Tag Archives: coconut

Burma SuperStar, New Chinatown, San Francisco

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Burma Superstar is unbelievable. We still can not believe this was our first Burmese cuisine dining experience. Our “first” was flawless and highly memorable.

We enjoyed a contrast of hot and cold beverages from iced tea (BMH’s version of Thai iced tea) to hot tea.

The Vegetarian Samusa Soup was warming, fully of flavor and we wish we had additional bowls for ourselves and then we had to have some roti canai. 

The Tea Leaf Salad was presented as individual components. Our server combined the fried garlic, peanuts, tea and vegetables together and the flavors were harmonious. The With textures from fried garlic, peanuts were also incredibly delicious.

On of our favorite dishes was the Bun Tay Kauswer. The coconut chicken curry flour noodles had a strong coconut curry sauce with split yellow peas, eggs, cabbage, and fried onions. Again, the sum was greater than the parts and the intense flavors were rich and satisfying.

We can not wait to return for every dish we sampled as well as the lettuce cups, the Burmese chicken casserole with cardamom cinnamon rice, citrus chicken and peanut sauce and more Burmese curries.

Burma Superstar on Urbanspoon

Smart Cook, Thai Cookery School, Chiang Mai

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Smart Cook, Thai Cookery School was an interactive, informative class which we highly suggest to any visitor of Chiang Mai, especially the short express class. Even with an abridged version of the class, we were overly stuffed by all our dishes and sampling our classmates dishes. From papaya salad, pad thai, chicken coconut soup, spring rolls, curry to banana egg rolls.

Our friendly instructor spoke fluent English, was very patient and explained the origins of ingredients and the Thai cooking philosophy. We selected which multi-course dishes we wanted to make and enjoy for lunch and dessert.  We prepped all the ingredients from fish sauce, coconut milk to papaya to curry paste, in an outdoor area, before we went to our woks and the outdoor kitchen area.

As we learned about how to make our own dishes, the other classmates dishes were explained so we learned the basics of every dish in the recipe book. This made the experience more fun to see what other items could be made with similar ingredients.  Participants receive a recipe book, which was a nice way to practice back home. After experiencing Smart Cook, we realized how fresh and easy it is to prepare Thai dishes and that we shouldn’t be ordering from restaurants when we can make all the delicious food at home.











Sweets, Fruit and Pina Colada, Cayez

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San Juan has some of the fresh fruits including mounds of sweet mango, bananas, guava and passion fruit. Sometimes the mango and papaya can be exceptionally sweet or lack flavor.

Mangoes

After crisp and mouthwatering lechon (roasted pig), we had a freshly made, pina colada in a proper pineapple bowl. 

The proprietor scooping out the pineapple fruit to make the pina colada mix.

The pina colada was a monstrosity, topped with whip cream, cherries, additional fruit and paper umbrellas. It was made for sharing. To make your own pina colada all you need is  pineapple juice, coconut cream, water, ice and a bit of rum (optional).

Helados and Empanadas, Crashboat Beach, Aguadilla

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For a day trip, we ventured over to Aguadilla’s Crashboat Beach, 2 hours west of San Juan.  The waters were crystal clear, sand were soft, but larger granules versus powdery and there was exotic tropical fish and creatures during snorkeling. Fair warning: it is much more difficult to swim back towards the beach than swim out!

Thanks to our travel companion, Nicky Minaj’s Starships was incessantly on the tip of our tongues and minds during our great day and evening at the beach.

Let’s go to the beach, each, Let’s go get away, They say, what they gonna say?

There was no shortage of Puerto Rican eats including restaurant shacks and parked trucks. We enjoyed some Pastelillos which were fried hours before and sat in a heat lamp container. We did not care that they were not made to order, the food tasted great at the beach.

For $2.50, I enjoyed a hand sized pollo empanada. The exterior was crusty and very crisp, containing the best part, the flavorful chicken filling.

Our friend enjoyed a mixed seafood empanada, filled with fish and conch. We have made various empanadas at home, however have not tried seafood yet.

There were several pelicans being fed chips or some item from a bag by a shirtless local. He told us he would make the pelican do tricks if we gave him a dollar for a bracelet . One of our friends got a bracelet and was entertained. However, one pelican bit our friend. Beware!

We had to stop and have some coconut helados for $2 a small cup.

The iced sweet coconut milk flavor was so refreshing and the helados had flecks of coconut through out. So tasty.

Crashboat Beach and all the food was definitely worth spotty and nerveracking Puerto Rican highway driving. According to a friend, traffic lights and traffic rules are merely a suggestion. Despite this factor, going westward was a special and memorable experience.