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The website of globetrotting professional travel writing and photography team Lara Dunston and Terence Carter

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Top 10 Stories in 2020 from an Ode to Sourdough to Condiment Love. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

Top 10 Stories You Read in 2020 from an Ode to Sourdough to Condiment Love

The top 10 stories in 2020 that you read on Grantourismo were a real mixed bag – everything from Terence’s post on the sourdough backlash and how easy, cheap and deeply satisfying he found sourdough baking to stories on our favourite kitchen condiments, favourite Bourdain books, favourite food (fried rice!) and an interview with our favourite chef.

There was a lot of talk about pivoting this year. Restaurants pivoted from exclusive fine dining spots to more inclusive cafés, bakeries and soup kitchens. Local independent retailers pivoted into global online stores. Guides shifted tours from the real to virtual world.

And our travel site with some food content seemed to pivot to a food site with some travel content. Unlike the chefs forced to close their restaurants and shift to takeaway, product boxes and home delivery, moving from a focus on travel to a focus on food wasn’t a business decision that we consciously made. Rather, it was a decision that our readers made for us.

Top 10 Stories You Read in 2020 on Grantourismo from an Ode to Sourdough to Condiment Love

After we lost all our work, projects, clients, and income in March we decided to concentrate our time and energy on our Cambodia culinary cookbook and culinary history project and Grantourismo to keep us focused and busy and keep the anxiety at bay.

While Grantourismo had lost most of its income in March – which over the years came from paid partnerships with tourism brands, sponsored editorial, and affiliate commissions when you bought books, booked hotels and tours, rented cars and motorhomes, bought travel insurance etc via our links – the site’s traffic increased almost tenfold in a month.

You were no longer predominantly coming to Grantourismo for travel inspiration, searching for itineraries to plan trips or using our guides to book hotels and restaurants – obviously because the world had shut down, borders closed, flights stopped, and we all hunkered down at home.

You were overwhelmingly visiting for our recipes and food stories, and as we couldn’t go anywhere either, and were spending much of our time cooking and recipe-testing, as well as researching and writing, that suited us just fine for the most part.

Around 80% of the stories you read in 2020 on Grantourismo were recipes and food stories and most of the travel content you read was food related. But occasionally there were surprises. And pre-COVID there were koalas in Australia who needed your attention. (That was another of our top posts of 2020.)

Recipes aside – we’ve excluded them from this count, except recipe round-ups; you can find our top 10 recipes of 2020 here – these were the top 10 stories in 2020 that you read on Grantourismo.

Top 10 Stories You Read in 2020 on Grantourismo

Sourdough Baking is Easy, Cheap and Deeply Satisfying – Ignore the Sourdough Backlash

It should be no surprise that Terence’s response to the sourdough backlash became one of the top 10 stories in 2020 that you read on Grantourismo. It wasn’t long after the coronavirus began spreading around the world earlier this year that we all began self-isolating, social distancing, and baking sourdough it seemed. Quarantine baking went from a trend to global phenomenon in a couple of months and making a sourdough starter and baking sourdough bread became one of the most popular pandemic pursuits. Home bakers dropped ‘boule’ and ‘banneton’ into everyday online cooking conversations, traded tips on everything from the best flour for sourdough starters to what to do with sourdough discard, and shared scoring patterns and crumbs on social media. Terence was no exception, however, he had already been making sourdough for two years at the time. Before the pandemic began Terence had shared his simple sourdough starter recipe, a beginner’s guide to baking sourdough, and a no-knead sourdough pizza recipe. A few months later, everybody was baking sourdough it seems – from your kids and your colleagues to celebrity chefs and movie stars – and it was fantastic to see. Sourdough baking is not only therapeutic, it’s a deeply satisfying process, creating something so delicious and healthy from nothing. There are few things more rewarding than a freshly baked slice of sourdough, still (a little) warm from the oven, smothered in butter.

Sourdough Baking is Easy, Cheap and Deeply Satisfying – Ignore the Sourdough Backlash

James Beard Award Winning Cookbooks You Need to Add to Your Library

I have to say that it was a surprise that this post on the James Beard award winning cookbooks you needed to add to your library became one of the top 10 stories in 2020 that you read on Grantourismo. Of the list of many winners we recommended a tight list that included the Book of the Year, the groundbreaking The Whole Fish Cookbook: New Ways to Cook, Eat and Think by trail-blazing Australian chef Josh Niland and two very timely books, American Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking by Toni Tipton-Martin, which was called “a celebration of African American cuisine right now” and The Whole Okra: A Seed to Stem Celebration by Chris Smith, which included recipes from some of the American South’s most influential chefs and scholars. The James Beard Foundation’s media awards, which include cookbooks, food articles, podcasts, and videos, are the USA’s most prestigious awards for food media and in 2020 they celebrated their 30th anniversary. The awards were announced on 27 May 2020, just two days after the murder of African American George Floyd in the USA, and the eruption of protests around the country, however, we delayed this post as it was inappropriate to share anything celebratory at the time, but the fact we highlighted two books that provided great introductions to the centuries of African American cooking in the American South and celebrated its important culinary contributions to US food culture was perhaps why this post did so well and that was fantastic to see.

James Beard Award Winning Cookbooks You Need to Add to Your Library

Driving from Perth to Margaret River – Where to Stop Along the Way

Driving from Perth to Margaret River, some 275kms away in Southwest Western Australia is an easy drive of around three and a half hours, which is nothing in a state where road trips can take weeks. What makes it so enjoyable are the stops on the way for swims on sandy beaches, engaging indigenous experiences, self-guided heritage tours, and the chance to see adorable woylies. You can break up the journey with an overnight stay along the way at Bunbury, Busselton or Dunsborough. Or, if you’re on a long holiday, stay a few nights en route to really experience the area’s wonderful beaches and clear waters, and wildlife and marine life, especially in whale-watching in season. The Margaret River is one of our favourite parts of the world and driving from Perth to Margaret River one of our favourite things to do. Once you arrive, exploring the Margaret River is an absolute delight, whether you’re riding the waves, discovering caves, or wine tasting with local experts. In a normal year our Australian stories, itineraries and guides are hugely popular, particularly our posts on Perth and Western Australia, so it’s no surprise this was one of the top 10 stories in 2020 that you read on Grantourismo, particularly as Western Australia closed its borders to the rest of Australia for a big chunk of the year and had some of the lowers numbers in the country when it came to cases (just 858) and deaths (only 9).

Driving from Perth to Margaret River – Where to Stop Along the Way

Quarantine Cooking Dishes to Make to Prolong the Time Between Grocery Shopping Trips

You’d think that getting some fresh air and going shopping would have been a relaxing diversion after more than two months of social distancing and staying at home, but we wrote in this post – another of the top 10 stories in 2020 that you read on Grantourismo – about how stressful we found our weekly supermarket shopping trips due to some people’s lackadaisical attitude towards COVID-19 – whether it’s expats who think that they’re invincible, even though they’re in a high-risk category, or tourists trapped here who weren’t wearing masks, despite government advice to the contrary. As a result, we developed a quarantine cooking strategy firmly focused on meal planning that included dishes to make to prolong the time between grocery shopping trips and recipes for dishes that could be stretched across several meals. Because of this tactical meal planning, careful budgeting, wise shopping, and choosing protein that could be frozen and defrosted a few days later, we were able to schedule our grocery runs with military precision. While we recognised that freezing and defrosting was normal for many of our readers, it wasn’t something that we had to do before here in Cambodia: fresh local markets are filled with an abundance of beautiful produce from here and neighbouring countries, and we have excellent supermarkets close by, so until the pandemic we did as the locals do and shopped on a daily basis and bought fresh seasonal produce to cook that day. Fortunately, we’re lucky to be able to do that again.

Quarantine Cooking Dishes to Make to Prolong the Time Between Grocery Shopping Trips

Sourdough Starter Discard Recipes – What To Do With Your Sourdough Starter Waste

After reading Terence’s post on the sourdough backlash and seeing how low-maintenance his sourdough starter really was – he just added 50ml of flour and 50ml of water once a day – and how simple he made sourdough bread-making look, I was inspired to give sourdough baking a go myself. However, with Terence baking enough sourdough bread every few days for our little household, we really didn’t need two sourdough bakers in the family, so I found myself another cooking project (on top of Terence’s barbecue project, my Cambodian samlors (soups and stews), and Terence’s Cambodian-Australian fusion sausage rolls and meat pies) and that was sourdough starter discard recipes. Terence joined me and we made sourdough starter discard crumpets, crackers, pancakes, and more. As it seemed everyone was baking sourdough and experimenting with sourdough discard recipes, it was no surprise to see that this round-up of our best recipes became one of the top 10 stories in 2020 that you read on Grantourismo.

Best Sourdough Starter Discard Recipes – What To Do With Your Sourdough Starter Waste

Best Anthony Bourdain Books to Read and Cook From Wherever You Are Right Now

Like many of you who went into lockdown in March, I built paperback towers on my bedside table, work desk and office shelves of the books I’d bought in recent years, but hadn’t yet read, that I intended to get through while we were staying at home self-isolating. Instead, in between researching my Cambodia culinary history, I found myself reaching time and time again for familiar favourites, including the well-worn copies of the best Anthony Bourdain books. These included Kitchen Confidential, Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, which I recall Terence, who had spent more time in restaurant kitchens than I had, buying as soon as it published, and A Cook’s Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines, which resonated with us, as Bourdain travelled the way we’d always travelled, guided by our taste buds, connecting with locals through food, and getting beneath the skin of places through the people who inhabited them as much as our appetites. I relied upon the best Anthony Bourdain books to take me on a journey, a culinary journey that was about so much more than the food – although eating to get a taste of a place, sharing meals with strangers and new friends, and connecting over feasts on the streets and in homes were central to Bourdain’s narratives on paper and on screen. Tony Bourdain is so missed and his books beloved by food and travel lovers alike, so it definitely wasn’t a surprise that One of the top 10 stories in 2020 that you read on Grantourismo

Best Anthony Bourdain Books to Read and Cook From Wherever You Are Right Now

Our 10 Best Condiments and the Most Beloved Condiment Brands to Buy

“Condiments just make everything taste better,” Terence wrote. “Whether it’s a tomato sauce or mustard, a hot sauce or chilli paste, a little dab or splash at the end of making a dish, or a bowl of something on the table to dip into, we can’t live without our condiments.” Having just moved apartments for the second time during the pandemic when Terence wrote this, we had another opportunity to really take stock of what we keep in our pantry and fridge and thought this post might be helpful to our readers and provide some Christmas gift ideas for food lovers and home cooks. Even so, I have to confess that I was surprised that it seemed to go viral for weeks and became one of the top 10 stories in 2020 that you read on Grantourismo. So what are our 10 best condiments and most beloved condiment brands to buy? They include everything from Hellmans mayonnaise for European dishes and Kewpie mayo for Asian to Lao Gan Ma’s spicy chili crisp and the original Sriracha sauces from Thailand, Koh Loy Si Racha Sauce and Si Racha Phanich, both of which are fantastic on noodles and in soups, but you’ll have to read the post to find what else the list includes and why.

Our 10 Best Condiments and the Most Beloved Condiment Brands to Buy

How to Help Save Your Favourite Restaurants and Cafes During the Coronavirus Pandemic

It was heart-breaking to see so many of our favourite restaurants around the world, where we’ve shared so many memorable meals, shut as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Whether that was due to government lockdowns, social distancing restrictions or people staying home and self-isolating, millions of restaurants across the globe closed their doors because they couldn’t afford to continue to operate. This post on our ideas as to how to help save your favourite restaurants during the coronavirus pandemic was another of the top 10 stories in 2020 that you read on Grantourismo and we were so chuffed to see that. We covered everything from ordering home delivery and takeaway meals to buying gift vouchers and purchasing restaurant cookbooks, not to mention making donations to support chef-led initiatives to feed the hungry and less fortunate, such as chef Deepanker Khosla, owner of urban farm-to-table restaurant Haoma, in Bangkok, who cooked free meals to feed the Thai capital’s jobless and hungry. All of these things seem so normal now, but they weren’t when we published this. Sadly, so many restaurants have not survived the coronavirus crisis and have shuttered permanently because overheads were too high or landlords wouldn’t or couldn’t freeze rents. Others made the decision to close temporarily or indefinitely. Let’s hope that they open in 2021 and if you haven’t seen this post, please do click for ideas as to how to help save your favourite restaurants during the coronavirus pandemic, because unfortunately the struggles continue in so many places experiencing a second wave that are in lockdown again.

How to Help Save Your Favourite Restaurants and Cafes During the Coronavirus Pandemic

New David Thompson Restaurant Aksorn Opens in Bangkok’s Hip Historic Charoenkrung

Thailand-based Australian chef David Thompson brought a few smiles to my face during an interview this year, as he has on myriad occasions over the years when we’ve chatted to him for stories, but this time it was during a particularly dark period so the laughs were extra appreciated. A chat with David is always fun so it’s no surprise that this was one of the top 10 stories in 2020 that you read on Grantourismo. We first met David (briefly) in the 1990s at his glam Sydney restaurant Darley Street Thai, a pioneer that paved the way for a new breed of Thai restaurant. But it wasn’t until 2011 after we moved to Thailand that we interviewed the chef when we began writing about Bangkok’s new wave of restaurants. This interview was on the opening of his latest restaurant Aksorn in one of Bangkok’s oldest neighbourhoods, which sprawls along and around one of the city’s oldest streets, Charoenkrung Road. Since leaving Nahm, his flagship restaurant, Thompson has opened Michelin-starred Aaharn in Hong Kong and Long Dtai at Cape Fahn resort on the Thai island of Koh Samui. Of the Long Chim restaurants he opened in Singapore and Australia, Long Chim Sydney and Long Chim Perth have survived. David called me en route to Aksorn, on foot, along bustling Charoenkrung. Fortunately, I wasn’t recording a podcast and have spared you from a conversation that was frequently punctuated by “I can’t hear you!”, “Can you speak louder?”, “What did you say?”, “You’re speaking too softly!”, “It’s not me, it’s you!” I’ll let you be the judge.

New David Thompson Restaurant Aksorn Opens in Bangkok’s Hip Historic Charoenkrung

How to Cook Rice Around the World – 66 Rice Dishes and Rice Cooking Tips from 65 Experts

I was pretty chuffed to see that not only was this story on How to Cook Rice Around the World one of the top 10 stories in 2020 that you read on Grantourismo, but it’s also one of the top stories on Google. It was a story that I’d pitched to a major broadcaster but ended up pulling as I was nervous about how they were going to handle it after receiving the editor’s queries. They were scary! To read about how that came about see this post Make Rice Not War, which was a call to rice lovers to open their minds to different ways of cooking rice other than their own. I decided to publish the full-length story here and go all out, word count not being an issue, and ended up with 66 Rice Dishes and Rice Cooking Tips from 65 Experts from around the world, everywhere from Afghanistan to Australia and India to Indonesia. My experts included chefs, street food cooks, cookbook authors, food writers, culinary guides, caterers, hosts of pop-ups and supper-clubs, and even a former MasterChef contestant or two, who shared advice to cooking all kinds of rice dishes, from curd rice to congee, fried rice to rice desserts. It was intended as a celebration of the diversity of rice dishes and the countless ways rice is cooked around the world came about. The aim was to inspire curiosity in how others cook rice in their homes, on the streets, in restaurants, and in communities, in their countries of origin and adoption, and in diasporas around the world, and I think it succeeded in doing that. This isn’t the last you’ll hear about my #MakeRiceNotWar mission.

How to Cook Rice Around the World – 66 Rice Dishes and Rice Cooking Tips from 65 Experts

And that’s our annual round-up of our top 10 stories in 2020 that you read on Grantourismo done. We can’t wait to see what you read in 2021 and let’s hope it’s a better year for all of us and especially for you.

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About Lara Dunston

A travel and food writer who has experienced over 70 countries and written for The Guardian, Australian Gourmet Traveller, Feast, Delicious, National Geographic Traveller, Conde Nast Traveller, Travel+Leisure Southeast Asia, DestinAsian, TIME, CNN, The Independent, The Telegraph, Sunday Times Travel Magazine, AFAR, Wanderlust, International Traveller, Get Lost, Four Seasons Magazine, Fah Thai, Sawasdee, and more, as well as authored more than 40 guidebooks for Lonely Planet, DK, Footprint, Rough Guides, Fodors, Thomas Cook, and AA Guides.

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About Grantourismo

Lara and Terence are an Australian-born, Southeast Asia-based travel and food writers and photographers who have authored scores of guidebooks, produced countless travel and food stories, are currently developing cookbooks and guidebooks, and host culinary tours and writing and photography retreats in Southeast Asia.
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Still looking for Christmas cooking inspo? Check o Still looking for Christmas cooking inspo? Check out our seafood recipe collection, especially if you celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve with a fish focused meal in the Southern Italian tradition, transformed by Italian-Americans into the Feast of the Seven Fishes, or like Australians, who celebrate Christmas in the sweltering summer, feast on seafood for Christmas Day lunch, we’ve got lots of easy seafood recipes for you.

Our recipes include a classic prawn cocktail, blini with smoked salmon, a ceviche-style appetiser, and devilled eggs with caviar. We’ve also got recipes for fish soup, seafood pies and pastas, salmon tray bake, and crispy salmon with creamy mashed potatoes.

You’ll find the recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/seafood-recipes-for-christmas-eve-and-christmas-day-menus/
(Link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Merry Christmas if you’re celebrating!! 

#christmas #christmasfood #seafood #fish #recipes #christmasrecipes #foodstagram #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood #picoftheday #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #grantourismo #grantourismotravels #xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas
If you’re still looking for food inspo for Chris If you’re still looking for food inspo for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day meals, my smoked salmon ‘carpaccio’ recipe is one of dozens of recipes in this compilation of our best Christmas recipes (link below). 

The Christmas recipe compilation includes collections of our best Christmas breakfast recipes, best Christmas brunch recipes, best Christmas starter recipes, best Christmas cocktails, best Christmas dessert recipes, and homemade edible Christmas gifts and more.

My smoked salmon carpaccio recipe makes an easy elegant appetiser that’s made in minutes. If you’re having guests over, you can make the dish ahead by assembling the salmon, capers and pickled onions, and refrigerate it, then pour on the dressing just before serving. 

Provide toasted baguette slices and bowls of additional capers, pickles and dressing, so guests can customise their carpaccio. And open the bubbly!

You’ll find that recipe and many more Christmas recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/best-christmas-recipes/ (link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Merry Christmas!! X

#christmas #christmasfood #recipes #christmasrecipes #foodstagram #salmon #smokedsalmon #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood #picoftheday #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #writingacookbook #grantourismo #grantourismotravels 
#xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas
If you haven’t visited our site in a while, I sh If you haven’t visited our site in a while, I shared a collection of recipes for homemade edible Christmas gifts — for condiments, hot sauces, chilli oils, a whole array of pickles, spice blends, chilli salt, furakake seasoning, and spicy snacks, such as our Cambodian and Vietnamese roasted peanuts. 

I love giving homemade edibles as gifts as much as I love receiving them. Who wouldn’t appreciate jars filled with their favourite chilli oils, hot sauces, piquant pickles, and spicy peanuts that loved-ones have taken the time to make? 

Aside from the gesture and affordability of gifting homemade edibles, you’re minimising waste. You can use recycled jars or if buying new mason jars or clip-top Kilner jars, you know they’ll get repurposed.

No need for wrapping, just attach some Christmas baubles or tinsel to the lid. I used squares of Cambodian kramas (cotton scarves), which can be repurposed as napkins or drink coasters, and tied a ribbon or two around the lids, and attached last year’s Christmas tree decorations to some.

You’ll find the recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/homemade-edible-christmas-gifts/ (link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Yes, that’s Pepper... every time there’s a camera around... 

#christmasgiftideas #ediblegifts ##christmasfoodgifts #foodgifts #giftideas #homemadegifts #christmasfood #ediblegiftideas #hotsauce #chillisauce #sriracha #pickles #homemadepickles #recipes #foodstagram #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood 
#blackcat #blackcatsofinstagram #picoftheday 
#christmas #christmastree #xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas #cambodia #siemreap
This crab omelette is a decadent eggs dish that’ This crab omelette is a decadent eggs dish that’s perfect if you’re just back from the fish markets armed with luxurious fresh crab meat. It’s a little sweet, a little spicy, and very, very moreish.

Our crab omelette recipe was one of our 22 most popular egg recipes of 2022 on our website Grantourismo and it’s no surprise. It’s appeared more times than any other egg recipes on our annual round-ups of most popular recipes since Terence launched Weekend Eggs when we launched Grantourismo in 2010.

If you’re an eggs lover, do check out the recipe collection. It includes egg recipes from right around the world, from recipes for classic kopitiam eggs from Singapore and Malaysia and egg curries from India and Myanmar to all kinds of egg recipes from Thailand, Japan, Korea, China, Mexico, USA, Australia, UK, and Ireland.

And do browse our Weekend Eggs archives for further eggspiration (sorry). We have hundreds of egg recipes from the 13 year-old series of recipes for quintessential egg dishes from around the world, which we started on our 2010 year-long global grand tour focused on slow, local and experiential travel. 

We’re hoping 2023 will be the year we can finally publish the Weekend Eggs cookbook we’ve talked about for years based on that series. After we can find a publisher for the Cambodia cookbook of course... :( 

Recipe collection here (and proper link to Grantourismo in our bio):
https://grantourismotravels.com/22-most-popular-egg-recipes-of-2022-from-weekend-eggs/

If you cook the recipe and enjoy it please let us know — we love to hear from you — either in the comments at the end of the recipe or share a pic with us here.

#recipe #recipes #eggs #eggslover #breakfasteggs #WeekendEggs #egg #breakfast #brunch #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood  #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #lookingforapublisher #writingacookbook  #grantourismo #grantourismotravels
I’m late to share this, but a few days ago Angko I’m late to share this, but a few days ago Angkor Archaeological Park, home to stupendous Angkor Wat, pictured, celebrated 30 years of its UNESCO World Heritage listing. 

That’s as good an excuse as any to put this magnificent, sprawling archaeological site on your travel list this year.

While riverside Siem Reap, your base for exploring Angkor is bustling once more, there are still nowhere near the visitors of the last busy high season months of December-January 2018-2019 when there were 290,000 visitors. 

Last month there were just 55,000 visitors and December feels a little quieter. A tour guide friend said there were about 150 people at Angkor Wat for sunrise a few days ago.

If you’re looking for tips to visiting Angkor, Siem Reap and Cambodia, just ask us a question in the comments below or check Grantourismo as we’ve got loads of info on our site. Click through to the link in the bio and explore our Cambodia guide or search for ‘Angkor’. 

And please do let us know if you’re coming to Siem Reap. We’d love to see you here x

#siemreap #cambodia #asia #travel #instatravel #traveldeeper #slowtravel #localtravel #experientialtravel #exploremore #neverstopexploring #goexplore #igtravel #angkorwat #angkor #temple #temples #angkorwithoutcrowds #unesco #unescoworldheritagesite #unescoworldheritage #archaeology #archaeologicalsite #traveladdict #beautifuldestinations #beautifulplaces #travelgram #wanderlust #picoftheday📷 #grantourismotravels.
Our soy ginger chicken recipe will make you sticky Our soy ginger chicken recipe will make you sticky, flavourful and succulent chicken thighs that are fantastic with steamed rice, Chinese greens or a salad, such as a Southeast Asian slaw. 

The chicken can be marinated for up to 24 hours before cooking, which ensures it’s packed with flavour, then it can be cooked on a barbecue or in a pan.

Terence’s soy ginger chicken recipe is one of our favourite recipes for a quick and easy meal. I love the sound of the sizzling thighs in the pan, and the warming aromas wafting through the apartment. 

It’s amazing how such flavourful juicy chicken thighs come from such a quick and easy recipe.

Recipe here (and proper link to Grantourismo in our bio): https://grantourismotravels.com/soy-ginger-chicken-recipe/

If you cook it and enjoy it please let us know — we love to hear from you — either here or in the comments at the end of the recipe on the site or share a pic with us x 

#recipe #recipes #chicken #soygingerchicken #asianfood #southeastasianfood #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #cookingtime #recipe #recipes #comfortfood #foodblog #food #foodstagram #healthyfood #instafood #healthy #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #writingacookbook #grantourismo #grantourismotravels
Who can guess the ingredients and what we’re mak Who can guess the ingredients and what we’re making with my market haul from Psar Samaki in Siem Reap — all for a whopping 10,000 riel (US$2.50)?! 

Birds-eye chillies thrown in for free! They were on my list but the seller I spent most at (5,000 riel!) scooped up a handful and slipped them into my bag. She was my last stop and knew what I was making.

My Khmer is poor, even after all our years in Cambodia, as I don’t learn languages with the ease I did in my 20s, plus I’m mentally exhausted after researching and writing all day. I have a better vocabulary of Old and Middle Khmer than modern Khmer from studying the ancient inscriptions for the Cambodian culinary history component of our cookbook I’m writing.

So when one seller totalled my purchases I thought she said 5,000 riel but she handed back 4,500 riel! The sum total of two huge bunches of herbs and kaffir lime leaves was 500 riel.

Tip: if visiting Siem Reap, use Khmer riel for local shopping. We’ve mainly used riel since the pandemic started— rarely use US$ now as market sellers quote prices in riels, as do local shops and bakeries, and I tip tuk tuk drivers in riels. I find prices quoted in riels are lower.

Psar Samaki is cheaper than Psar Leu, which is cheaper than Psar Chas, as it’s a wholesale market, which means the produce is fresher. I see veggies arriving, piled high in the back of vehicles, with dirt still on them — as I did on this trip. 

The scent of a mountain of incredibly aromatic pineapples offloaded from the back of a dusty ute was so heady they smelt like they’d just been cut. More exotic European style veggies arrive by big trucks in boxes labelled in Vietnamese (from Dalat) and Mandarin (from China), such as beautiful snow-white cauliflower I spotted.

Note: the freshest produce is sold on the dirt road at the back of the market.

#cambodia #siemreap #foodwriter #foodblogger #foodphotography #igfood #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #instadaily #picoftheday #market #siemreapmarket #psarsamaki #marketfresh #vegetables #healthyfood #marketshopping #traveltips #foodtravel #culinarytravel #localtravel #cooking #cookingtime #curry #homemade #currypaste #grantourismotravels
My Vietnamese-ish meatballs and rice noodles recip My Vietnamese-ish meatballs and rice noodles recipe makes tender meatballs doused in a delightfully tangy-sweet sauce, sprinkled with crispy fried shallots, with carrot-daikon, crunchy cucumber and fragrant herbs. 

The dish is inspired by bún chả, a Hanoi specialty, but it’s not bún chả. No matter what Google or food bloggers tell you. Names are important, especially when cooking and writing about cuisines not our own.

This is an authentic bún chả recipe:  https://grantourismotravels.com/vietnamese-bun-cha-recipe/ You’ll need to get the outdoor BBQ/grill going to do proper smoky bún chả meat patties (not meatballs).

My meatball noodle bowl is perhaps more closely related to dishes such as a Central Vietnam cousin bún thịt nướng (pork skewers on rice noodles in a bowl) and a Southern relation bún bò Nam Bộ (beef atop rice noodles, sprinkled with fried shallots (Nam Bộ=Southern Vietnam) though neither include meatballs. 

Xíu mại= meatballs although they’re different in flavour to mine, which taste more like bún chả patties. Xíu mại remind me of Southern Italian meatballs in tomato sauce.

In Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, home to millions of Khmer, there’s bánh tằm xíu mại. Bánh tằm=silk worm noodles. They’re topped with meatballs, cucumber, daikon, carrot, fresh herbs, crispy fried onions. Difference: cold noodles doused in a sauce of coconut cream and fish sauce. 

Remove the meatballs, add chopped fried spring rolls and it’s Cambodia’s banh sung, which is a rice noodle salad similar to Vietnam’s bún chả giò :) 

Recipe here: (link in bio) https://grantourismotravels.com/vietnamese-meatballs-and-rice-noodles-recipe/

For more on these culinary connections you’ll have to wait for our Cambodian cookbook and culinary history. In a hurry to know? Come support the project on Patreon. (link in bio)

#recipe #recipes #vietnamesefood #cambodianfood #asianfood #southeastasianfood #ricenoodles #rice #noodlebowl #meatballs #igfood #igfoodie #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood  #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #writingacookbook #writingacambodiancookbook #patreon #patreoncreator #grantourismo
It is pure coincidence that Pepper’s eye colour It is pure coincidence that Pepper’s eye colour matches the furnishings of our rented apartment. So, no, I did not colour-coordinate the interiors to match our cat’s eyes. 

I keep getting DMs from pet clothing brands wanting to “partner” with Pepper and send her free cat clothes and cat accessories. Although she did wear a kerchief for a few years in her more adventurous fashion-forward teenage years, I cannot see this cat in clothes now, can you? 

#pepper #blackcat #blackcats #blackcatsofinstagram #blackcatsrule #blackcatsmatter #cat #cats #catsofinstagram #catstagram #catlover #catlovers #catlove #catoftheday #catphoto #catpic #catpics #cambodiancat #cambodiancatsofinstagram #catlife #catloversclub #catoftheday #catgram #catstagram #cats_of_instagram #catphotography #catsofig #catsoftheworld #catsofinsta #cats🐱 #siemreap #cambodia

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