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| • Dear Food Lover |
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 Three lunar calendar holidays coincided in October. Globetrotting through Southeast Asia, Robert and Morrison celebrated Ramadan in Singapore, Deepavali in Thailand, and Buddhist Lent in Laos. During month-long Ramadan, Moslems fast between dawn to dusk, but feast sumptuously in the evening. We chanced on Hjh Maimunah restaurant, under the shadow of the city's Sultan Mosque, just in time to hear the muezzin's call to eventide prayer. There, we savored home-style Malay grilled chicken in coconut, barbequed fish, and Lemak snails. The restaurant is simple -- more like a down-market cafeteria, really -- but has hosted luminaries from Malaysia's agong or sultan, to Singapore's president. |
| In Bangkok, Silom road was blocked for a Hindu procession of bone- crunching density. Devotees chanted, burned incense, and ported huge trays of fruits garlanded with flowers. Next, we flew to Northeastern Thailand and land-locked Laos to celebrate Awk Phansaa. Buddhist Lent coincides with the rainy season, and festivities here mark the end of a three-month imposed isolation, when monks retreat to their monasteries. Vientiane hosts the largest do of all, where teams from across the country compete in long boats. OCTOBER LUNANCY READ ON… |
| Mark next New Year's Eve in your calendar! Join Globetrotting Gourmet® on our holiday food tour to Myanmar/Burma Dec 29 '06 to Jan 12 '07, including a gala New Year's eve banquet in Rangoon. We're also offering special pre- and post- tour Bangkok stopovers. We last visited this magical country in April, and the experience is spectacular. Chew beetle nut, dress in longyi sarongs, cook in a roadside restaurant, shop for vegetables in country villages, and sample some of the most delicious tamarind flake candies we've eaten anywhere. (We'll even take you to the factory!) Final details and cost are still to be confirmed. CLICK HERE and we'll keep you up to posted on details. |
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Asian vegetables. A world first in standardizing Asian vegetable names has come from Australian bureaucrats. Unfortunately, it will take a native Cantonese speaker to master this list, as the "approved" names are all in dialect. What about English names? Amaranth leaf, for example, is now en choy -- but didn't anybody bother to check that this vegetable is South American, and used in European cooking? read on... Also check out our list of recommended books on the subject...
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 BeerLao This is your last chance to quaff Asia’s best suds before a new brewery is built. Beer Lao was proclaimed Asia’s finest in “The Best of Time” magazine last year. read on
visit-laos.com
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 Very Koi Latest to join the international brigade of trendy Bangkok eateries is Koi. With established branches in Los Angeles & New York, this is the company's first foray into Asia. And the interior design is stunning. It also boasts some of the freshest sushi and sashimi we've eaten outside of Japan. Executive chef Vittorio Bertini's latest move has us drooling over what he'll do next. We also met LA head chef Rob Lucas there while visiting his new venue. Sadly, we missed the midnight visit of Miss World, although the restaurant's trendy bar was full of beau monde models & mannequins pretending to eat.
26 Sukhumvit Soi 20,Klong Toey, Bangkok |
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| And more about Cambodia: Globetrotting Gourmet® is organizing a quick 3-night 4-day trip to the ancient temples of glorious Angkor in May '06. Includes 4/5-star boutique hotel, private guides, temple passes, daily breakfast, two lunches and tour of the Paul Dubrule hospitality training school, and dinner theatre. read on for more tour information. |
| We are pleased to be principal benefactors this year to the Paul Dubrule hotel training school, offering a one-year scholarship to a disadvantaged Khmer youth. For more information on their important work, CLICK HERE May 2-5, 2006 |
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| Although were a big fan of San Francisco, its Chinatown doesn’t hold a candle to Singapore’s own Chinese quarter. In this cosmopolitan city of some 80 percent ethnic Chinese, descendants of the Middle Kingdom have their own historic community on the island. Colonial British administration separated the various coastal ethnic groups – Hokkien, Hakka, Teochiu, Hainanese, Cantonese and the like -- into separate neighbourhoods. While in the past this led to friction and even bloodshed, the Chinese today rally under the greater Han banner. Chinatown and Tanjong Pagar is our personal favourite neighbourhood, so not surprisingly, we stay at hotels here, rather than the shopping Mecca of Orchard Road. Consequently, we readily included this city as our hub for our April/May '06 food tour for the American Dietetic Association. The Food and Culinary Professionals dietary practice group of this venerable organization commissioned us to organize a tour exclusively for them during the World Gourmet Summit in late April, then on to Thailand's tropical island of Koh Samui, followed by bustling Bangkok. We'll study traditional medical and dietary practices, in addition to sumptuous cooking classes, banquets, and market tours. (Not to mention the great shopping, and exquisite hotels!) There's still space available, so if you are an ADA member, or wish to accompany a friend in this organization, click here for details or email the FCP office directly to register: fcp@quidnunc.net |
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| • ON THE PRESS FRONT |
| The International Herald Tribune featured Globetrotting Gourmet® in their headline piece on food tourism to Asia by Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop. For the complete article CLICK HERE The piece was re-run in the New York Times. |
| November Sayo Laos, Business Travel and Lifestyle Magazine features Morrison Polkinghorne on their Contributor page. His photos of Vientiane nightlife at Halloween still has the local tongues wagging. read on |
Robert Carmack was principal contributor of recipes to two new books: Stir Fries (Lansdowne) and Asian Cooking Companion (New Holland). The later book was edited and compiled by Susin Chow. |
Globetrotting Gourmet's vertical peppercorn tasting was featured in the daily etravel blackboard newsletter in an article by Daisy Melwani. Tastings were held under the tutelage of spice expert Ian Hemphill. PDF click here... Our group of journalists sampled more than 20 different varieties from around the world, including rare meric from Kampot in Cambodia and firey Ecuadorian Talamanca, plus long- and cubeb peppers, both little used in the West since the Middle Ages. We'll be writing more about pepper in upcoming issues.
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| • TRANSITIONS |
| Due to travel commitments, our 4th qtr '05 tgtgNewletter was delayed, and now combined in this double holiday edition. Our proposed March tour to Burma/Myanmar in March/April has been rescheduled to New Year's Eve '06-07. |
AOL Off-line: If your internet server is America On Line we can no longer send to your email address. We apologize if this causes any inconvenience. If you have any complaints, direct them to your internet server. Please supply us with an alternative email address and we will amend our records accordingly. Otherwise, you can continue to access our quarterly newsletters by going directly to the globetrotting gourmet homepage and clicking at the top right hand corner.
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Join us in Asia 2006!
23 April - 2 May, Singapore & Thailand Epicurean Adventure
May 2-5 Cambodia's Angkor Wat
Dec. 27-29 Bangkok Breakaway
Dec. 29-Jan. 12 '07 New Years Eve in Rangoon |
| further details on www.asianfoodtours.com |
Cheers,
Robert & Morrison |
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