Xuan Mai = Best Vietnamese Food In Bangkok

Would you believe me if I told you that in Bangkok you can dine in a restaurant that not only serves the finest Vietnamese food, but that it's cooked by a former F.B.I agent who was also a beauty queen? No I hear you cry! Surely Sandra Bullock and co could not come up with a plot that weird..but low and behold it's all true.

Xuan Mai is without a doubt one of my favourite places to eat in Bangkok. Meyung Robson (Chef/F.B.I/Miss Saigon/Superwoman) creates a stunning menu of classic Vietnamese dishes and puts her creative cap on with fantastic original offerings such as the eggplant crostini topped with crab meat and avocado. The menu is extensive but newcomers can trust Meyung to guide them through, she has helpfully taken photos of each of the dishes, which get your mouth watering!

   

I first came across Xuan Mai in the Bangkok City Scoops guide when it was at it's old Sukhumvit location. I was amazed that such refined food could come out of a kitchen the size of a postage stamp. Now Meyung has 2 lovely big new kitchens to work in since moving to the upscale Thong Lor road, the food has remained as fabulous as ever.

Meyung hard at work

On my most recent visit we had the Chả Giò, Vietnamese fried spring rolls from Hanoi. Crispy and delicious they have a fine spidery skin fried to golden perfection with a most meaty filling.

Crispy bites of joy!

We also had the eggplant crostini, Meyung has an American passport so we forgive the use of the word! Us Brits will be more familiar with Aubergine! It was as always, sublime.

We got carried away and started eating, whoops!

I have to mention the most perfect salad EVER! The avocado, mango, shrimp and more salad..every time I visit we have to order it. Just a wonderful combination of flavour could be a meal in itself.

Salad Heaven

I could bang on and on about the food forever but it would be kind of evil. You would be doing yourself a huge favour coming to try it yourself. Meanwhile check out the website and have a look at Meyung's blog, I wish she could find the time to write down all her tales for us, trust me this lady has stories! I look forward to hearing more of them soon.

Address 351/3 Sukhumvit 55, Bangkok

Telephone number (66)02-185-2619

Writing Workshop: Itch

This is for the writing workshop over at Sleep is for the weak I was inspired by the prompt Itch.

I hate flying. But you see, I have an itch. One that makes me do the very thing I am most terrified of in the world, a wholly self inflicted gut wrenching panic attack inducing leap of faith. All because I have an itch.

This itch started as far back as I can remember. Even in nursery I had the itch, the itch that caused me to walk out of the gates, up the road and all the way back home. My poor Mother has had to suffer for my itch. It sent me off to Glasgow at 14, off to sea at 24, Turkey came next. The itch calmed down for a while. But it was still there..lurking.

I work on the fear of the steel tube with wings and occasionally think I have beaten it into submission, but I know all it takes is one bumpy flight and I am back to the same old sweaty palmed mess. I even cheat by popping a pill, this I must stress is so that I pass only the positive part of my itch to Dodo! I don't want her to have my terror, she thinks flying is fab. As much cartoon action as she can handle, snacks treats and general star treatment..whats not to like?

This is one itch I don't really want to stop. It has made me see things that inspire and move me. It has shaped me and changed my life. Most of all it gave me Dodo..If I hadn't had the itch I wouldn't have been in Istanbul and she might have never been.

Tomorrow the itch and the work that has grown from it is taking me across the sky to Thailand without my Dodo. I am not sure I will sleep much tonight without her warm little body that sneaks into my bed every single night..I wonder if she will catch my itch? I think it may already be to late..

Now where did I put those pills?

The Gallery: Black and White

This week has been hard for me to find a black and white photo. I have moved around quite a bit in the past few years and during that time have lost many of my images. I have avoided thinking about the things that I have lost over the years as I have so much in my life to enjoy in the present moment. But all that being said it did make me a little sad and has made me want to fill my life with new and exciting photos..and some that i didn't take with the trusty i-phone!
So sorry but I am cheating, I didn't take these but I am in them.

Turning 30!

This was taken on my 30th birthday (before I hit the bleach!) with my best friend Emma. It was a day I will never forget, spent with people that I love/loved. I was still married and Dodo was being planned. It was an exciting time for me and I was happy.

Scream if you want to go faster!

Only a few years later and my life was totally upside down. I was a mother and my marriage was over. This picture was one of the turning points for me. I look at it every day. I was starting to be happy again.

Dodo was screaming with joy as we raced along in a speedboat in Thailand.

The Gallery: Before & After

I have to tell tales on Dodo's constant companion, her "most favourite doll called Upsy Daisy" Why she feels the need to introduce her this way I don't know, it's as if I have never seen her before!

Upsy in the daytime, all sweetness and light

When Dodo goes to bed Upsy has a dark secret..

Upsy and her drinking mate

She is a communist pool shark with a taste for serious booze.

She would take your last penny 

Don't be fooled, Upsy Daisy here I come i'm the only Upsy one...It's a cover. One day I will have to break the news to Dodo.

Writing Workshop: Paranormal Activity

This post is inspired by Josie over at sleep is for the weak I chose the prompt paranormal activity from this weeks movie themes. It's my first time *blush* be gentle with me!

Some very very strange stuff happens in Bangkok. Not just the nasty icky pervy old men (now thats another post) but the weird supernatural superstitious things that Thai people seem so used to.

Rewind to the horrible fire that happened at the Santika nightclub, New years eve 2008. A terrible tragedy that ended in the loss of 67 lives. I was at home in London when I saw the news, and remembered thinking how sad it was. I had no idea what part of Bangkok this was or knew nobody affected. Like most people watching, this tragedy went in one ear and out the other.

Fast forward now to 2009. I have embarked on the madness that is starting my own kids clothing brand and our manufacturing is done in Bangkok. I am spending chunks of time getting to know the city with my business partner known on this blog as Nana (well my Mum and Dodo's Nana!) 

Our wanderings have been majorly helped out by a great guide book Bangkok City Scoops. It has taken us to some well hidden spots and at times we have had to show ALOT of faith! When you follow the directions and get sent up some scary side soi with no lights..thinking there is no way we are going to get a good cocktail here..and are then rewarded with the coolest places, you learn to trust the book! And trusting the book was how we came to be walking from one bar to another laughing about trusting the book..

It's at this point that the skin and hairs on my right side suddenly start burning and I stop stock still in the street. White as a sheet (so I am told) I say "this is where the club was".  I can hear crying and screaming and I can feel panic..all I want to do is run. I turn to my right and for the first time I actually see the burnt out shell of the nightclub. The words had come out of my mouth before I could have possibly seen it. We picked up our pace..avoiding the temptation to leg it. The noises and 

burning sensation stayed with me a good few hours. 

I have no idea what to make of the feelings that I experienced that night and on several other occasions when I have had cause to pass by that spot. I'm not religious and still not sure if i'm honest what I  believe in but whatever I felt there has made me think about spirit. Could it be that when something really really bad happens it's echos stay around?

So up to this point it has all been noises in my head..no ghosts sighted..then I saw the zombie. Yes you read it right! The Zombie. and this time I was not the only one to see it. Same location but this time we had crossed the road and were walking pretty fast. Within about a block of the nightclub I start to feel the prickly heat on my side and feel quiet sick. I am trying really hard to carry on a conversation with my Mum and block this all out, we are walking arm in arm. 

Then I see him ahead of us coming towards us. I say nothing as now I am quite sure that I'm losing my marbles. Mum lets out a yelp and leaps about a foot in the air! We walk faster and I say "what did you see?" "a zombie" says Mum. Yes a Zombie! I don't know what else to call this figure who had black smoke rimmed eyes and soot marks round the nose and mouth. He was grey and ash covered and nobody else outside the busy 7/11 store seemed to see him.

On my last trip I was back in the same area and the heavy feeling seems to be lifting. Now I know that how that makes me sound but I just can't think of another way to explain. I just hope that whatever energy was echoing round has moved on to someplace better and has found some peace.

Freaky things happen in Bangkok…but I love it! Zombies and all. 

Oh and I still trust the book but it's a little out of date. If your thinking of using it please check the address and phone number before marching up any dark dark soi's..you never know what might be lurking, could even be me with a cocktail in hand!

The not very good or funny awkward first post

So this seems pretty silly to me and I think it may seem odd to most of you (what most of you…nobody will read this anyway!) but I have a bit of a block when it comes to writing stuff down. Blank pages freak me out..always have done. No I am not dyslexic, but I can't spell for toffee. It's just the whole blank page thing, for as long as I can remember..as a consequence I was rather shit at school.

I thought it would be a good idea to get this off my chest for a first post, and might make the next one a little easier. Well I could skip Tuesday and just start out with a wordless Wednesday..no no! This blog is supposed to kick the blank page phobia into touch and be somewhere I can yabba on about the stuff in my head. Hope I can make it a bit interesting and not too ranty, I do have a tendency to get a bit cross about stuff and sometime sweary. You have been warned.