Be nice. It’s a work in progress!

Anywho! Happy (belated) Cinco de Mayo. No better way to celebrate Cinco Day than by cooking up some delicious eats & of course having some sangria. Honestly, we celebrated Cinco de Mayo on Sunday, the 6th. Who am I kidding? It was a Cinco de Mayo celebration all weekend long!

I whipped out the ultimate vegan latin cookbook Viva Vegan by Terry Hope Romero, the Vegan Latina. Terry has this great seitan recipe I’ve made before and decided to make it again for an empanada filling in another recipe from her book. The filling came out so delicious that I decided not to make them into empanadas and just eat the filling sans carbs.

Look at the seitan!

I did already make the dough but it worked out perfectly for Mom who made her curried meat filling for her non-veg empanadas.

Making non-veg empies

I also made Terry’s Portobello feijoado.

Shroom lovin'

I bought the Skinny Girl Sangria but it didn’t live up to my expctations. I did have a delicious sangria and my friends house and another glass at a restaurant, so I wasn’t too upset.

Next time I make my own!

Any good sangria recipes I can try out? Send them my way!

Cinco de Mayo was an informative weekend day for me. I learned it’s not Mexico’s independence day which everyone believes it to be. Their independence day is in September. Cinco actually celebrates Mexico’s victory in a battle over France.

I now know when I make veg recipes that I must halve them or else I will be eating the same dish the entire week. Yes, it’s Thursday and I am still eating the seitan and feijoada. As happy as I am that my family will ‘try’ my dishes, that only means a spoonful or two at the most…

Terry’s recipe for empanada dough was a success & super simple, which I plan to stash away for whenever me or my mom wants to make some empanadas….especially considering I didn’t even make veg ones this time!

Adios muchachas!

My family kept a small tree up since Christmas because I missed out on the celebration. It was the warmest welcome home I could have asked for.

What girl can say no to gifts even after 21 hours of traveling?! Remember my virtual Christmas list? Well, my parents did and they purchased a few of the items on my list. Yeah, they are the greatest.

Every year my parents give my sisters and I a gift certificate to this fancy spa. It has become tradition for me and my sisters and a gift we look forward to getting every Christmas.

I also received a copy of The Vegan Slow Cooker, some texting gloves, The Chakra Chocolate boxes and wait for it… wait for it… THE KINDLE FIRE !!!!

The cold weather is putting me in a wintery mood. It’s been in the chilly 50s! Instead of the warm April air it feels more like the cold October I said goodbye to before my trip. I love it! Everyone else in my family isn’t feeling the same towards the cold. Hello Uggs & sweatpants!

In honor of the cold weather, my return, and the awesome new vegan cookbook I decided to make a soup recipe. My mom makes this awesome chix soup whenever anyone in my family is sick, but since I’m now a vegetarian I wanted to try my hand at a veg version.

Mom’s Chicken Soup

6 cups water

Chicken thighs (skinless with bone, preferably organic)

6 chicken bouillon cubes

celery and baby carrots (as much as you like)

peeled sliced ginger

Boil the chicken in the water. Add bouillon cubes. Add celery, carrots, and ginger and let simmer until vegetables are tender (or to your liking!)

Note: If you are making a bigger batch it’s 1 cube bouillon to 1 cup water

Not my Mom’s Chicken Soup

olive oil

1  onion

garlic, minced (as much as you like)

baby carrots and celery (as much as you like)

8 oz firm smoked tofu

3 cubes vegan bouillon (Rapunzel brand)

8 cups water

1 tsp dried thyme

salt & pepper to taste

Saute onions in oil until translucent. Add the garlic and saute a minute more.

As the onions saute dice the carrots, celery and tofu.

Combine sauteed onions and garlic, carrots, celery, tofu, water, vegan bouillon, thyme, salt and pepper into slow cooker. Cook on low 6-8 hours or high 3-4 hours.

Adapted from Kathy Hester’s Smoked Tofu & Stars Soup in The Vegan Slow Cooker

Kathy Hester gives directions to prep the veggies the night before and to saute the onions and garlic in oil. I did it the day of but prepping the veggies a night earlier is a good tip if your planning ahead. This was a spur of the moment soup decision so I didn’t get the ingredients in the pot until around 4pm, hence I cooked it on high.

I didn’t have any smoked tofu on hand so I took about a tablespoon of liquid smoke and marinated some firm tofu. Here is a recipe from Vegan Dad for smoked tofu, which will probably work better or, if your not lazy like me, you can go out and buy smoked tofu!

How long will this weather last?! The longer it lasts the longer I can use my slow-coookkerrrrr!

Hope you all had a lovely Easter or Passover or both!

Just kidding!

I saw Bangkok in all it’s glory on our very last night in Asia. I wanted to surprise Lili so two months ago I made reservations at the greatest and, thanks to the Hangover 2, most popular upscale spot in Bangkok. Sirroco. You know the scene where the guys meet Kingsley? That was filmed at Lebua, the hotel where Sirroco is. There is also another scene where the guys are sitting on the steps in utter failure of losing Teddy.

63 floors above the traffic and hawkers is a view unlike anything else….and no one was hungover so we thoroughly enjoyed it.

With a Skybar and live jazz band we had the best table in the place- I know this because our hostess told us so! We arrived just in time to see the final moments of sunset and grabbed photos by the Skybar.

We reminisced about the highs and lows of our trip. Here’s what we liked best…

Best Aiport: Samui Airport

Why? Because at 6am they offered all the passengers in the departure terminal complimentary breakfast pastries, drinks, and wifi. The airport also has very comfy chairs & the gate feels less like an airport and more like a hotel lobby.

Runner up: Taipei Airport

Why? Hello Kitty Gate & playground. Need I say more? OK I’ll say more. Bubble tea and surprisingly unique small exhibits like the orchard garden and food of Taiwan display.

Best Accommodation: Five Stones Hostel, Singapore & Edsa Shangri-la, Manila

Why? We only stayed at two hostels, first in Singapore and then in Taipei and both were wonderful experiences. Surprising I know! Both places were extremely helpful and gracious, provided lockers with locks, and clean beds in all female dorms. Five Stones wins out because  of the creativity in design (and the complimentary ear-plugs ;O) See the photos at my old post here.

The Edsa takes the prize because of their breakfast buffet. Yes there is a fat kid locked inside me.

Best Activity/Sight: Tie between ATV’s, Koh Samui & Reverse Bungee, Singapore/ White Temple, Chiang Rai

Why? Lili and I both picked the white temple, Wat Rong Khun, as our favorite site but we disagreed on the activity. Lil picked ATVing on Koh Samui and I chose the Reverse Bungee simply because I still laugh every time I watch this video.

Runner-up: Genitalia shaped rocks in Koh Samui ;O)

Best Meal: ArAma Cafe & Bodhi, Manila

Why? Because we are half-Filipinas and love our Filipino food so naturally we both picked places in Manila. Lil picked the place where she ate the best chicken adobo and I picked the only place I could get vegetarian skewers. Win-Win!

Without going into detail, but still worth mentioning..

Best night-life: Kuta Beach, Bali, Indonesia

Best transport system: MRT in Taipei

Best airline: Cebu Pacific (for playing games with us on board)

Best beach: Boracay

Best drinks: Iced Choco, Poppies Restaurant in Bali & Bubble Tea, Thailand and Taipei

Best view: Singapore River Cruise

Best over-all goes to….the Philippines! No surprise there. We were most excited about the Phils, plus we lived like superstars at the condo and even got to see a few A-list celebs at the Awards show. The beach on Boracay helped sway the vote as well.

And now for the worst…instead of recalling the worst meal (Manana in Boracay) the worst traffic (Manila) and the worst sight (Ayutthaya) let’s just give the overall worst award. It goes to Kota K for worst hotel, worst food, and for being the least liked place we went to. Refer to my other post on booking trips…I learned my lesson.

It was a great 5 weeks. At Sirroco Lili and I toasted to our travels and memories and to the future, which as of now is as vast as the ocean for us both! It may be the end of an awesome trip but it’s only just the beginning!

Northern Most (Point) of Thailand

I left it up to Lili since she had never seen Chiang Mai. She made the right choice :O) and we flew to my favorite city in Thailand. I was excited to show Lili the part of Thailand I had fallen in love with. She had seen Bangkok and Koh Samui but Chiang Mai and the north is an entirely different playing ground.

It was even sort of foreign to me since it’s been over a month since I was last up there. It’s now the rainy season in Thailand, which means it’s not only extremely hot but it’s also the time when the north sees very little tourists. Even with the looming Songkran Festival, the streets of Chiang Mai were surprisingly quieter than I had been used to. It just gave me another reason to enjoy the city even more.

I showed Lili my favorite spots, like Dada Kafe and Taste from Heaven. We took the 1-day Golden Triangle tour and enjoyed the Thai food we had already begun to miss! Of course, we got Thai massages too. And we also met up with Nun, Jerry and their son since they recently moved to Chiang Mai. I forgot how much I really did enjoy Thailand- the food, the places, the people- and I was glad to share this happy place with Lil. It was the prefect way to end our trip, and hopefully now Lili sees the brighter side of Thailand like I do. Bangkok & Koh Samui aren’t exactly love material like Chiang Mai is.

Favorite & simple meal from Dada

I’ve been having some fun with Instagram ^ I wish I had discovered it sooner!

Taste from Heaven Salad & Soy Thai Iced Tea

Spicy Vegetables with 'Brasil' (yes, the sign said brasil!)

Lil ordered Brownie Cheesecake

It’s back to Bangkok for one more night, and I have a special surprise for Lil! You’ll all find out soon enough too!

Delicious Coocnut I will miss.