Welcome to 2010

Having been gone for 9 days for our end of 2009 trip, we came home to a kitchen with little edible. This was going to be the first breakfast in year 2010. It somehow sound like it could mean a lot. Just like how the first day of the year means a great deal to me. In short, despite having missed the hype of the new year eve by turning in to bed at 9pm, I was very pleased with the new year day: quiet morning in the otherwise overcrowded street of Chiangmai; catching up with Yogi friends whom we don't get to see much; AND seated by the emergency exit with no seat in front blocking my leg on our flight back from Chiangmai! If that was a metaphor of what my 2010 is going to be like: plenty of room for growth, I'd say :) Seems like an awesome year ahead.

For whatever reason we didn't feel like leaving home for breakfast. After a thorough search through the kitchen, I managed to come up with two surprisingly good dishes: Spicy Polenta Roasted Vegetable Pesto Terrine and Sourdough Pancake.

Before we took off to Chiangrai, I took the extra roasted vegetables from Barley Grilled Vegetable with Avocado Dressing and turned them into pesto. I also added to it habanero and cilantro leaves. They had managed to stay well in the refrigerator during our absence.

This dish took us by surprise. So much so that we decided to make it again the next morning - with baked egg and herbed roasted tomatoes this time. I prepared all the ingredients the night before and instructed Adrian to do the cooking the next morning. He accidentally added too much water to the polenta and hence it turned out a little bit soggy. But the taste was still good.

The next dish took us took us more than surprise. It was astonishingly good. We loved the tangy yeasty taste of the sourdough pancake. Adrian claimed this to be the best pancake ever. He felt he had betrayed his family by saying this because he always felt his childhood was filled with delicious pancakes made by his mother. Wait a minute, I said "I'm family too!" He cleverly steered around, "Wow! I'm proud my family has created such yummy pancake".

It is unfortunate that I used up all the sourdough starter there was. We'll have to wait for 4 more days before the new batch is ready for consumption. If you haven't done it already, you may want to start with the sourdough starter. I was delighted to see my starter still fresh and alive after having been gone for 9 days. The night before, I discarded some of the starter retaining 1 cup. I stirred in to it 1/2 cup of organic bread flour and 1/4 cup water. It was ready for cooking in the following morning.

One of the highlight of our year end trip was the discovery of macadamia nut spread. It's produced locally by the Doi Tung Sustainable Alternative Livelihood Development Project up in Mae Fah Luang, Thailand. I must say how impressed I was having seen the scale of the project initiated by the late Princess Mother. Having spent 29 years growing up in South East Asia, I dare say there aren't many projects this scale in this region that are as successful and well maintained as Doi Tung's.

Doi Tung's was conceived in order to provide an alternative livelihood to the ethnic minorities in the Doi Tung area, whose livelihood were once largely dependent on growing and selling opium. Among the plants, orchids and coffees, there's the macadamia nuts. I have always loved macadamia nut. It's the number one item I'd request from Australia whenever opportunities arise. Although I was well aware of the Doi Tung macadamia nuts sold in the supermarket, I never paid much interest to them. Partly because they seem so tiny in comparison to the Australian's. Not only because having witnessed the Doi Tung project changed my view, but also the nut spread is really good.

We bought a jar of it and were indulged in every bite of it served with Lindt Chocolate Swiss Thins (the only dark chocolate we found in Chiangrai). It was almost painful to have to finished the last bit of the spread on day 3. Imagine how ecstatic we were when we saw them, again, at the Chiangmai airport while en-route back to Bangkok at the end of our trip. It was also comforting to know that they are available in the Doi Tong stores in Bangkok (sold at THB5 more expensive than in the north).

When I was making this pancake, I thought of ways I can involve the macadamia nut spread. The Coconut Syrup Peanut Butter Spread that I made for a banana pancake recipe came to mind. Although the spread was good but it's not the highlight. It was really the sourdough that stole the limelight.

Having kicked start our new year with these satisfying breakfasts, our tiny kitchen can only get more and more interesting from now.