012. But as I continue to reflect back upon this amazing last year, I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention some of the most amazing food that I have eaten outside of our own kitchen. Eating out – be it in proper restaurants or at one of Bangkok’s amazing street food stalls, markets and mall food courts – is a major part of our lives here. I was lucky enough to have had some amazing meals out in 2012…both in Thailand as well as some of the other places where I travelled. Inspired by all of the "best dishes of 2012" posts that I've been seeing on Gourmet, The Daily Meal, Serious Eats, etc., here’s a roundup of the top 15 restaurant or "outside" dishes that I tried in 2012, in no particular order (I couldn’t narrow it down to just 10!)…

Happy new year...my top 10 recipes of 2012!

2012...what a year it was! For us it was one of monumental change, as we moved to another country (Thailand) and new continent and started a new life. New apartment, new jobs, new friends, new travels (including some places we'd never visited before such as Korea, Macau and Vietnam), new culinary exploits...it was truly a nonstop adventure! While I didn't blog as much as I would have liked, I enjoyed discovering all kinds of unfamiliar ingredients in my new environs, creating and adapting many new recipes (several with a Thai twist, naturally!), improving my photography and making many new friends in this amazing worldwide community of food bloggers. It was pretty tough to pick my favorite 10 recipes from this year, but here it goes (coincidentally, some of these were also among my most viewed and/or commented recipes this year)...