The Children of Thailand

I'm currently in Chiang Mai shooting content and TVCs (Television Commercials) for Five Tastes - and it's going really well. We've had a couple of ripper duos to take on the challenges we've set them. Please do follow it all on the Five Tastes Facebook page - and Like it while you're there.

But a real highlight has been the kids - they're just gorgeous! If I wasn't on HRT I'd seriously be contemplating number five.

Check out this little chicken. Her name is Faaaaaar (probably not, but that's what it sounded like). She was in a restaurant (I use that term loosely) on Soi 38 in Bangkok - where we'd settled ourselves as our duo, Brodie and Ash, manned the street cart over the road. She is looking very apprehensively at me and rightly so because when I said to her mother how gorgeous her daughter is, she jokingly said - via the interpreter - would I like to keep her? Funny for all of us but very disconcerting when you're not yet three. I used to say similar things when my kids were little - but I hope they were clear I was kidding.

Anyway, clearly Faaaaaaar warmed up a bit because she did sit on my knee for a short stint - but as directed by her mum.

Faaaaaaar and me.

And check out these Hmong girls - they are adorable! I posted a picture on Facebook and my friend Toni thought I should bring them home and we could have one each! Made even more appealing because not only are they beautiful, but they were just so friendly and a little bit cheeky as well. We first encountered the Hmong people in Laos about 18 months ago - and you can read all about their crazy courtship customs here.

Hmong girls at the temple in Chiang Mai.

The frogs we've encountered have not been so cute. I don't mind a critter but when Mandy and I tried to wrangle this little guy for a photo, he decided to try and make a leap for it taking us both by surprise. Not pretty - and I'm not talking about the frog!!!!

Mandy and I taken by surprise by the frog I just handed her.

PS: Yes - no proofing again - sorry.

One Night (or six) In Bangkok

So, here we are in Bangkok! When I say 'we', I mean Mandy and I on a shoot for Five Tastes (please do follow on Facebook!)

Five Tastes is a range of authentic Asian dishes that you can whip up at home - even on a weeknight. The initial dishes are Pad Thai, Red Curry, Green Curry and Laksa. If you don't normally cook these kind of dishes at home, I suggest you start with the meal kits which have the right measures of many of the ingredients already sorted for you. Or you can use the curry cooking sauces - just adding your own meat and veg, or if you're feeling even more adventurous, choose the pastes and go crazy making up your own version of the dishes.

You can watch the video of the story behind Five Tastes here, which explains that it's the balance of sweet, sour, bitter, salty and savoury (or umami as the locals call it) that makes Asian cuisine so unique but also tricky to do from scratch at home.

The idea behind our campaign is to taste test the products here in Asia. We've brought over three duos of regular folk to cook up a storm for the locals to demonstrate how easy it is to do and how authentic the result is. You can follow all the action on Facebook and so far, it has been very funny!!!


Our first duo, Ash and Brodie are just gorgeous in every sense of the word. And tonight they will be cooking Five Tastes Pad Thai from a street cart on Soi 38 - one of the city's busiest strips for street stalls - this should be good!

But as we're here, we thought we should check out a few of the other local authentic snacks - like fried grasshoppers. Curiously, there is no 'squish' - they're all 'crunch' and aren't dissimilar to the tarantula legs we chowed down on in Cambodia. We also tried a silk worm - maybe not the worm - maybe it was just the larvae. They look a little creepy but really, taste like some kind of bland bean - and same texture too.

Anyhow, rest assured that Five Tastes in much more delicious than the snacks!!!

Silk Worm Grubs

Grasshoppers - yuuuum