Thailand pics & a recipe!

 We had an amazing vacation in Thailand just relaxing, eating, swimming, more eating, and lots of cheap Thai massages.  It's a 3 hour flight from Hong Kong so it was fun to be able to take a quick 4 day trip with my in-laws, who have been visiting.  We all needed the rest after some vigorous Hong Kong site-seeing and in preparation of moving day- which is tomorrow! 

Olivia in her Tory Burch baby outfit...actually from Janie & Jack (of course with her bottle in tow).

The beach, pool and even the afternoon rainshowers were so peaceful. The 1 hour massages on the beach for $13 USD were my absolute favorite! 

We stayed at the JW Marriott Vacation Club which I highly recommend for families- the kid pools were awesome!

This little lady had so much fun playing at the pool- she could not get enough of it. 

Loved the Thai design elements- the beautiful ornate arches, statues, bright colors...it was all so pretty.

I wanted to do the cooking class at the hotel but I ended up just relaxing non-stop, but I thought I'd share on of my favorite Thai dishes & the recipe (actually from my friend Toria!) I love this Coconut Sticky Rice so much, I even made it last night when we got home from Thailand to help us ease back into the stressful Hong Kong bustle.  It's easier with a rice cooker (which I have so loved having...it's kind of standard to have one outsdie the US).  I recommend getting one if you plan on making this alot, which you'll probably want to once you taste it!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups glutenious rice (it will actually say glutenous rice or sweet rice on the packaging- don't use basmati or jasmine or something and expect it to taste the same)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup coconut cream (note cream, not coconut milk)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 mango peeled and cut into bite size pieces (or smaller)

EQUIPMENT:

• steamer (I use the steaming basket on our rice cooker)
• cheesecloth (I think a coffee filter will work too)
• dish with lid (bowl, casserole dish, rubbermaid container)

DIRECTIONS:

1. soak rice in water for a few hours, all day, or over night. Room temp. line your steamer with cheesecloth (or whatever other innovation to prevent the rice from falling through the steamer).
2. drain rice and spread evenly in steaming basket
3. steam rice for 15-20 minutes.
4. while rice is steaming combine coconut cream, salt and sugar over med heat until sugar is dissolved. set aside.
5. once rice is cooked, remove from steamer (and cheesecloth) and dump into separate dish with lid. Pour prepared sauce over rice. Cover. Let sit for 20 minutes to allow the rice to absorb the sauce.
6. garnish with mangos.
7. Enjoy !

If you love the sweet/salty combo you'll love this...it's to die for! Thanks to Toria for the recipe!