My Big Fat Face

On having, and not having, worms

2012-01-29T11:55:00.000-05:00

I was at a party recently--the type I've only just started to be invited to--filled with long-term Cambodia expats. There are a few touchstones for expats, topics that we can discuss with each other that people in the real world would shudder at. Tropical diseases are one such topic, bowel movements, another. So at this party when a friend of mine launched into a detailed conversation about her

The story of how I made hot and sour soup

2012-01-25T07:34:00.000-05:00

When I was a young person living in a studio apartment in the East Village, relying on post-World Trade Center unemployment checks to survive, my comfort food was hot and sour soup from Fei Ma restaurant. Fei Ma was a tiny, shitty Chinese takeaway with what was probably completely unremarkable food, but to my eager and unrefined palate, it was exotic and perhaps most importantly, cheap. Since

How to be a bad tourist

2011-11-23T09:48:00.001-05:00

Here are a series of photos I took of some tourists and a young Burmese girl near Amarapura in Burma earlier this month. This is why when I travel, I try to only take pictures of food. I'll just straighten your hair so you look a little more "ethnic." Hold those necklaces up high, girly, I might buy one when we're done with this! The Burmese sellers watch with resignation during

Smoked salmon for breakfast...not in Cambodia

2011-11-16T07:53:00.001-05:00

File this under first world problems, but I can't get a decent western breakfast in Cambodia. I rarely want one, anyway. I'm not a breakfast person and if I am going to eat breakfast, I'd rather have bai sach chrouk than toast and tea, anyway. But once every few months I want a breakfast that includes smoked salmon. As I begin my rant, I'd like to say that smoked salmon is available here, at

Char...it's what's for dinner

2011-11-01T21:45:00.000-05:00

Meals are simple affairs in Cambodia...when it's not a wedding or funeral or engagement party or the King Father's birthday or an auspicious day to open a new office or Pchum Ben or one of the other seemingly bazillion Cambodian holidays. Beef and lotus rootlet char, from a roadside stall in Kandal province. But on an average day, for an average Cambodian, char is what's on the menu. Char

7 things you didn't know about Cambodian kitchens

2011-10-18T05:22:00.000-05:00

Or maybe you already knew all of this. But I certainly didn't when I first moved to Cambodia. 1. No ovens Ovens are not a traditional part of Cambodian cooking, which relies most on stir-frying, grilling and soups. The only way to get an oven in a Cambodian flat is to rent an apartment that's been tricked out for Westerners (and if you have an apartment with an oven, you're probably paying

Some Cambodian food stories

2011-10-17T05:48:00.002-05:00

I've had a couple of food articles out lately -- if you're looking for more info on the Cambodian food scene, please check 'em out. Outtake from the delicious Cambodian dishes -- taken at 54 Langeach Sros on St 178, Phnom Penh. 10 Delicious Cambodian Dishes at CNN Go Destination Cambodia: It'll all end in beers. An article about Phnom Penh beer gardens -- where to drink and what to eat.

Finally getting on the bento train

2011-08-23T05:49:00.003-05:00

I've been interested in bento since I was a teenager and discovered the Sanrio store at the Fairfield Mall. I can't say that I actually made lunch with any of my Kerokerokeroppi accessories more than a few times -- my bento box seemed far better suited to carrying my collection of mentholated cigarettes and hairclips. When I traveled through Japan on my grand tour, I wistfully looked at all

On hunger and tropical fevers

2011-08-15T00:07:00.001-05:00

I've recently recovered from a whopper of an illness that included a staph infection caused by itching a mosquito bite, and a tropical fever, thought to be dengue, that quite probably sprang from the same mosquito bite. This my friends, is tropical living at its best. I spent about three weeks in bed, crying mostly, and watching DVDs (thank goodness for lax copyright protection in Cambodia,

The mile-high supper club

2011-07-11T19:30:00.002-05:00

There are a few things in the world that I'm obsessed with: Italian disco, flat-footed squatting, street food, and collecting miles. There's no way around it, I'm a miles junkie. This is an addiction that has paid off, and with a little help from the FlyerTalk lending team on Kiva, I did my most recent trip "up front." Of course what I find most exciting about business class is the food. I can't

Intestinal fortitude: The good, the bad and the home-made yogurt

2011-05-22T11:39:00.001-05:00

I’ve been a negligent blogger as of late. I’ve got this whole other blog that I actually get paid to write, and that’s been sucking a lot of my creative attention. That and I’m lazy. But let’s talk about yogurt. One of the things that living in the tropics has done is to make me increasingly aware of the fragility of my own health. Cambodian doctors are more likely to kill you than make you

Ten ways I managed to ingest sugar as a child, over parental objections

2011-02-11T11:57:00.002-05:00

1. Breakfast Cereal When I was a girl, when we went to the supermarket my mother would come up with an arbitrary number, I think it was around five or six, and say that we could only have cereal that had a lower sugar count per serving than this number. Upon reflection, I suppose it wasn't arbitrary, because it managed to eliminate anything tasty from our breakfast options, including that

Back to Penang: Hoikken mee twice for lunch

2010-12-27T11:29:00.000-05:00

I was about to write a potentially very boring post about how much I love Hokkien mee in Penang, and then I realized that I already wrote that post last March. I'm here for the holidays and harboring fantasies about moving here and spending the rest of my life doing nothing but eating hawker food. George Town is one of the best food cities I've ever been to. Last time I visited I didn't quite

At the Seoul Airport

2010-12-14T11:22:00.000-05:00

Korea's campaign to promote Korean food is bigger and better than ever this year. They have a website, a blog, ads in Times Square and the sort of airport decorations that my ideal model home would have. When I stepped off what I can only describe as a hellish flight from Phnom Penh to Seoul recently I was delighted to get onto a moving walkway that sped me past a quick forecast of what my next

The Golden Triangle

2010-11-30T11:09:00.002-05:00

The Phnom Penh expat scene is both lively and irritating. Luckily, there are a variety of overpriced watering holes for western ex-pats, well-connected Khmers and wealthy Korean students to find some common ground and buy expensive drinks. They've even got frozen blue margaritas, if that's your cup of tea. Pictured above: A 'Golden Triangle' containing Tequila Sauza, Grand Marnier, lime, mint

What to cook for a monk and your dead ancestors?

2010-11-29T23:59:00.009-05:00

Last month I woke up bright and early one Saturday morning to head to a pagoda with my colleagues for Pchum Ben, a Cambodian religious festival that is all about monks and dead relatives, two things that Cambodians take very seriously. One of the cute things about my colleagues is that they seem to forget that I am not Cambodian as well, and as such, don't tell me crucial bits of information

Thanksgiving in Cambodia

2010-11-25T12:13:00.002-05:00

Thanksgiving dinner at Lone Star Saloon, Phnom Penh Cambodia. My first Thanksgiving dinner in a few years, and as expected, I feel disgusted with myself but at the same time incredibly self-satisfied.

When you buy vegetables at the supermarket in Cambodia...*

2010-10-17T13:49:00.003-05:00

Resembling Watercress "You look so familiar! You remind me exactly of this watercress I used to know." *Do not construe this post as a suggestion to buy supermarket vegetables in Cambodia

Another breakfast in Cambodia

2010-09-23T04:23:00.003-05:00

For my first two weeks in Cambodia I ate rice every day for breakfast. I didn't have eyes for noodle soup, I was too busy feasting on random meats and rice and pickled cucumbers. There's no other way to slice it, this is a wonderful way to wake up. Especially for just $1. Since that time I have tried to restrain myself, as I figure I have two other meals a day to eat rice. I don't understand

Breakfast in Cambodia: Khmer noodles

2010-09-19T22:42:00.005-05:00

One of my favorite traditional breakfasts in Cambodia is nom banh chok, or Khmer noodles. A heaping bowl of noodles, gravy and vegetables served with a few chilis on the side. Like most food in Cambodia, it's served at room temperature, and often in a plastic bag. There are usually two kinds of gravy, one that is made with fish sauce, lemongrass, garlic, salt, sugar and fish of some sort. My

Eating North Korean in Cambodia

2010-09-17T01:08:00.005-05:00

Anyone who has had to stomach my presence for more than a few hours doubtlessly knows about my interest in the politics of the Korean peninsula and North Korean specifically. I've ruled out going to the mass games (check the video) for political reasons but have been happy to discover that I can explore North Korea in Phnom Penh. Due to Cambodia's habit of embracing the most corrupt world

How we celebrate a new office

2010-09-16T00:24:00.009-05:00

The organization I am working for recently opened a new service office in Kandal province. To inaugurate the place some of the staff and most of the management headed over in the large trucks and SUVs that are strangely popular among the Khmer riche. When we arrived they busted out coolers and bags from the truck and started putting it all out on plates and setting up the Buddhist altar that

Pork-stuffed bitter melon in clear soup

2010-08-23T01:43:00.010-05:00

Over the weekend my friend Rina took me to her homeland in Kandal province. She spent the time at her parent's house alternately working in the rice paddy, tormenting me, and cooking huge meals for all of the family friends who came to help with the farming. I did my best to try and record the recipes as she was making them, but the amounts given are just estimates. One of the things I have

Lunch on Kosh Oknga Tey Island

2010-08-19T23:24:00.005-05:00

Lunch on Kosh Oknga Tey Island in the Mekong River during a field visit. The island is home to many traditional Cambodian weavers, but not to the best food around according to my co-worker, who picked up about half of this before we left Phnom Penh. Clockwise: sour fish soup with greens, pickled cucumbers, tomatoes, smoked fish, kro auchhouk with beef, unknown fish. Not pictured: rice. Until I

Lunch on National Road 5

2010-08-12T05:33:00.003-05:00

Another lunch in the field. This time it consisted of sweet pork with a marinated egg that was reminiscent of the "bacon candy" that Robyn from EatingAsia tipped me off about, green peppers and pork and because I was feeling sick, tom yum soup. I had a long debate with my co-workers about whether or not tom yum was Khmer, one arguing that it was and the other arguing that it was of Thai origin.