I had been craving this for awhile now and specially so since I’m on the diet right now. I LOVE Khmer salads, they are very easy to make and very very tasty. Cambodians have a really passionate love affair with vegetables and thankfully, I’ve learned to be passionate about my veggies too.

The Nyom Salad is very easy to make. Here’s what you would need:

Cabbage, sliced thinly.

Carrots, strips.

Cucumber, sliced thinly or in strips.

Fresh green been sprouts.

Tomatoes, sliced thinly.

Basil leaves (optional)

Peppermint leaves (optional)

Dried shrimps , soaked and chopped.

Flaked dried fish (optional)

Peanuts

As for the sauce, you just need lemon juice (or vinegar if you don’t have lemon), 1-2 cloves of garlic chopped finely, sugar, fish sauce. Mix the sauce together and when you’re ready to eat just drizzle it over the veggies and toss.

This is just perfect specially if you’re eating deep fried fish or grilled meat.

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It’s  been a crazy while since I last posted anything about learning Khmer language. I was too busy shopping for surge protectors. Lol. Just kidding. Life just happened and I must also admit to being so lazy to learn more of the language. I think my daughter is making a lot more progress that I am. The difference is that she has a more diligent teacher in school and she is so eager to learn, while me, I think hubby and I have gotten so used to speaking English or Filipino with each other that we tend to lose the momentum when it comes to him teaching me Khmer. Sigh.

Anyway, there are moments when I encounter a Khmer word I don’t understand or I want to express myself in Khmer but I don’t have the word for it so what I do now is just write it down and once he’s not too busy I ask him to make the translations for me.

Here’s one thing I’ve been having a hard time to learn – days-weeks-months-year. I think this would come in handy when you’re giving instructions or you are setting a date etc..

Note that these are not actual Khmer words but just approximate English sound equivalents to how the actual Khmer word sounds. As usual Khmer phrases for days and months start with the ‘base’ or ‘root’ words. And here they are:

Year – Chan’am

Month – Khai

Week – Sup’ada (formal) or A’tat (spoken)

Day – T’ngai

Bopha Titanic Restaurant along Sisowath Quay, Phnom Penh is popular with the tourist crowd. And its not really that surprising, it has great location – riverside, extensive menu (Khmer, Thai, and western fares) and the place is spacious.

We love going there for Khmer food, and just to relax and take in the river breeze. Hubby and I both like Khmer and Thai food, while the kiddo prefers pastas and we get all of this in one place. We also love the ambiance, the attentive staff and of course, the food is yummy. Prices are mid-range.

Here’s what we had last time we went there. Khmer Seafood Ma-am Stew- I can’t get enough of this! Its sooo delicious and you’d need unlimited servings of rice with this one. They serve this with lots of veggies to tame the strong salty flavor.

We also had seafood glass noodles which was also great but my camera’s battery died on me so no photos of that..The kiddo as usual ordered her Pasta Bolognese with Garlic Bread. Yum. And the serving is huge.

I’m sooo looking forward to going back there again. Soon.

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Here’s something we’ve been waiting for quite sometime already, after the two countries have signed flight deals since 2009!  Direct flights from the Philippines to Cambodia is finally here! Philippine budget carrier Cebu Pacific Air will commence flights from Manila-Siem Reap and vice versa from April 19, 2012!

Visiting Angkor Wat is now much easier and much much cheaper for Pinoy folks. And what’s even better is that Cebu Pacific Air is currently holding a seat sale till January 29, 2012, so hurry and grab your really cheap fares on this seat sale. I think booking for Cambodia flights commences tomorrow, January 27th @ Cebu Pacific Air. You can also check out Cebu Pacific’s Facebook Page for promo updates.

I’ve checked the schedules and for now the airline is flying to Siem Reap on Sunday-Tuesday-Thursday. Flight times would 19:50  - 21:30 for Manila-Siem Reap and 22:30 – 02:10 for Siem Reap-Manila. That’s about 2 hrs and 40 mins of flying, (Cambodia being 1 hr behind Manila time)!

This news made my day. Lol. I’ve been wishing for this to happen since… well ever since. And now if only Cebu Pacific flies to direct to Phnom Penh too. I know, tourists are mostly after Angkor Wat in Siem Reap but still, majority of Filipino expats reside here and Phnom Penh is increasingly getting a part  in the tourist trail..so Cebu Pacific, pretty please add Phnom Penh to your destinations soon..

Hey, how was your Chinese New Year celebrations? Ours was really fun and merry with lots of food involved. Lol. Khmer-Chinese really celebrate the lunar new year with much fervor. Even local Khmers are now joining in with the festivities! While this is not an official holiday, well, people do take a break. Lots of shops and businesses are closed for three days. So the cities empty out and a lot of people go to provinces to just relax and have a bit of downtime.

Chinese lanterns @ Koh Pich (Diamond Island) Park

As for us, we observed the usual Chinese rituals, offering food, incense and prayers to departed ancestors. Then the next few days were spent eating, playing cards, spending time with the whole clan and it was capped with a road trip.

Now, I’m pretty much tired but revved up. I feel like I’m all in good mood and hearing good music. I guess that little break has done wonders to my mind set.

The food and celebration though has wreaked havoc on my diet so I started today doing vigorous high impact aerobic exercises. I feel really good afterwards and its like my own body metronomes are all in tune and working! And the good news is that when I checked the weighing scale..I didn’t gain any weight. Uh, thank God for healthy Chinese food and the workouts. Lol.