The Nest: Chiang Dao

We spent Saturday night at The Nest, a hotel comprised of a series of cabins and salas at the base of Doi Chiang Dao. The place was lovely, the cabins were immaculate, and the food at the restaurant was sublime. The restaurant at this place has picked up awards from Thailand's Tattler and has been recognized as one of the best restaurants in the country, and even though we came in with high hopes, we were somewhat surprised that the place lived up to the hype. I had one of the best meals I've had in the 7 months we've been here. If you're venturing out to Chiang Dao, the restaurant at the Nest 2 is well worth a visit. The chef offers dishes of impeccable quality, and the menu is interesting and changes daily. The chef apparently trained in Europe somewhere, and nothing on the menu feels formulaic - the restaurant has unique offerings and everything was prepared with clear love and attention to detail. You would not expect to find cuisine of this quality at a hotel far from a major city in northern Thailand, but lo and behold, the Nest 2 delivers. If you're venturing out to Chiang Dao, stop in for a bite.

A Dog Named Sangria

Last week we discovered a lovely Spanish Tapas bar called "Su Casa" off Nimmanhaimin road. It's a wonderful thing to know that there's a place in town selling good wine, sublime Spanish ham, fine Manchego cheese, and tasty small plates... Best of all, there's an adorable dog named Sangria wandering around the place. Although this place was pricey by Chiang Mai's standards, the food was great, the service was timely, and its location is perfect, on a quiet soi off the main strip in Nimmanhaimin. Well worth a visit.

Love at First Bite, a bakery

Some time ago, I came across this list on Lonely Planet of things to do in Chiang Mai, I thought it'd be fun to check off the things on the list... Love at First Bite is #2 and we checked it out this past weekend. Even though it's tucked away down a very small soi, Love at First Bite is simple to find and they have a parking lot, which is a bonus since there was so many people there. I was surprised since we went just before closing on a Sunday night but the cafe was buzzing with activity. I'll admit the ordering process was a little confusing...however, once we took a bite of our desserts, that was all forgotten! It really was Love at First Bite and we even contemplated returning once a week to sample all of the treats on the menu!

The sign...

The garden...

The Dessert! Volcano Cake!!! (this one was mine)

Carrot Cake! (this one was Fuad's)

Lemongrass Tea!

This weekend I decided to look into harvesting some of the lemongrass growing in our yard, in total we have 5 (3 of which are rather large) bunches growing strong! I knew I could make lemongrass tea, hot or cold (I fell in love with the cold lemongrass tea we were served on our honeymoon to Bali) so I googled "harvesting lemongrass" and came across this delightful blog, More than Salt & Pepper (which is worth checking out if you like cooking).
My steps are documented in the pictures below (which was an afterthought...I wish my pictures looked as good as my inspiration blog).
I had my first cup of hot lemongrass tea last night to soothe the sore throat I was developing and I'm happy to say it's delicious! I should also include that lemongrass is known for its many healing benefits, if you want to read more on that, click here. 
I hope to bring some of these lemongrass bunches to the US next summer!

Here's 3 of the Lemongrass bunches in a row.

The largest one...this was taken after I clipped the lemongrass for my tea, still plenty to harvest!

In the process, after I washed and dried the stems, I started wrapping them.

Close up of the wrapping...

Laying out to dry on the porch off of our bedroom. In total I made 23 bunches, which makes just as many pots of tea.

Chiang Mai Flower Festival

I hate to admit it, but these floats put my hometown Blossomtime Parade floats to shame...it's more like the Rose Bowl Parade, in that all the floats are totally covered in live flowers! The Chiang Mai Flower Festival, complete with parade and flower festival queen is taking place this weekend in Chiang Mai. After the parade (which we didn't attend, since it started at 8:00 am) the floats are put on display on one corner the historic moat which outlines the downtown Chiang Mai area. The amount of detail put into these creations is incredible and I couldn't stop smiling the entire time I was looking at them! On either side of the street where the floats are on display, flowers which have been judged and awarded are displayed by category. There were tons of all kinds of orchids, Bonsai trees of all sorts (including the very unusual "wind swept" look), roses & more. There were also vendors selling plants & flowers, we picked up some herbs & a few orchids for our yard.
Lastly, wherever there are people, there is food! I've included a few pictures of the food vendors as well.
Today, we plan to work in our own yard!

So much beauty...the Royal Flora International Horticulture Exposition

We hopped on a short shuttle bus ride last weekend & checked out the Royal Flora. It's a massive property that's open for a short time between December & March. It's a little bit botanic gardens meets Disney. Beautiful gardens and scenery all around...hordes of people everywhere, piped music coming from all directions & a giant ferris wheel. There are 30 mini gardens, each representing a different country. My favorite part was the orchid garden. We left the gardens feeling inspired to add more depth to our own and we may even head out there once more before it closes for the rest of the year!