Asiatique The Riverfront

While watching TV last week my sister saw a commercial about Asiatique The Riverfront, an open-air mall along Chao Phraya River which opened in 2011. It boasts as Bangkok's latest shopping and dining destination. The ad had got her intrigued. When our girlfriends came for dinner, she mentioned it. They too had heard rave reviews about it . Later that night, we agreed to meet on Sunday to visit  the place and more importantly try gastronomical delights they're boasting.

We were on our way there early Sunday evening. We took the sky train to Saphan Taksin Station. From there, we waited for a shuttle boat which took us to Asiatique. Halfway to our destination, there was a downpour.  The rain ruined a good evening that we had anticipated.

We walked around to check the shops and restaurants. Most items they sell can also be found at Chatuchak Weekend Market and Pratunam so we didn't do a lot of shopping. When our tummies started to growl, we wandered around to look for good food. We found an Indian Restaurant but  no seat was available so we were off again. My sister found a Vietnamese Restaurant  but the picture menu didn't look inviting. We checked three other restaurants. Two were full, the other was a hotpot restaurant. No one was up for that so we went around again. Finally, we found a table in a fast food restaurant. We were so happy that we'd finally got a place to sit and eat. My sis and I were disappointed with our decision to eat there though.

My sis ordered mushroom soup and mashed potatoes.The soup had bits and pieces of mushroom. It wasn't creamy but it almost fooled us into thinking it was when it was served.  My sis had 2-3 spoonfuls.

Twinings Peach and Passion Fruit Tea with Monin Caramel Syrup

I am a tea drinker and so is my sister.  I would drink it for any seasons. My sister and I reckon to have tea with dessert. For us, tea complements the flavors of many desserts.

I brewed peach and passion fruit tea for 2-3 minutes. I added few drops of caramel syrup to sweeten up a bit. It did go well with our mango and brownie dessert.

Simple Dessert for Mango and Brownie Lovers

Mangoes and chocolate make perfect partners! When I saw the beautiful mangoes my sister brought home, I didn't hesitate to experiment ...... eat  mangoes with the brownies I made earlier.

Trying a new brownie recipe was good

My cousin Joy was home for the weekend. We don't see her often as she lives 3 hours away.  To give her a welcome treat, I baked her brownie. Not the kind I usually do but a new recipe I got off the internet. I tweak the recipe a little to appeal to our taste buds and it did not let us down!

William The Great Turns 7

A couple of weeks before his 7th birthday, William and his mom were having a conversation that went something like this:

Mom: William, what kind of decorations would you like on your cake? Please let me know soon so I can tell Tita (Aunty) Leeann.

William: It's my birthday Ama (Malaysian word for mother). You have to surprise me.

Our friend Irene searched for stuff that interest her son but he seemed to like an almost endless variety of things. She had finally figured out what her son liked the most when she talked to his teacher.

Magic. Yes, he is into magic these days. According to his teacher, William  pretends to be a magician and gets excited when they conduct Science experiments.Why? Because he always relates them to magic tricks.

So I was a good Aunty again :)  I browsed the web to get an idea of what a  magic cake looked like.I found hundreds. I discussed the design  with my sister. We decided to go with the magician's hat design. It seemed appropriate for the birthday boy who loves to do magic tricks.

I went home after the dinner we had organized for William and Ginger and started to make magic.