Coconut Curry Chicken

Thank you all for your feedback from the honeymoon posts, I always appreciate hearing from you! As much as I love vacationing, there's something to be said for having a routine and enjoying the simple pleasures of day to day life!

This weekend was the perfect example, being back in DC for the first time in a while! Scott and I took advantage of the spring weather and did a rooftop happy hour one night and played some trivia at The Bier Barron in Dupont for a charity event. I also had a  fun night out and brunch with my girlfriends!  It was also a nice weekend to do some cleaning and organizing and of course, getting back to my Sunday cooking and food prep for the week. 

Still stuck in honeymoon mode, I decided to experiment with some of the ingredients we used in our Thai cooking class, including coconut milk, ginger and curry powder. I found this recipe for inspiration and tweaked it to make it my own! It was such an easy meal to make and it's funny how the same chicken and vegetables can taste so fresh and different with a couple different spices and ingredients. 

Coconut milk also boasts a great nutrition profile, full of vitamins C, E and B and a good source of iron, calcium, magnesium and phosphorous. It is also free of trans fats and a nice alternative to dairy- which some people may have a hard time digesting. 

I started by sautéing chopped broccoli and onions, while my chicken was cooking in the oven! Once the vegetables were soft, I added the chickpeas as well as about a half a cup of cashews. 

Next, I added my spices: 1 tablespoon each of curry powder, ginger, and garlic plus a can of light coconut milk. I covered the dish and let it finish cooking for about 20 minutes.

Once it all came together, I chopped up my cooked chicken and added it to the pot! You can easily leave this out to make the meal vegetarian, but I had some chicken I wanted to use and wanted to make enough for leftovers!

Scott agreed it tasted just like some of the meals we had while in Thailand as the ingredients really came together well!  Consider this dish next time you plan on making grilled chicken and broccoli!

Coconut Curry Chicken

Ingredients:

• 2 4oz chicken breasts, cooked and chopped into bite sized pieces
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 cups broccoli, chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 1 tablespoon ginger
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 can light coconut milk
• 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup cashews

Directions:

• Over medium heat, sauté onions and broccoli for about 5 minutes
• Add cashews and chickpeas and cook for another 2 minutes
• Add the 3 spices and can of coconut milk
• Cover and cook on low for 20 minutes
• At the end of cooking, stir in cooked chicken and serve!

Honeymoon Part 2: Bangkok

After about an hour flight from Chiang Mai we landed in the big city of Bangkok! It was such change of scenery, like entering New York City from a resort in the country- tall buildings and advertisements everywhere, the majority of them surprisingly in English!

 

We stayed at the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit and I cannot say enough great things about the staff and hotel accommodations. The concierge and tour desk helped us plan an awesome trip.  Our stay was complete with free breakfast, complimentary cocktails, laundry and wifi! They even brought roses and a honeymoon cake up to our room upon arrival!

 

We didn't even know this ahead of time, but staying in the Sukhumvit area was perfect.  The location was right in the middle of the city, close to many things we wanted to do, and had several convenient SkyTrain stations along the main road to take us places beyond walking distance.

 

The Food

Our time in Bangkok was full of great restaurants, bars and shopping! We enjoyed authentic Thai food at The Local and Asiatique Market and also had a variety of other cuisines as the restaurant scene in Bangkok is very diverse!

For example, one of the shopping centers, MBK had a "foodcourt" known as Fifth Food Avenue, which features a variety of chefs preparing foods in open kitchens with choices including Greek, American, Italian, Indonesian, Middle Eastern, Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese to name a few. So much better than your typical fast food!  

We also had dinner one night at Pizzeria Limoncello where we had some of the best pizza comprised of ingredients shipped from Italy every week! Who knew Thailand could have better pizza than DC? Scott stated that it tasted just like the pizza he had in Rome! 

 

The Shopping

This is one of Bangkok's finest attributes with outdoor markets and malls as big as hotels! We started our adventures in Siam Square with open-aired trendy shops before making our way to the aforementioned MBK with stores filling up eight floors!

 

Scott also got measured for some custom suits (as everything is much cheaper than the US) and got some great options! It was impressive how fast they work and how good the quality is. We would highly recommend Peninsula Tailors who were very easy to work with  and even picked us up at our hotel for Scott's fittings!

My favorite shopping center was Terminal 21, the newest mall in the city.  Each floor was designed to resemble a specific city or location: London, Rome, Tokyo, Caribbean, Istanbul, Paris, San Francisco, and Hollywood. The stores and items here were unlike anything I've ever seen and it was so interesting to see how much the styles varied in the different cities. I tried to get some things that were different than what I usually wear!

We also had so much fun at the Asiatique Night Market full of great shops, bars, entertainment, and a huge ferris wheel that provided for great views of the river and city! It was fun arriving via a boat shuttle and we picked a beautiful night for it!

The Sights

Besides all of our shopping and taste-testing we made sure to see the great attractions of Bangkok! Our hotel set us up with a private tour to the Grand Palace, where the royal family used to live.  On the same tour, we visited Wat Pho, which is the largest temple in Bangkok.  Wat Pho is well known for housing the famous Reclining Buddha.  This massive statue measures 46 meters long and is made of plaster bricks coated in gold leaf. This is also the temple where they teach traditional Thai massages.

 

Later we visited the house of Jim Thompson, an American Entrepreneur who helped significantly grow the silk industry in Thailand. While vacationing with his friends in Malaysia, Jim Thompson disappeared and to this day there have been no insights into what happened. His house was open to the public and the price of admission goes to the Jim Thompson Foundation. His house was amazing, consistent of 6 different Thai houses put together next to one of the many canals in the city.  An American, Jim Thompson included many western attributes in the construction of his home, making it a very unique place.

The Night Life

Bangkok is also known for it's party scene and we made sure to check out a few spots! We successfully traveled via Sky Train which was very easy to navigate!

One of our favorites included Q Bar which had a great outdoor area and is the top bar for touring DJs in the city.

 

We also visited Bed Supper Club, probably the most interesting bar I've been to, the entire building was shaped as a long cylinder with a separate restaurant and bar section. We enjoyed excellent meals at tables surrounded by beds and live entertainment before moving over to the bar area for some drinks!

Also of note was Sirroco, the world's highest al fresco restaurant providing breathtaking views of the city. We sipped some wine while listening to jazz music and taking it all in!

 

This entire trip was surreal and a great mix of relaxation and excitement. It is scary but refreshing to get out of your comfort zone, try new things, and come back with a fresh look on life. Thank you again for letting me share these with all of you!

Honeymoon Part 1: Chiang Mai

I'm so excited to share these honeymoon posts with you! I cannot even begin to put into words how special this trip was, and though I can't take credit for planning it (thanks Scott) I also hope this post is helpful for anyone who may plan a Thailand trip in the future. Thanks for allowing me to share these posts with you, mixed in between the recipes and food!

I'm not going to lie, I was not looking forward to the long flight, however it actually was kind of fun! The whole trip was about 19 hours (with one short layover) and the plane was pretty surreal. It was two floors and had comfortable seats and good meals! In between sleeping, eating, lots of movie watching, and talking about the wedding, the flight was actually a good excuse to just chill out and get some rest! We arrived in Chiang Mai at about midnight and it was great because we were able to just go right to sleep and the time change didn't affect us too much!

For this part of the trip we stayed at The Chedi Chiang Mai which I cannot recommend enough! The service was unbelievable and the extra perks provided really made a difference- butler service, laundry, wifi, breakfast, and complimentary tea and cocktails every day! We were looking for a relaxing, resort-type hotel to balance out our fun city excursions and this was perfect for us!

Our first day we toured Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep which sits atop a mountain providing wonderful views of the city! Learning about the history of the temple and customary practices on the sacred ground was very interesting. Women must wear long pants and sleeves and shoes are not permitted. There were many statues/sculptures depicting Buddha, made out of a variety of precious metals and stones.  It was fascinating to see the differences in how the people from various times in the country's history chose to portray Buddha (body type, attire, size, etc).  We even learned that there is a different position for Buddha for every day of the week representing the feelings associated and important attributes of the specific days as each week passes.  It is very common in Thailand for boys at the age of 12 to decide if they would like to become a monk, and as such there were many monks of all ages at the temple.  Some were visiting from other areas in the country, and some live nearby and spend most of their time at the Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep.  It was impressive hearing one elderly monk speak in 5 different languages to the visitors and tourists.

       

Day two was probably my favorite in Chiang Mai which started with a private yoga class. I was surprised to see the practice was very similar to what I was used to in the states, but it was nice to have one on one instruction critiquing some of my moves!  The meditation part was also more prevalent.

It was nice to have a good stretch before heading out to Flight of the Gibbons, a zip-line adventure tour  through the jungle. I wish we had more pictures bit it completely exceeded our expectations. The tour lasted 3 hours and included over 30 different zip-line, one as long as 800 meters. After a brief period of nerves following the first two lines, we could not stop laughing the entire time..our tour guides made it so fun for us, joking around, and even letting us do some rides side by side, calling it the honeymoon lines. The views were incredible and the lines were so fast! Following the tour we were treated to a home-cooked meal in the village near by, which was such a nice way to end the experience.

 

Once we were back at the hotel, we booked a massage which was welcomed after a day of yoga and jungle hiking! A traditional Thai massage is generally more of a healing/stretching massage as opposed to one for pure relaxation. I wasn't sure what to expect but it was so great! The stretching mixed with some traditional massaging was perfect- both relaxing and therapeutic. It's funny to see a massage place on nearly every street we walked down, and you can pretty much get a massage any time of day for about 300 THB (Thai Baht) which is equal to about $10 USD.

Our next morning was full of animals, followed by an afternoon at the pool. We went to Maesa Elephant Camp where the elephants live with their caretakers, known as mahouts.  One mahout is assigned to an elephant at birth. The mahout bathes, feeds, and trains the elephant and the bond they form is incredible to see. The elephants are released into the jungle at night and they find their way back to the camp in the morning (and are also equipped with a microchip so they can be tracked throughout the forest).

    

We also had a terrifying lovely visit with some tigers. We learned that the tigers are not drugged as we expected, but rather very "sleepy" during the day so they are very calm. Though I was happy to hear about the care they give these animals, it did not do much for convincing me to enter the cage! I am so glad we decided to go in, as it was such a humbling experience and we have some great pictures to boot! 

After an afternoon at the pool, our night started with a visit to a traditional Chiang Mai Khantoke dinner. A Khantoke dinner includes story-telling through dancing, entertainment, and authentic northern Thai food. It was served tapas style, and we did not get to pick the menu, but it was nice having a chance to try things I wouldn't necessarily order.

 

Our last day in Chiang Mai started with a river cruise which led to a local farmer's house. The cruise was beautiful and a good chance to see more of the local houses and communities in the area.  It's so interesting to see how different cultures live. The farmer's house was also very cool, observing where they grow rice, herbs, and unique fruits including lychee, rose apples (so much sweeter), longan, and pineapples!

This led us to an afternoon stroll along Nimmanheamin Rd, described as the "funkiest street in Chiang Mai". It somewhat resembled M St in Georgetown, littered with coffee shops, book stores, bars and plenty of shopping!

We also took a cooking class which was so fun!! After learning about traditional Thai spices and ingredients we got busy in the kitchen! We made a green curry, red curry, and prawns in a sweet chili sauce. We took home a cookbook and I'm definitely ready to experiment with new-to-me ingredients, especially coconut milk, lemon grass and curry!

The food in general was so good everywhere we ate in Chiang Mai. I don't enjoy very spicy foods but was able to customize the level of spice everywhere we went! Everything from the muesli and fun fruits at breakfast to the local Thai restaurants and street food was amazing. We learned that because it is very hot in Thailand and not a lot of homes have air conditioning, the locals prefer not to cook, which is why you can easily find cheap and delicious street food everywhere. Two of our favorite restaurants were The Whole Earth and River Market.

The night life in Chiang Mai also proved to impress us (though it did not compare to Bangkok!). We shopped through the famous night bizarre, grabbed some local beers at outdoor bars, and we Scott watched an outdoor kickboxing match!

 

This post is getting long and I feel like there is so much more to write but in general Chiang Mai was a beautiful place. It's very rural and scenic atmosphere provided relaxation and great views with such kind people. Everyone we encountered was so nice and all of our experiences were so much fun. It was a nice prelude to the big city of Bangkok!