"The Cooking Altar": Indo Adventures

5 Hours until my flight home from Thailand, and I need something to do.

Today on my viewer stats the viewers in Thailand and other countries were MORE than the US (because P' Lee kindly posted the link to the Akha Ama Facebook page). You should “like” Akha Ama.

Listen to one of my favorite Thai Song while you read by clicking on the link. Its calming me down.

Also here is the link to the BEST bagel recipe ever. I have only made them 4 times in unpredictable temperatures and humidity, but each time they turned out perfectly. Try it, just do exactly what they say and you will melt when you eat them.

Make them! You won't regret it

So my companion (in this context this word means more than a friend, more than a caretaker, more than a partner in crime but everything I could ever want/need in someone who I take on the world with), Emma (also a blogger-she is entertaining, I think you will enjoy it) and I went “bai tiou” ("out" in Thai) to Indonesia for 2 weeks. 

Emma and I during some down time

All of the lodge volunteers at "The Cooking Altar"

If nothing else, we learned how to cook... some of the most amazing secrets I could ever learn! And one of the most gorgeous kitchens I have ever seen. I refered to it in the title as “The Cooking Altar” which is not my own creation of a name… our host told us a recent WWOOF-er called it that. But it is perfect. The stove faces outward, and the chef/cooker stands on a raised platform and does their thing. It is magical… within one hour of seeing it I had started sketching a design for my own kitchen if I ever get the chance to build one.

We were WWOOFing technically, volunteering in exchange for room and board on a usually farm-oriented operation. But lucky for us we were at a guesthouse, Lodges Ekologica where we mostly helped to cook, clean, and tend to guests.

So, I would like to share with you our 

Top epic food Inventions:
*Note: Some key ingredients supplied by southeast Asian food world*

1) Leftover rice with a little bit of coconut milk and coconut sugar (like a rice pudding!)


2) Water boiled down with Coconut sugar to make syrup (we ate on crepes)


3) Iced leftover Tea with passion fruit, lime and coconut sugar


4) Thai style green papaya salad shreds with apple, green bean, tomatoes, garlic and shallots pounded with lime, coconut sugar and vinegar


5) Mashed sweet potatoes with balsamic vinegar/coconut sugar glaze


6) Coffee with chocolate milk


7) Kalua/Rum soaked guava slices with soda water and lime and a sugar cane stirrer

8) Thai fruit sangria
 (made in Thailand)

9) Almost Carbonara (saved by Jocean) with rocket and corn

10
) Yogurt, lime, honey and cilantro dip served with fried cassava (Yucca)


11) Herb butter, smashed in the croc with basil, garlic and salt


12) Coconut milk pesto


13) Deep fried breadfruit/flour balls

!

14) Tempeh deep fried with garlic/shallot/Sambal/KatchupMayonaise

#whoneedsrealsugar?

#SEasia

Happy cooking and see you in the USA!

Louic fries some Tempeh

Tempe. Delicious! but hard to find like this in the US 

Herb Butter by Jan in action 

We also visited the Jakarta Zoo and made friends with the hippo keeper who let Emma have a real live up-close hippo-encounter. I feel lucky to have been with her on this special day.