NATALIE GLEBOVA - MS UNIVERSE 2005 AT THE THAI FESTIVAL !!!

Highlight of my week is being able to talk to Natalie Glebova, Miss Universe 2005 : having a photo with her, and shamelessly asked her to autograph my DKNY manbag,  at the Thai Food and Culture Festival yesterday!

It is a very rare chance to see and get so close to a Miss Universe in person that I was rolling over like a cat - and the fact that I (again!) brought a useless camera (since my batteries all of a sudden died again!) was really anti climactic.  It was sooo good that N immediately ran and bought some batteries so I could take some once in a lifetime photos with the Miss Universe !!!  Can u imagine ???? 

I did not even dress properly for the occasion - since we basically went there just to have some really nice Thai food.   And I was so hungry I could eat anything!  I regretted not even having a proper shave and wore something nice for this photo opportunity.  I basically did not know that she will be there to grace the occasion !!!!!!!  Having won the MU contest in Thailand in 2005 she automatically became the ambassador and promoter of Thai Beer (maybe she had so much of it she’d put on a little bit of weight :)   But even her passing the crown she still has that winning streak of a Miss Universe and I adore her.

N could not stand my giving the photo such a big big deal, and following Natalie around like a mad fan  - for he does not understand a Miss Universe mania which is basically me!!!

Anyway, I promise that Natalie is so beautiful (10 times) in person and she has that very nice and “no air, no star complex” personality!    I was totally aweeee struck!!!  And I can shamessly post some photos here even if I do not really look even an inch pretty next to her!  She is sooooo beautiful!  And I basically look like a screaming fan (don’t care!!!) As long as I got my photo with the Miss U - who knows she might have sprinkled around some magic beauty powder for the unlucky ones! 

What’s the word more powerful than beautiful - that’s what she is !

My best photo with the MU though I look like an Asian Dyke in Bike!

 

I look like a Filipina maid in HK !!!

She is so adorable !!!

She’s looking for her sunnies.  Her Thai assistant lady kickboxer body guard in action !

Crowning the Miss Thailand of Melbourne.

She is sooo tall - that the Thai beauty contestants look like dwarf maids.

THAI 101 : THAITANIC FOOD AND CULTURE

I love love love Thai Food !!! 

Maybe because it was cooked by The Buddha’s Take Away!  

Gao, has become a very close friend over the years, and she has opened her home and kitchen to us like a family. 

So whenever we come drop by the take away shop, she cooks special dishes and introduced us to the more provincial Thai food.  Some of the food that she cooked, are very similar to the Filipino food particularly in the Bicol and even the Ilocano versions.   

The secret are the herbs and spices she uses plus a chuck-full of red hot chillis which really bring you to the seventh heaven in your culinary journey!

On one occasion, her assistant cook on her instructions, prepared this unbelievably beautiful seafood salad - the mix of green papaya, coriander leaves, lemongrass, green lime, Thai Basil leaves, plus other Thai ingredients to pre-mixed seafood (prawn, oyster, squid, processed fish, etc)… was really unforgettable.

The essence of Thai cuisine is contrast as well as harmony.

Sweet, sour, spicy, and salty play a balancing act together where one flavor never supersedes the other. 

Every Thai food is a work of Art - and they also take much pride in their presentations.

I think that’s the real reason, why I love Thai Food, even more than the Filipino food, which generally is a hogmash or mismash of everything,  honestly!

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