Mmm Mmm Malaysia

Malaysia was the last stop on our trip and the most relaxing. Malaysia's cuisine is interesting because it is very diverse - we enjoyed amazing curries, dim sum, seafood, thai food, and great tropical fruit. 

I know this isn't particularly Malaysian... or Asian, but you know there is nothing I love more than a limey margarita, and you give me one by a gorgeous pool and I am a happy girl. 

A Malaysian seafood buffet. They gave us cards that said "steamed," "fried," and "grilled." You choose your seafood, and how you would like it to be cooked, then put that card with your table number and your cooking style in the bowl and they bring it to your table. So fun, interactive, and delicious - the grilled prawns were my favorite.

The next few pictures were from a fruit market we visited after hiking in the rainforest near Mount Kinabalu. I wish I knew what they all were!

Of course limes, my favorite!

My new favorite snack: dim sum  sweet pork buns. Mmm I wish I knew how to make these!

Savory Singapore

In Singapore, we had to go to the Raffles Hotel and have the obligatory Singapore Sling at the bar where it was invented (even though Anthony Bourdain said it was too touristy). I had this on my to-do list before we went to the Long Bar and discovered that they charge $35 AMERICAN dollars for one drink. In order to not have anything unchecked on my list, we decided to split one. Not really worth it... I think I agree with Bourdain. 

 More lychee at a market. Not my favorite, but they sure are photogenic.

I had been in search of a wet market to discover the weird, crazy chinese meat and fruit. In Chinatown, we were not disappointed! Crocodile, live frogs, live squirming eels, what more could a traveler ask for??

In the Chinatown market, there was also an amazing food court. These men are making the best dim sum I have ever tasted!! So cool!

He is making my sugar cane juice. A little too sweet for my taste, but definitely worth a try.

 This was the appetizer sampler at Jumbo's, an awesome seafood restaurant on the water. My favorite was the melt-in-your-mouth scallops.

I have to try to make this at home - sweet chili stew with crab. I could have drank this with a straw. Mmmm...

Tasty Thailand

After taking the last couple months off from blogging to get married and go on a spectacular honeymoon, I am back to regale everyone of my favorite meals from Southeast Asia. This trip made me want to learn how to cook a lot of this amazing food.


Our first night in Phuket, Erik and I had a romantic dinner at a restaurant overlooking the beach.

Mini spring rolls with peanut sauce. So crunchy, but light.

This is my favorite soup - not just Thai soup, but of all time. Tom yum soup is so flavorful with coconut, lime, lemongrass, and chicken. But, I have never enjoyed my favorite soup out of a COCONUT! How cool!

 I decided I wanted to try as much Pad Thai as I could and become and Pad Thai connoisseur. I had anticipated that this dish was just an American idea of Thai food and wasn't actually popular in Thailand, and if it was, I thought it would taste vastly different than our version. WRONG. At almost every restaurant we would ask the servers what they recommended and almost everyone recommended pad thai. They were delicious.

One of the greatest parts of our honeymoon, was getting to sample and learn about beautiful, new tropical fruit.  I had heard of lychee, but I definitely had never seen it before:

You have to peel this Dr. Seuss looking outside to get to the fruit on the inside, which kind of reminded me of a hard grape. 

I also was not a huge coconut fan before this trip. I obviously had never had fresh coconut water. On a kayaking trip, our guide found a new coconut that had fallen on the ground. The water inside was so sweet and delicious and the meat of the coconut was so buttery - I am a coconut convert!

That night we had dinner right on the beach and had hands-down the best pad thai I have ever tasted (and the least expensive, also! I believe it would have been 4 American dollars).