A Visit to the Thai Temple

For years I had heard about this place and the food served on Sundays to the public. Today was my first pilgrimage to the Thai Temple in Tampa. It is situated on several acres next to a main river. Trees and lush tropical plants hug the buildings.

Ant was the first one who told me about it years ago and then recently Michelle from work. Michelle and her husband were taking her Vietnamese cousin and aunt visiting from France. Sharon and I were invited and I, in turn, invited Ant and his wife Rebecca. Ant was dying to go again after a few years.

Near the inside entrance of this Buddhist temple...



Anthony about to chow down on his big bowl of nuclear spicy Thai soup and equally nuclear spicy fresh green papaya salad. Cute pic of Ant and his expectant wife Rebecca who is due in November.



Views around the golden temple and the adjacent building: The backside of the adjacent building is where all the cooking and serving of food were located. We descended from there towards the picnic tables lined next to the river. It was cool enough with the mild breezes and abundant shade from the surrounding trees.


I would have taken more shots of the other food, but we were all too busy sharing it. Everything was good from the noodle dishes to the skewered meat and curries. Dessert was yucca, sweet potato and banana slices dipped in batter with sesame seeds and fried to golden. This dish was so popular that we had to pay ahead and put our order in so we could come back up the steps 15 minutes later. We had a great time eating, laughing and enjoying the surroundings plus meeting new people. We arrived at 10:30am and done by noon.

Sharon drove us back to Brandon where we made a stop at the gourmet shop. I wanted to give her a better sense of what I have been talking about these days. En route, I received a voicemail from the owner/chef that I hadn't registered for the online reservation system which is also used by cooking assistants. Huh? I registered one hour after he sent the e-mail. I am sure I was first.

Thanks to on site Internet connection and dual sets of computers at the register, I was able to pull up my Google e-mail account and show my confirmation e-mail. I logged in and the marketing lady immediately saw my error. I had transposed the fields for my last name and first name. Instead of saying, Hello Sarah, it said Hello A------. Whoops. There was some more mix-up later with classes on the new system, but I don't mind. It's a new system and there are too many variables to get used to during new installations.

My poetic heart was out in full force today. I think the breeze at the temple teased it out of me. Sharon and I were in the spice aisle and I pointed to the colorful spice jars holding their precious dried herbs. I told her that they were like flowers to me. Seeing them lined along the shelves made me very happy and filled with their beauty. I didn't tell her that the taste they help create in a dish also made me appreciate their beauty even more. From there the good feeling from ingesting the cooked dish creates an outward expression of that same beauty. It is like beauty begetting more beauty.

I welcomed my afternoon nap after Sharon dropped me off... Kathy called me in the evening and regaled me with her visit last week to an old friend of ours' home. I also received a call back from Trish in San Francisco. She had typed something on her current facebook status that alarmed me and made me call her initially. Everything was good; she was just trying to make some changes in her employment.

My mind meanders through the events of the weekend and I am very pleased to have been productive and free flowing with new fun. Buddha was smiling on this AGOL.


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A Visit to the Thai Temple

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My morning date ended up with 11 children. No, not a date with a guy -- my gourmet class! It was a last minute addition to my schedule as they were short in assistants. I arrived at 9:30am, one hour before class.

The more the morning wore on, the more I started to feel inept. When I expressed my concern, I was told that we should have had one more assistant and that the recipes chosen were not all kid friendly or cooking assistant friendly. I washed a lot of stuff and boy was I glad I didn't get my nails done yet!

The guest chef was also an attorney during the week. She seemed overwhelmed at some point and we helped her out during the dumpling making. The kids were starting to fling some dough. There were five boys and six girls ranging from 7-9 years old. Yes, I know you can imagine. I had no problem corralling my group. Kids thrive on gentle, but firm guidance.

I was asked to read aloud one recipe and then ended up finishing it with the kids. They were happy when I asked them to take their seats so we could serve them this portion of the lesson. We had them from 10:30am to 12:30pm. After all was said and done, I received a few hugs from the kids. It was 2pm when I begged off to leave. Not only were my fingers morphing into prunes, I was late meeting Sharon miles across on her side of Tampa.

(When I arrived to class, it was sunny. During class, it monsooned. After class, it was sunny and steamy icky. Lucky AGOL.)


I love Sharon's candidness. Here not-so-welcome mat greeted me below:



Sharon gave me a tour of her cute one-bedroom apartment and showed off her Filipino souvenirs which made me laugh. She drove us to Cracker Barrel for her loved Chicken and Rice dish. We chowed down on a late lunch/early dinner and became uncomfortably full.

Filipino flags displayed on a small store window assured us of our visit to a Filipino store. We shopped with our eyes, but somehow a small tub of avocado ice cream made it with us. While I showed her something online, she served us generous scoops of ice cream for dessert. I didn't leave her side of town until 8pm. I was ready to go and I could mentally hear Cabal call my name.

There was one stop at a gas station/convenience store right by my apartment. It was on a sudden idea to buy two lottery tickets (hey, you never know), but nooooooooooooooooooooo I had to stop and give directions in Spanish to a guy who was clearly lost and low on English words. It was late, I was tired and couldn't think of Spanish words. I could barely speak English, but with my demented map drawings and explanations, the guy was thankful. It really wasn't the lottery tickets for my stop; the universe needed me to give directions to this man for a baby hospital across town. I saw him as I was parking and knew I was going to help him. Sometimes it just happens that way.

*Kids in the Kitchen Menu: Cornbread, Chicken and Dumplings, Glazed Carrots and Steamed Green Beans, and Strawberry Shortcake.


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Knife Skills

It was a rare morning of being able to get up on my own time. To be safe, I did set the alarm clock lest I overslept. I enjoyed waking up early, watching my Sunday morning news magazines, and getting ready for my Knife Skills I class at the gourmet food shop.

Most of my class were already seated when I arrived. The ladies attending hogged the perimeter of the main counter while the three men attending crouched around one table. I decided to sit with the men who turned out to be fun and eager to learn today's lesson. I will see two of them next Saturday for part two of the class.

The class began with the chef/owner giving a lecture on knife construction, brands and basic starter sets. We then progressed to actual hands on slicing of onions, carrots and celery for practice. Each of us got to try out different kinds of knives like chef, prep, santoku and ceramic while emulating the techniques demonstrated beforehand by the chef. I strongly urge you to try a ceramic knife if you've never had the pleasure. It is lightweight and extremely sharp. For top brands, you only have to send it in once every five years to the manufacturer for sharpening. There is no real maintenance like honing and sharpening as is with stainless steel or stainless/carbon mix.

During the practice, it became to clear to me that I had a very easy time of doing things. Sometimes I take for granted what I know. I observed people getting frustrated with the techniques and the top quality (and very sharp!) knives. Thank you to my relatives and mother who allowed me to help in the kitchen at a very young age. I would help clean the rice by picking out tiny pebbles or imperfections prior to cooking it as well as taking the strings off the beans, etc. You may recall I made my first pot of rice over the stove at 10 years of age -- no electric appliance there with pre-measured lines.

I stayed quiet during class and gently helped others where I could during our practice and then into our ingredients for a tricolor salsa and then a fruit salsa. Preparing a cantaloupe seemed like such a challenge for a few while I just zipped through. In my mind, I kept wondering if these people had ever cooked as in prepared food from scratch. There were adults in their late 30s and 40s in this class. Maybe our society has come this? We're so used to fast food that when it comes to slow food, we're at a loss.

We received little bowls of each of the salsas with prepared tortilla chips and a glass of wine of our choice. I chose Riesling the last time, too, as I like sweet wines. A bottle (pictured below) made it in my bag along with food grade mineral oil for the wood cutting boards and wood utensils in my kitchen.



Myrna has been missing on my calendar lately. She's been filling in for another accounting position at her law firm. The job wasn't familiar and it was demanding. Her excuse was that she's been in a bad mood. I cajoled her into an early dinner. Afterwards, we stopped at a fish and meat market. I picked up two kinds of large stuffed mushrooms: crab stuffed and chicken Florentine. Mmm, my mouth waters as I think of them on my dinner plate this week.


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Knife Skills

Peruvian Flavors & Wine Tasting

Bridget and I were invited to eat lunch at a Peruvian restaurant in town. I didn't know there was such a thing in Tampa; I was informed there were a couple. In Latin offerings, Tampa is dominated with Cuban fare followed by Mexican food. I've also seen a couple of Argentinian style barbecue places emerging around the Bay Area.

I found the Machu Picchu site and investigated the menu with Bridget who was reticent about the offering, but was willing to try something new that didn't sound too scary. There was nothing scary though there were parts of the menu whose ingredient mentioned octopus. Hee.

Bridget and I shared a gigantic pile of large rings of calamari, mussels, shrimp, fish and yucca (root vegetable). We followed it by desserts flavored with dulce de leche or caramel. The other four diners in our group partook in the sweets we ordered for a nice finish. Um..lunch ran a little loooooooooooooooooonng today. Don't tell our boss who is on vacation!



Wrapping things up before I left for vacation was to the wire! Who is not surprised? All I knew was that there was some wine and appetizers waiting for me somewhere. Kathy was meeting me for a free wine tasting at the gourmet shop. The drive home felt like an Irish Blessing where the wind was at my back leading me home very quickly so I could take care of Cabal.

There was a snag on the way from apartment. Traffic went from 70mph to 10mph. According to the radio, someone had a car accident at the exit I needed. Luckily, I know my way around town and took an earlier exit. Not only was I on time for my appointment meeting time with Kathy, but I was there before her! I felt like Holly Golightly walking about the three dozen people jammed in the culinary kitchen. I genuinely mingled after I got over my initial shyness. A lady in the store handed me a glass and the listing of wine selections. I said hello to the owner/head chef and to the assistant from my class the other night.

Kathy finally arrived and was soon accessorized with her own glass and wine listing. The wine tasting offered six different wines and platters upon platters of appetizers like herbed cheesecake, tortillas and different dips, ginger cookies with a type of blue cheese, French bread with pate or sundried tomato, marbled cheesecake.

My favorites were an Argentinian red wine (Famiglia Bianchi Malbec) and an Australian Chardonnay (Oxford Landing.) My least favorite was a different Chardonnay that reminded me of the taste of penicillin tablets! I quickly poured that out. Kathy's favorite which she bought was a bottle of was another humble Argentinian wine named New Age, a combination of Malvasia and Sauvignon Blanc wines.

A jar of tapenade, a Jalapeno Lemongrass Spice Packet and a set of toaster tongs made it home. I didn't love any wine enough to take home, but I am regretting not getting the Pacific Rim Riesling from the cooking class.


Still in the gourmet mood, I took this pic of three tall jars that adorn a part of my kitchen. Aren't they cool?


...I need a long nap after all the food. Might as well make it a good night's sleep. Sampling wine and food is tiring. Yes, it can be!


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Peruvian Flavors & Wine Tasting

Step in a Better Direction

The Internet greeted me early today as I searched for the website of a local gourmet food shop. It is a chain, but this is the first time I have seen them have a gourmet kitchen for cooking classes. Even when I worked for their competition part time in the early 90s have I not seen this kind of set-up.

My near demonic quest for information was fueled by a late night conversation with one of my close friends, Tab, who intoned that I have not been doing enough...or have not been consistent. He told me to stop wasting myself. He didn't start out lecturing me. It was very late and I was winding down when he came online. We were just having a conversation about nothing when one thing led to another.

As I said yesterday, on the surface you can read him as bastard, but I know the words he expresses are true. He's right. I've been distracted. My upcoming vacation was my cue to reset myself. I'm not sure if it is the restless energy at work, but my focus has been scattered. Keeping myself on task is a challenge. He just feels I need to step it up more.

Well, the least I could do as a response to his impassioned speech was to do something. At this gourmet shop, they have cooking class assistants. You must attend one cooking class first prior to going to orientation. When you assist, you get to attend the classes for free. Fair enough. This morning at home I found the site, but it was at work that I sent my query note to the head chef of the shop.

I need to do more networking. You can never meet enough people who might be the ones to lead you where you need to be or introduce you to other people who can lead you to where you want to be. The next step may not be the best, but at least it is in a better direction. Wish me luck, my lovelies!


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Step in a Better Direction