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| • Dear Food Lover |
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Tong Heng’s tan tart is different than most, as its cooked in a diamond shape, not round, and the sou pei or “crisp skin” pastry is more like classic pâte feuillletée. Not surprisingly, some historians contend Portuguese pasteis de nata is the origin of this recipe.
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| The best tarts literally crumble into a thousand flakes with each bite. Even more importantly, its pastry is made with two separate doughs, then folded and rolled together like détrempe in a classic French puff. As for the secret of its lighter-than light, just-set custard texture: fine straining and very slow baking. Just imagine the lightest sweet quiche, then double it! For our complete article on tan tarts, read on... |
 Better yet, join our Singapore & Thailand Epicurean Adventure, Oct. 2-16, and discover first hand the joys and delights of tan tarts. The tour begins in ultra-modern Singapore, but just as quickly you’ll discover a city of ancient Asian cultures steeped in tradition. We’ve included food tours of Singapore’s ethnic Indian, Malay and Chinese quarters, plus attend a Thal Bohri banquet in a local family’s home. This ethnic Indian minority group’s meals have a unique way of combining sweet and savory flavors. For example, dinners begin with salt tasting, which represents that all people are equal. Likewise, a dessert starts the menu, as this symbolizes that guests will only talk sweetly during their meal. We’ve also added a second gala dinner in a Singapore high-rise apartment – another unique opportunity to meet and socialize with locals in their home territory. |
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| Click here our day-by-day itinerary. |
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We then fly to the Thai resort island of Koh Samui for a fruit and vegetable carving food styling workshop, plus sample regional dishes from around the kingdom. We'll also visit local markets rarely viewed by tourists. |
Our favorite is a recently restored turn-of-the-century riverside market that is often used as a period movie set backdrop. We also include stops to Chiang Mai, Thailand's Lanna capital in the far north, plus the 12th century historical capital of Sukhothai – where you’ll have a chance to scythe rice from the field. Our final night is a banquet cruise on the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok. |
| • Early bird discounts for both tours are available until June. |
For those joining our Laos Food Sampler (16-22 Oct), we’ve just added another cooking class of local dishes, which includes delicious jeow chili jams. CLICK HERE for our Laos Food Sampler itinerary. Last October, Robert and Morrison travelled to the Thai-Lao border for the spectacular Fireboat Festival in Nakhorn Phanom. And we can’t wait to repeat the trip in ’05! Culminating on the full moon in October, locals celebrate the Lai Rua Fai (fireboat) festival with magnificently crafted candle-lit lantern murals floating down the Mekong at night, with rural Laos serving as our backdrop. |
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In neighboring Vientiane, the Lao are in full celebratory mode for Awk Phansaa Buddhist Lent, and the riverside teems with tens of thousands of revellers. We arrive in time for the popular boat races on the afternoon of the last day. We had an absolute ball visiting last year. On this upcoming trip, we also fly to Laos’ imperial capital, Luang Prabnag – called the best-preserved city in Southeast Asia. It’s Unesco heritage preserved status makes it worth the several days we’ve planned here. Read Robert’s article about Luang Prabang. |
| We’ve also arranged free stopover rights in Cambodia visiting the magnificient ancient temples of Angkor. This saves you $400 in air fares alone! We cannot encourage you enough: visit Angkor now, not later. Each year, tourist numbers double, and the monuments of Cambodia are threatened with mass visitors, so enjoy the temples now in relative peace. We’re also offering extra-special never-to-be-repeated introductory rates at a brand-new luxury hotel. For our Cambodian packages, CLICK HERE. |
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On the book front: Very Thai: Everyday Popular Culture is an insightful look into one of our favorite destinations. Brand new and profusely illustrated, its written by Philip Cornwall Smith, an English expat with many years’ residence in this Kingdom of Smiles. Indeed, Very Thai is so good, it’s already heading into Thai translation. Highly recommended. get a copy from Amazon |
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When last in Cambodia, we visited the impressive Ecole d'Hôtellerie et de Tourisme Paul Dubrule, which trains disadvantaged Cambodian youth the skills to land and hold a job in the hospitality industry. The school is named in honor of Accor hotels’ founder. Seems Mr. Dubrule was bicycling his way through Asia (at a very spry age!) when he stopped in Siem Reap to observe NGO/non-governmental organization training programs. He was so impressed with the needs of Cambodians, that he instantly bequeathed the funds to build this fine cooking school. Money for the school’s on-going operation are in dire need, however. We are likewise impressed, and consequently, we’re donating a portion of our October food tour proceeds to the on-going progress of this school. Read about Robert's visit last year... |
| Fishy Business: “There was a poor sable catch this season,” apologized our waiter at David’s Deli in San Francisco. This venerable eatery has served the delicious smoked white fish for some 52 years, but its no longer available here, in spite of its perpetual inclusion on the printed menu. Consumers might well wonder where tonight’s fish dinner comes from. A real eye opener is The End of the Line: How over-Fishing is Changing the World and What we Eat by Charles Clover (Ebury Press, £14.99). Revealingly, as much as 85% of “by-catch” is flung back into the sea, but it’s not only prawn trawlers that are the worst offenders. Ever-larger ships with sonar detection and sea-mapping software enable yields far larger than can be replenished. Sadly, even the solution of fish farming has its own ecological problems, such as water contamination, over-reliance on antibiotics, and cruelty. Not only that, it can take some 20 tonnes of dead, ground up fish to raise just one tonne live harvest. This book has sold so well in hardback, it’s just had a March paperback printing. But where is the American edition??? Available through Amazon UK |
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Bravo to Didier Corlou, exec. chef at Hanoi’s Metropole Hotel. His book, Didier Corlou’s Vietnamese Cuisine or Ma Cuisine du Vietnam, won three awards at the World Gourmand awards in Sweden: best photography; best chef’s book and best Asian cookbook. Available in both English and French editions, Didier’s hardbound book is published in Vietnam, and sold at the Sofitel Metropole. Didier, and his sous chef Van, is co-author of Robert’s own book Vietnamese Home Cooking, which has just been translated into French by Editions Soline. Thai Home cooking.
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Congratulations to Barbara Snow of Mentor, Ohio, Jerilyn Cheney Brusseau of Bainbridge Island, Washington, and Robin Hirsch-Simons of Valencia, California, for winning autographed copies of Robert’s Cookbooks: Thai Home Cooking, Fondue, and his latest, Vietnamese Home Cooking. And double accolades to Jerilyn for her inspiring work removing landmines from Vietnam’s former DMV zone. For those interested in her organization Peace Trees, go to the website www.peacetreesvietnam.org April marks the 30th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, but Vietnam continues to suffer the ravages of landmines, chemical deforestation, and among the world’s worst rates of birth deformities. |
| On the press front: Robert’s article on juggling careers ran in Words, the IACP online newsletter for food writers and publishers Click Here. New Idea food editor Patrick Collins reviewed Globetrotting Gourmet food tours in the February issue. CLICK here. Robert Carmack also contributed to the new anthology Stir-Fries, from Lansdowne in Australia. |
Next issue: pepper taste off – what's hot? Koh Samui, Thailand’s luxury resort island on the Gulf of Siam. Xi’an China and the Silk Road. Chinese medicinal herb cooking, plus heirloom tomatoes. |
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| Norh American residents contact MARY NORTH TRAVEL for air fares... |
Cheers,
Robert & Morrison |
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