SHOPPING IN JATUCHAK AND SEAFOOD DINNER AT SOMBOON

On weekends, Jatuchak is one place to go to when in Thailand. . We wanted to go to the weekend market before it got crowded and hot so my sister Vivian and I got up early all for the sake of shopping. It took us about 30 minutes by taxi to get there and we had ourselves dropped off at the clothes area. We bought some souvenir shirts and saw a stall that sold winter stuff...perfect for our next trip... a winter vacation in Korea. We got some thick gloves, thermals, scarves etc for a really good price. Then we headed out to go to the area where they sold plates and ceramics. While heading there, we passed by an area that sold plants, flowers and bulbs.

I wanted to buy some but I realized that it might not be good to bring it home. Customs might give me some problems so I decided to just let go of the idea.

Then as we walked, here are some food stalls that I found to be really interesting. Coconut ice cream served in its own shell and with freshly shaved meat. Here's another stall that sold tub tim krob...water chestnut in coconut milk with crushed ice...my favorite. It's really yummy but we decided to just go back to the place when we're done shopping. Unfortunately, we were not able to pass by that area again as we took a different exit.

Here's a stall that sold herbs and spices for Thai cooking. They had teas, lemon grass, packed curries etc. You name it, they have it. The prices were reasonable too. I got a pack of dried lemongrass tea with pandan leaves. I didn't buy the other spices anymore as I still had stock in my pantry.

We went around and passed by the area where they sold jewelries and furniture. We found a place that sold really unique silver pieces but it was too crowded so we skipped that.

Then we found the area where they sold plates. Everything you need from bowls, plates, containers for condiments, glasses etc were there. The plates were really cheap...like 20 baht per piece...that's like 30 pesos...who can say no to that?

There were also stalls that sold stoneware and celadon...reasonably priced too.

After walking around there for about 4 hours, we got really tired from carrying our stuff so we headed back to the hotel.

After a few days of major shopping, some friends of ours invited us for a seafood dinner. The restaurant's name was Somboon Seafood. I heard that it's the place that served the original fried curry crab. We were excited to give it a try.

Here's what we ordered... curry crab that has been shelled for us already, spicy kangkong,

fresh oysters, fresh sea bass in lime and chili sauce,

And steamed prawns with garlic and chilies.

I particularly enjoyed the sea bass and the fresh oysters!!! The lime with the chillies and garlic sauce really had a kick. Spicy but loved the taste. The oysters were very fresh, meaty and buttery! The prawns were okay. It tasted like the ones that we would order in a chinese restaurant. The curry crab was good but not that great but what I loved about it was that it's been shelled for us so we didn't get our hands dirty anymore.

For dessert, they took me to this place called i-berry. It's a place that sold cakes, ice creams and sorbets. I've been told that the flavors that they make for their ice creams and sorbets are seasonal...to capture the best flavor of the fruit. I ordered the sampler... 5 miniature cones with 5 different flavors... we tried, coconut, mixed fruit - tasted like our halo-halo ice cream, raspberry, atis or custard apple and thai tea. I loved the atis because it was like I was really eating the the real fruit. Really yummy.

Since I liked the ice creams and sorbets in i-berry so much, I went to Siam Paragon the following day. On our shopping break, I took Sabrina to try their ice cream again.

I know I promised to share Thai recipes on my next post. I really will... but I just had to squeeze this one in now. :-) Happy weekend to everyone!!!