Khun Ya's Massaman Curry

Did you think I forgot? What on earth is she talking about? I'm a little embarrassed to admit, but there have been a number of times I said I would post something on this blog, but it never happens. Forgetfulness, ADD, whatever may be the cause, I want to make things right and follow up with all the promises I once made on this blog.
























First thing I'm following up on has to do with my grandmothers. I wrote about the big birthday bash celebrating my maternal grandmother Arpor, and now I'd like to introduce you all to my paternal grandmother, Khun Ya. I relate to Khun Ya in a lot of ways. She loves to cook, she loves talking about cooking, and she is known for overwhelming house guests with tons of food. Several years ago, hip surgery made it hard for her to cook at home, so the family arranged for live-in help to take care of the cooking. This took some getting used to, but Khun Ya took it in stride when she realized she was the boss of the kitchen.

When we visited Khun Ya at her house last July, I asked what was her favorite dish to cook. If you read the title of this post, you'll know what her answer was. And while she didn't give me thorough instructions on how to make it, she did give me the ingredient list. I came up with the rest based on what I've learned from my mom. It may not be too different from other recipes out there, but knowing that it came from my family makes it special to me.
























Khun Ya's Massaman Curry

Ingredients:
1 lb. beef cubes
1 lb. potatoes, cubed
1 large onion, chopped
2 cups string beans or other vegetables
1 small can massaman curry paste (Khun Ya said not to bother making my own, the store-bought kind is good enough)
1 can coconut milk
1 tablespoon tamarind paste
palm sugar, to taste
fish sauce, to taste

Directions:
1. In a large pot, cook coconut milk and massaman curry paste over low heat, and stir until well-mixed.
2. Add beef and stir enough to coat meat with curry mix. Add water to cover meat in pot.
3. Mix in tamarind paste.
4. Keep curry on low heat for roughly an hour, or until beef becomes tender. Refill water as needed during this time.
5. After beef is tender, add potatoes and onions. Add sugar and fish sauce to taste at this point. If needed, add more tamarind paste too.
6. Keep on heat for another 20 minutes or so.
7. Before serving, check taste and add more fish sauce if needed.

















Bonus fact about Khun Ya: Just like my maternal grandma, she also had 11 children! Here's most of us (not everyone since some have passed and some couldn't make it) at our past family reunion.

Arpor's 90th Birthday

My favorite memories of my maternal grandmother (Arpor) revolve around her birthday. I seem to always visit Thailand in the summertime when it just can't get any hotter, and about once a decade, we celebrate Arpor's birthday in a big way with a family reunion. I don't know what your family reunions are like, or if you even enjoy them, but these reunions have always been a real treat for me. We feast on great food, and Arpor sits back as we perform endless acts of music* and dancing for our beloved grandma.
























Flashback to 1991's family reunion. Oh boy.

I want to share with y'all some pictures from the latest family reunion celebrating Arpor's 90th birthday on July 3, 2010. These are mostly professional photos from the celebration in the Novotel Bangkok in Siam Square. Those who came numbered 200, making it a bigger party than my wedding. And as you'll soon see, we showered Arpor with our love through our musical acts.
























Meet my dear grandma Sumitra Boonsermsuwong, or as I call her, Arpor.
























The tables were named after her kids as they were all given tables to seat their own friends and family.

















This is a fun fact I love telling people. Can you believe my grandmother gave birth to 11 children?! Here they are, happily reunited. Oldest to youngest from right to left. 7 live in Bangkok, 3 in the USA, and 1 is in Hong Kong.

















And here's the entire family. Each of the 11 got married and had children. Some of those children got married and had children. In total, there are 69 of us in the family, spread throughout 5 different countries.
























My beautiful cousin Dara performing a traditional Indian dance.

















Some of the granddaughters join together in a hip-hop-fan dance.

















My dad and Tim played Jim Croce's Time in a Bottle while food was served.

















Singing to Arpor is a must-have act.

















Three generations of daughters danced to the Girls' Generation HaHaHa song, choreographed by cousin Jent.

















A 90th birthday is well-deserving of a tiered cake and mantou tower.

















Birds' nest soup is a popular present for the elderly, believed to be a health tonic.

















My paternal grandmother (Khun Ya) even came out, and I don't know what my oldest uncle is doing, but that's just classic behavior of our crazy uncle.

















If you're wondering where the food pictures are, then you might be missing my point. While some memories involve food, this is about family itself. If I didn't snap this picture of the menu, I wouldn't have known what we ate that night. I know it all tasted great, but experiencing this kind of love beats even the best steamed garoupa [sic] in Bangkok.

*Wondering why the big emphasis on music and dancing at our family reunions? My grandfather had a deep love for music and performing, having led a big band for many years, and he sent his children to music lessons. He passed away in 1997, but we continue to honor him by displaying the love for music he passed down to all of us.

Grandmothers

Over the weekend, I attended the wake of our Poh-Poh, Ing-Fen Hsu Jeng, who died January 15, 2011 at the age of 85. Technically she's my husband's sister's husband's Poh-Poh (maternal grandmother), but I'm calling her Poh-Poh because she was a woman who loved everybody as her own family. I didn't know Poh-Poh terribly well, but I see and know the fruits of her love through her family. I'm thankful I had the chance to attend her and Gong-Gong's 60th wedding anniversary a few years back, and it was the sweetest celebration to join in, especially as a newlywed at the time.

A snapshot of their 1948 wedding.

One after another, family and friends relived stories about what a big heart she had towards others, and some of her grandchildren shared how they always found it weird that Poh-Poh never cooked for them (the cooking was Gong-Gong's job). Hearing these stories made it so sad to say goodbye, but we pray with great hope that God's mercy has brought her and Gong-Gong together again in eternity.

After coming home from the service, I immediately thought about my own grandmothers, and how fortunate Tim and I are to still be able to talk to and Skype with all four of ours today. And how happy were we to visit Thailand last summer to celebrate Arpor's (my maternal grandmother) 90th birthday and Khun Ya's (my paternal grandmother) 92nd birthday with them!

Having lived my whole life in the States with most of my extended family residing in Bangkok, I only saw my grandmothers once every 3 years at best. Still, I have many fond memories of them, and food plays an important part of those memories. I'll be posting a few of those memories (as well as new memories from this past trip) in a mini-series to come. In anticipation of those posts, I'd like to ask y'all...

What are some of your fondest memories of your grandmother(s)? I look forward to reading your stories!

An Unbirthday Shower

It's been a while since I posted the monogrammed sugar cookies, and I promised to go into details of my sister-in-law Jenn's bridal shower, so here they are.

Jenn wanted to use the shower to celebrate the people around her who have helped shape the woman she's become. While we picked an Alice in Wonderland theme because of her deep love of the story, it also worked out to be a big unbirthday party for Jenn and all her friends.

All the decorations were taken care of by Cheryl, and she did a fine job from designing all the tags to making custom streamers to fit the occasion. Food was done by yours truly, and we had a variety tea sandwiches and stuffed mushrooms, and a chocolate raspberry cake to finish with.

Probably my favorite part of the shower was the time spent dressing up Jenn paper dolls in wedding garb uniquely designed by each of us. This was a different take on the typical toilet paper wedding dress game, and it was refreshing to have a creative outlet in this way. Everyone participated and there were some stunning designs!

Now the bridal shower has gone, and it's time for the actual nuptial celebrations. I'm heading out this morning to St. Thomas for the wedding, and I know everything will turn out great. Jenn, I love you, and I'm so excited for you and Chris! Congratulations!

One Year After The Wedding

Today we are eating this year-old matcha cake (still delicious, by the way) because it's our wedding anniversary. I cannot believe it's already been a full year since the wedding! I do remember that day as the best day of my life so far, but as great as the wedding was, the marriage has been better.

I don't want to induce any gagging here, but I have to say that Tim is perfect for me in many ways. I didn't say he was perfect, rather perfect for me. We both know we're only human, and we have realistic expectations of each other. Undoubtedly there will be times we will fall short or even hurt the other, but we forgive because of our commitment and love.

We're still young and have much to learn about marriage, I'm sure. I'm just looking forward to figuring it out each day with my wonderful husband.

I Love Swag II

I really wish I had brought a camera to BFF Bridal's Best in Bridal: Beauty & Style event last night. Everything was absolutely gorgeous, and I would say more about it, but then I'd feel bad for not showing the eye candy to accompany the details. Instead here are the contents of the swag bag I got. Thanks, Tara and Meredith!

I Love Swag

Last Thursday I attended "Girls Night Out" hosted by Brides magazine, Modern Bride magazine, and Lenox. No, I didn't pretend to still be a bride, as tempting as that was. I went for my sister-in-law, as she's getting married next spring. We didn't stay long because it was so crowded and wasn't quite as relaxing or fun as we expected. Imagine some 200 odd hungry brides and their bridesmaids fighting for hors d'oeuvres and cocktails. Not the prettiest sight. But instead of bashing the bash, I'll say two good things. It was held at D'Or at Amalia Restaurant, and we all loved the lounge, especially their decor. Second, like the title says, I love swag. And the star of this swag bag was a T3 flat iron! If you're wondering what's so great about T3, please read all about the entire line at Beauty Snob. They know beauty products and have said nothing but great things about T3.

Next up, I'll be attending BFF Bridal's event tonight at the W in Union Square. The last event in September was definitely one to remember, so I'm looking forward to this one. More swag? Yes, please!

The Wedding

Talida & Timothy
Houston, Texas
March 8, 2008

Like I promised, the wedding details. :)

As a born and raised Texan, I was thrilled when Tim suggested we have the wedding in my hometown Houston. The wedding was a destination wedding for about 80% of our guests. We wanted to highlight the best of Texas, so we had three main reasons for picking March 8: the weather, the Rodeo, and crawfish season. And it worked so well. Weather was a sunny 65F that day, many guests went to the Rodeo, and in one sitting a group of us ordered 50 pounds of crawfish. The weekend was great, but so was the wedding...

Theme
I've mentioned my love for baking with teas, particularly with the premium grade green tea matcha. Well, Tim and I always knew we wanted our wedding inspiration to come from food. We bonded early on in our relationship over Japanese food, so matcha fit us perfectly. Matcha showed up in our wedding cake and our homemade cookie favors, and the color green was the foundation element for all the floral and decor.

Ceremony
We were married in the beautiful chapel at Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church. The ceremony was, in the words of one of our guests, glorious. Everything was extremely meaningful and emotional, from the wonderful sermon to the music played by close friends and family. We wanted our wedding to reflect our faith and belief in marriage, and we were extremely blessed by the ceremony.

Photography
We had about three hours in between the ceremony and reception, and our photographer Laura of Laura Kay Photography and I had come up with the fun idea of going to a boot store for the wedding party photo shoot. We called up Cavender's Boot City, and the manager welcomed us in. We had a blast trying on all sorts of boots and hats. We definitely drew attention at the store, but the manager was right there encouraging us to use the merchandise as props. See the slide show she put together for us here.

Private Dinner
This was my surprise to Tim that day. I wanted a private dinner for the two of us to spend some quiet time together and actually eat, so I arranged a four course meal with wine pairings at Cova Wine Bar in the Heights. They were extremely accommodating, serving us at 4PM when their kitchen doesn't normally open until 5PM. The food was fantastic, and the wine pairing was superb. Our menu: Snapper Tartar, Exotic Mushroom Salad, Duck Breast with Papaya and Tamarind Sauce, and an Oxtail Ropa Vieja.

Reception
The reception was held at the Westlake Club in Houston's Energy Corridor. It wasn't our first choice, but it worked out wonderfully. The food was great, and Westlake Club's coordinator Jennifer Keefe was simply the best. She was on top of everything and pulled off a great sparkler sendoff. As far as decor, we kept things low-key. We brought in Bright Star Productions to set up some uplighting for ambiance. Centerpieces comprised of pillar candles in plates of coffee beans, and we reused our ceremony arrangements made by Universal Florists.

After Party
Our reception ended around 9:30PM, so we planned to host an after party at the country bar Wild West. We knew our guests wanted to party all night, so Wild West was an appropriate location for the celebration continuation. The club consists of a large dance floor, a spacious upstairs, and a karaoke lounge. We opted for reserving the karaoke lounge, and about 70 guests showed up, two-stepping and singing the night away.

Transportation
White Bentley Continental GT. We lucked out and this came through the week of, and we were thrilled.. what a beauty. Also, the NY license plate made it all the more fitting. From Uptown Exotics.

Veil/Hairpiece
My close friend Cheryl, a print designer for Nicole Miller, was my style coordinator throughout the planning process. She fully understood my style and vision for the wedding, so I trusted her to make a veil that fit the occasion. I showed her all my inspiration pictures, and she created a gorgeous birdcage veil adorned with ostrich plumes and baroque pearls. She also created a matching piece sans veil for me to wear after the ceremony.

Stationery
My mom used to own a print shop, so I've literally looked at every wedding invitation book since I was 7. That said, I got bored of standard invitations at an early age. We decided to go the custom route and design all the stationery ourselves, and David at Minuteman Press printed everything exactly how we envisioned it.

Favors
Homemade matcha cookies, made by my mom and me. See blog post here.

Toasts
While we were waiting for our send off cue, a Westlake employee came up to us, raving about our best man's speech. With all the weddings he works at, he's said heard it all and can predict all the speeches down to the timing. But he couldn't get enough of our best man Dave's original speech; he said he paid attention to the entire speech because he really didn't know what he'd say next.

Both our dads gave speeches too, and they were truly touching. They spoke about watching us grow up, challenged us to always remember our vows, and spoke such encouraging words to us, each in their own style.

After all the speeches, Tim had his own surprise: he took out a guitar and sang Brad Paisley's "The World" to me. Talk about an emotional day! I'd already been tearing throughout the ceremony and speeches, but this was the moment when I really cried.

Wedding Cake
Going along with our theme, we had a green tea wedding cake made by Le Duc Gourmet Bakery. I wish I could have made this myself. :)

Reception Music
Our good friend Andrew was our emcee and DJ, and he definitely set the mood for dinner with some jazz and light R&B. What we most appreciated about him was that he took initiative in switching things up all while keeping the overall theme and mood. Thanks to him, the reception flowed really well.

First Dance Song: "Anyone Else But You", Michael Cera & Ellen Page
Side note: Tim and I are die-hard Arrested Development fans, and we watch everything the actors are in. During that last scene in Juno, we both looked at each other, (me in tears) and we instantly knew that this was our song.

Father/Daughter Dance Song: "In My Life", The Beatles
This is what I call a "Saturday Morning" song. Growing up, my dad jammed on his guitar every Saturday morning, and I always woke up to him singing songs by The Beatles, The Eagles, or John Denver. It's my fondest memory of him, and this is my all-time favorite Beatles song.

Last Dance Song: "The Long Day Is Over", Norah Jones
The last dance immediately followed Tim's song to me, so I cried on his shoulder through most the song. I'll forever associate this song with the emotional ending of our reception.

Not Baking

First, a disclaimer. So far I've only posted when I bake new recipes, which definitely limits the frequency of my posts. I've decided to make exceptions to that rule every now and then, so I can beef this site up. On that note [or off that note, really] I've mentioned previously that I'm getting married in March. 43 days left. Am I nervous? Nah. Wish I had more time? Sure. Have I enjoyed planning? Heck yeah. Sometimes I wish I had a wedding blog to document my thoughts through the wedding planning process. That way I could actually contribute to the wedding blogosphere that I'm a big sidelines participant of.

Last night I went to the Real Simple + Crate and Barrel wedding event, and I had a lot of fun. I brought three friends, and we enjoyed munching and sipping the short time we were there. I felt a little stalkerish as I approached Vane from Brooklyn Bride (I found out who she was from another woman she was talking to), but was glad to finally be able to put a face to a ... blog. :) [hi vane!]

There, that was my first non-baking post, and it didn't feel so wrong. I think I'll try that again.