Contemporary Thai

Book Description

Known for its beautiful traditional and contemporary handicrafts, it's no wonder that Thailand is home to some of the most beautifully decorated houses in the world. Elegant, innovative and versatile, Contemporary Thai is overflowing with an amazing array of design ideas. From modernist furniture, table settings, light fixtures and furnishings combining old traditions with new styles, Contemporary Thai is the perfect book for anyone looking to add a distinctive touch to their home decor.

Customer Reviews:

Not so Contemporary.......2007-08-17

The cover is a bit deceiving. I wouldn't really call this "Contemporary Thai" as its a bit outdated now (printed in 2000) with examples of more traditional arts and crafts rather than whole interiors. However, it is a good source book to see what fabrics, ceramics, sculptures, table settings, etc. are made in Thailand.

Contemporary Thai.......2005-07-21

It's a typically and exclusively fantastic book. It helps me study and learn a lot more about contemporary Thai style to start decorating 1 of the rooms in my house in that style. Highly recommend this book to all of readers and Thai-style or Asian-style fans.

Wow, do I love Thai style now!!!.......2002-03-06

I loved this book. It's a feast for the eyes, and is a great introduction to Thai style. While Japanese, Zen and Feng Shui styles have been overexposed lately, Thai style is a secret so wonderful, it won't be a secret much longer.

I bought this book in preparation for a vacation to Thailand. We planned to go on a shopping spree for household furniture and accessories while in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. Our decorating style is contemporary with an Asian twist. BINGO, Contemporary Thai caught my eye. This book gave me an excellent introduction to the common handicrafts and furniture styles to look for. It includes an up-to-date resource list with addresses and web sites to purchase items shown in the book. If you covet any items but can't make the trip to Thailand, many of the resources can ship internationally.

After spending a month in Thailand, I realized that Contemporary Thai covers the full gamut of what's available there: Jim Thompson silks, basketry, celadon dinnerware, silversmithing, woodworking, woven textiles ... and the book gives you a glimpse of all these things displayed in gorgeous homes, gardens, hotels and restaurant settings. The quality of the homes and photography rivals what you can find in Metropolitan Home and Elle Decor. And, not only does the book show materialistic stuff (hey, I'm honest enough about what this is all about!), but it gives some cultural and historical perspective as well.

If you like Asian style, take a chance on learning about Contemporary Thai style.

Visually Stimulating.......2001-11-19

I was in BORDERS BOOKS shopping for some audio tapes, and decided to check-out what was in the Home Decorating Section. I discovered this MARVELOUS book. I was captivated by the photographs on each and every page. For those individuals seeking design ideas, color options or furniture placement this is a MUST HAVE! The photographer did a marvelous job capturing the essence of Thai Design in the modern home. This is definately my next purchase when I go back to the book store.

Blending the Past with the New.......2001-04-17

A beautiful book illustrating how to blend traditional Thai architecture, arts and crafts with the contemporary style of living and home decor. Like many others, this book will contribute to the renaissance of traditional arts of Southeast Asia and, hopefully, help propagate the livelihood of traditional artisans. Moreover, the secret is out with the appendix of artisans, companies and shops where one can purchase such materials. This book is a must for someone who has visited Thailand and appreciated the style of the Amanpuri, Sukothai or the Oriental hotels. You, too, can now replicate a little of Thailand in their own home.

Average customer rating:

Great guide to Thai if architecture and carving are your muse
Plenty of info. view, plans, sketches. must have it
The Best Book Yet on Traditional Thai Houses

Thai House: History And Evolution
Ruethai Chaichongrak
Manufacturer: Weatherhill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

Thailand | Asia | History | Subjects | Books

General | Home Design | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

jp-unknown2 | Specialty Stores | Books

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ASIN: 0834805200
Release Date: 2002-11-01

Book Description

The construction of wooden houses raised on stilts, which help to escape floods and pests, is a phenomenon found across Southeast Asia. Over many centuries each country has developed its own unique tradition. Thailand is no exception and, indeed, each of the country's four main regions has developed its own distinctive style, making the wooden houses of Thailand among the most widely diverse and beautiful examples of Southeast Asian architecture. The Thai House not only traces the history of these versatile buildings, but also explains the stages in their construction, the beliefs that underlie the positioning of every architectural element, and the complex ceremonies celebrating their construction. Beautiful photographs and authoritative texts celebrate a wide variety of Thai houses.

Customer Reviews:

Great guide to Thai if architecture and carving are your muse.......2007-01-03

Great guide to Thai if architecture and carving are your muse. Details of the construction method and accompanying buddhist ceremonies are well photo'd and described. Explaination of the details are put into context of the culture and climate in which the architecture has evolved. I just went to northern Thailand and this book helped me understand the architecture I was seeing in ways I definately would not have noted with out this background.

Plenty of info. view, plans, sketches. must have it.......2004-05-21

I find this book very useful for Thai style house reference. It gives the over all views to understand of relationship between cultures and inhabitant. It is very well illustrated the different of each region style. Very nice sketches, plans, photos. The best so far for books published about Thai style house.

The Best Book Yet on Traditional Thai Houses.......2004-02-22

This book is absolutely well-written by experts, whose alma mater I share, in the subject. It contains accurate and informative information for those who wish to know all aspects of tradition and culture that go into designing and construction of traditional Thai houses. The photos in the book are abundant and very beautiful. I bought this book sight-unseen and what luck! I am Thai and this book contains some details even a Thai person does not know. I hereby offer my highest recommendation!

Buddha's Table: Thai Feasting Vegetarian Style

Average customer rating:

Not too thrilled
Beats the Restaurant dishes at first try!
Vege Thai to Love
Excellent Introduction to Thai Vegetarian Cuisine.Buy It.
A guide to the joy of meatless cuisine

Buddha's Table: Thai Feasting Vegetarian Style
Chat Mingkwan
Manufacturer: Book Publishing Company (TN)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

General | Vegetables & Vegetarian | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1570671613

Book Description

Here is a great collection of Thai recipes in terms of taste and execution for the home cook, adjusted to please Western vegetarian tastes. Enjoy salads, soups, stir-fries and curries, beautifully illustrated with full-color photographs. The author regularly appears as a guest chef at major culinary schools.

Customer Reviews:

Not too thrilled.......2007-10-02

I've made 3 recipes from this book, and all of them were edible, although the Tom Kha required some alterations before I was willing to serve it.

I think the problem here is that the author is not himself a vegetarian (according to the intro) and therefore is not familiar with typical substitutions. The Tom Kha recipe omitted the usual fish sauce--just omitted it without any replacements. Could we use a konbu soupbase for a fishy flavor? Maybe some of that fermented bean paste? Something was missing. I'll have to attempt my own substitutions.

The Phad Thai recipe also just omitted the fish sauce without replacements. It had a pretty good flavor though. My husband thought it was great.

The author seems to use mushrooms in place of meat in most recipes. I like mushrooms, but if you don't, be warned.

I am familiar with good Thai flavor--there was a little hole-in-the-wall Thai restaurant near where I used to live. The walls of the restaurant were decorated with framed magazine articles naming that restaurant as the most authentic Thai restaurant in the western United States. The food was excellent. The recipes in this cookbook are just close enough to remind me of that Thai restaurant, but far enough to make me really miss good Thai food.

The first time I opened this book, it made a cracking sound and now the pages are falling out; inferior binding, but the other books I own in this series are not falling apart.

Beats the Restaurant dishes at first try!.......2007-09-18

I did not expect so much from this book and was worried I would never be able to find all the ingredients listed here, but boy was I wrong. I was able to find most of the ingredients at 99 ranch (Chinese market) and the book also lists colorful pictures and descriptions of the major ingredients listed in the recipes. I just made Phad Thai & Red Curry from scratch using this book and they were absolutely amazing. I'm a novice at cooking but these dishes were in some ways even better than some of the Thai restaurants I've been to, not just because it's less oily and less salty but very tasty! I can't wait to try rest of the recipes to add to my home cooked vegetarian meals. Definitely recommend it.

Vege Thai to Love.......2005-08-20

A very good local Thai restaurant had recently closed and my wife and I were looking for some replacement when we found this cookbook in a vege zine. The recipe's are great and easy to follow. We made the Tom Yum which is a lemon grass soup and it was excellent, just like the restaurant.

Excellent Introduction to Thai Vegetarian Cuisine.Buy It........2005-03-05

`Budda's Table' by Chat Mingkwan looks like a typical `little cookbook' you commonly see published by Chronicle Books, some of which are decent and some of which are a waste of money compared to other titles available for a similar price. This book, published by a house with the incredibly modest name of `Book Publishing Company' out of Summertown, Tennessee, has lots to offer, even if it isn't published by Alfred A. Knopf, Harper Collins, or Artisan.

Unlike the dominant cuisines of India, Thai cooking is not inherently vegetarian, and yet Buddhism, a religion with strong vegetarian tendencies is the most important religion in Thailand. This gives rise to the book's title and subtitle, `Thai Feasting Vegetarian Style'. This means that fish sauce, one of the most important Thai ingredients, has been removed from all recipes. This is probably about as dramatic as removing anchovies from all Italian dishes. Fortunately, the wealth of southeast Asian fermented bean pastes are up to filling in the gaps left by removing the famous `Nam Pla' from all recipes.

This is not to say Chat Mingkwan has abandoned Thai traditional cooking. He begins his book with an excellent little guide to Thai ingredients which is no replacement for good references such as Bruce Cost's `Asian Ingredients', but it is an honest coverage of the field with a firm commitment to the belief that there are a lot of Thai ingredients with which you cannot substitute and expect to achieve the right Thai taste. Foremost of these in my mind is galangal, a rhizome with some resemblance to ginger. But, based on the scientific names of the two plants, they are not closely related. They certainly do not belong to the same genus. Another unmistakable and unreplacable ingredient is tamarind. While I have never knowingly tasted galangal, I have tasted tamarind and can think of nothing in the western pantry that comes close to its taste. It is sharp, but its bite is somewhere between cassia (Asian cinnamon), licorice, and vinegar.

Thai cuisine is an ancient fusion of Indian and Chinese cuisines, jolted to an entirely new level with the addition of the capsicum chilies from the New World. I know less about Indian cooking than I do on just about every other major cuisine you can name, but it seems to me that the primary transformation from Indian to Thai cuisine seems to be the shift of curry mixtures from powders in India to pastes in Thailand. This generalization may be all wet, but it is quite true that virtually all curry bases described in this book are pastes, making the mortar and pestle a very important tool in the Thai kitchen. I agree entirely with the author and millions of Mexican home cooks and Jamie Oliver and everyone else who wants to weigh in on the subject that the mortar and pestle is simply a superior tool for making pasty mixtures than any modern blender or food processor. If you want to make serious use of this book, get a good, heavy set and find yourself a good source of Thai ingredients.

To reinforce this point, the author opens with a 15-page chapter devoted to chili and curry sauces. These recipes also reinforce the fact that you will not succeed with these recipes unless you can find a source for galangal, Kafir lime leaves, and lemongrass. Most of the other ingredients should be no problem in Mittelamerica. In my darkest Pennsylvania, my local farmers market carries fresh lemongrass and cilantro with roots and my local megamart has all the chilies, bean pastes, and tamarind you want.

The next chapter on salads and snacks includes easy recipes with that oh so distinctive Thai taste based on peanuts, lemongrass, chiles, cilantro, and tamarind. This chapter includes a recipe for the famous Pad Thai salad, where, unlike many famous French salads, the only difficult task is finding all the ingredients. The chapter also presents rice as a salad ingredient, something rather uncommon in western menus. And, if rice isn't your dish, there is always tofu.

The chapter on soups brings back my most indelible memory of eating Thai food when I asked for clear Thai soup to be done `spicy'. It was very, very, very spicy hot! Chef Mingkwan immediately scored points with me when I saw his vegetable stock recipe. My fussiest and most highly respected French sources on stocks insist that vegetables are simmered no more than an hour in a stock, and Chef Mingkwan puts his daikon and cilantro and chiles to the hot water for no more than 45 minutes. This chapter also includes a great foodie talking point recipe with a `Hunter's Soup'. This is the Thai vegetarian version of the soup one makes when the hunting has not gone too well.

The next chapter deals with stir-frying, one of the strongest influences from China on the cuisines of Southeast Asia. I have seen street food people from Burma to the Philippines use woks with almost exactly the same techniques as you may see in Shanghai or Beijing. The introduction to this chapter is a fair example of the author's sense of humor as he points out that uses for the wok include steaming, smoking, deep frying, floating on flood waters and sledding in the snow. While the stir fry recipes are very good, this book is no primer on stir-frying technique or stir-frying equipment. If you are not familiar with the wok through experience with Chinese techniques, I suggest you check out Ken Hom's `Quick Wok'. I suspect Martin Yan's earlier books are also good sources, but I have not gotten around to reviewing them yet.

This is a sample of the good Thai cooking experience available to you in this book. The value of this little book is capped with an excellent bibliography that oddly omits a reference to the definitive new work `Thai Food' by David Thompson.

A recommended easy intro to Thai cooking for vegetarians.

A guide to the joy of meatless cuisine.......2005-01-06

Written by a professional restauranteur and Thai native, and printed in binding specially designed to lay flat for easy reference in the kitchen, Buddha's Table: Thai Feasting Vegetarian Style is a guide to the joy of meatless cuisine, focusing upon food styles from all four regions of Thailand. Recipes such as Crispy Noodles, Tofu Patties, Mung Bean Wraps and more are complemented with information on how to properly prepare Thai produce, spices, noodles, wrappers, and rice for those unfamiliar with Thai ingredients. A handful of color photographs enhance this superb and easy-to-use addition to any vegetarian cookbook shelf.

Average customer rating:

A wonderful insight into the gardens of Thailand.

Thai Garden Style
Luca Invernizzi Tettoni
Manufacturer: Periplus Editions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

Garden Design | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

General | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 9625934510

Customer Reviews:

A wonderful insight into the gardens of Thailand........1999-07-14

This book gives a wonderful review of Thai Garden style. The pictures are wonderful and make you want to visit the gardens. The descriptions of the plants are very informative.

Book Description

Beautiful full-color photographs and quick and easy recipes bring to life the tasty international specialties--all of them low in fat and cholesterol and high in fiber. This is the ideal source book for cooks who want to eat smart but also want to eat well. Full-color photographs.

Average customer rating:

*** Thai Style is beautifully exotic and enticing***
Great book

Thai Style
William Warren
Manufacturer: Rizzoli International Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0847810437
Release Date: 1990-11-15

Book Description

That special style that defines a culture is born of many elements. Thai style, so vividly revealed in its architecture and interiors, is the product of a distinctive landscape, a skillful use of varied influences, and a history unique among the peoples of Southeast Asia. It is a style that can be found in rustic country homes or chic Bangkok residences elegantly furnished with antiques and family heirlooms. It may be reflected in a number of unique and historic houses which preserve the best of the past, in unmistakably contemporary interiors where old and new sit comfortably side by side, in traditional structures revamped for modern living, and in lush tropical garden settings and seaside resorts.

The over 370 color photographs by Luca Invernizzi Tettoni present a luminous vision of this distinctive style. A concise introduction by author William Warren places Thai design in context and adds another dimension to our understanding of Thai culture. It is followed by a photographic essay which isolates elements of Thai style, from traditional objects and art forms to handicrafts and street art.

Architecture and interiors are treated in four chapters--Traditions, Traditions Adapted, Foreign Influences and Tropical Modern. Useful measured drawings are featured in the Architectural Notebook, a final section.

Customer Reviews:

*** Thai Style is beautifully exotic and enticing***.......2001-08-01

Thai Style is a book for the eye, as well as those interested in better understanding the merging of Asian cultures. This book is filled with great compilation of gorgeous photos within every chapter and every subject. Youýll see everything from a private collection of coconut scrapers and lawn temples to ornately built houses (and palaces) and lavish swimming pools. The photos are clean, professionally shot, and well suited for the text that they accompany.

For the architecture student, professor, interior decorator, casual home enthusiast, tropical gardener, or if you hold a special affinity for Thailand, this would make a great gift. In many ways it feels like a miniature coffee table book. History is discussed at length, and an entire chapter is devoted to adapted traditions in ýThai styleý. Even though there obviously foreign influences, everything about whatýs pictured seems magically and instantly Thai.

Enjoy!

Great book.......2000-07-03

This is a great book for anyone who loves thailand or art from asia.The pictures are wonderful and beautifully done.This books focuses on thai architecture, its arts and crafts, and history. This is one of my favorite books and i recommend it to anyone who appriciates art.

Bangkok Design: Thai Ideas in Textiles and Furniture

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Bangkok Design: Thai Ideas in Textiles and Furniture
Brian Mertens
Manufacturer: Marshall Cavendish Editions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 9812326006

Book Description

Bangkok Design is the first book of its kind, exploring the acclaimed new furnishings from Thailand and the inspiration behind them. This book profiles 36 of the best Thai designers, showing how they translate their own culture and personal experiences into original products. This group explores a wide variety of styles-minimal, expressionist, modernist, neo-traditional, retro and pop-but each designer has an individual signature.

The profiles include several studio artists whose work either has decorative characteristics or else comments on design-related issues such as cultural identity and sustainability. This inspiring book, beautifully photographed by Robert McLeod and lucidly written by award-winning author Brian Mertens, will appeal to interior designers, architects and collectors.

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Carve Cantalope

Manufacturer: Holly Maker Press Co., Ltd.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 9747349175

Product Description

Advanced how-to book of carvings of mainly flowers. Each page is in Thai and English. B&W with photos and sketches and 8 color plates of finished fruit carvings.

Easy Thai Style Cookery ("Australian Women's Weekly" Home Library)

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Easy Thai Style Cookery ("Australian Women's Weekly" Home Library)
Maryanne Blacker
Manufacturer: A C P Pub Pty Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

Book Description

About Australian Women's Weekly:

Australian Women's Weekly cookbooks have enjoyed more than two decades of success. Available in 100 countries and a dozen different languages, these books Australian Women's Weekly Standard Format Series have sold more than 2 million copies in Canada. Their amazing success rests on three points: the recipes are for today's food, the dishes are quick and simple to make, and each recipe has been triple-tested, guaranteeing that it works the first time, and every time.

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FLAVOURS: Thai Contemporary Art
Steven Pettifor
Manufacturer: Thavibu Gallery
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Modern | Schools, Periods & Styles | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 9749173767

Book Description

This contemporary collection offers a tantalizing taste of Thailand's burgeoning art scene. Beginning with an extensive overview of the issues, trends, and events that have shaped contemporary Thai art, this showcase demonstrates how Thai artists are grappling with their country's rapid modernization in a diverse array of media, often melding international art trends with distinctly Thai craftsmanship. Profiles of 23 established and emerging young artists are featured with thematic descriptions , more than 80 color illustrations, and revealing insights from the artists themselves.

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