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“What a swellegant, elegant
party this is!” (Cole Porter)
Hugh Millar, Charge de
Mission and Ranjith Chandrasiri Bailli Honoraire de Pattaya, present
Executive Chef Walter Thenisch and his kitchen brigade with certificates
of appreciation.
Bailli Ranjith stands
proud as he says ‘thank you’ to the service staff of the Caprice.
Miss Terry Diner
It did not need Cole Porter to grace the piano at the Caprice restaurant
last Sunday to highlight the fact that the Chaine des Rotisseurs had put
on one of the glitziest gourmet dinners for some time. With the new
Bailli (president) being the Royal Cliff Beach Resort’s Ranjith
Chandrasiri, and with a strong committee to assist, the basis for the
evening was sound. However, it was the combined forces of executive chef
Walter Thenisch and his kitchen brigade, plus the service personnel, and
the venue, to make this such a memorable event.
The members and guests of the Chaine des Rotisseurs (the oldest gourmet
group in the world) all followed the spirit of La Chaine, and it was an
opportunity for many of the Pattaya ladies to dress up for the evening,
and for once, even the gentlemen rose to the occasion.
The dinner began with a Norwegian smoked salmon terrine with crab salad,
parsley and yellow pepper juice. This was teamed with a Kendall-Jackson
Vintners Reserve Chardonnay 2003 and the excellent combination had the
diners looking forward to the next course, and the next wine. Many had
already commented upon the fact that, for once, the white wine was
served chilled, as it should be (and not just the bottle)! Great start
to the festivities!
The dinner menu was one which offered the diners the chance to
experience different tastes, flavors and textures, such as the pearled
barley with roasted apple, foie gras, rhubarb and ginger-apple
reduction. An unheard of combination, but one that worked very well,
with the tartness in the ginger-apple reduction contrasting with the
cloying nature of the foie gras.
For many of the Chaine members, it was the reds that were being looked
forward to - especially the Penfolds Bin 8, a strong full-bodied,
typical Australian red. This was teamed with some herb crusted
full-bodied Australian beef tenderloin, and the Down-under delegation
were in Aussie heaven! The rest of the diners were similarly impressed.
For desserts it was a combination of praline tart with chilled Mocha
sauce and chocolate balls wrapped in gold leaf. It was certainly a
‘royal’ occasion.
At the end of the seven course dinner, some Royal Wing Mignardises were
offered, complete in an edible white chocolate box for the chocaholics,
while the wine buffs compared the different reds and white wines.
To contact the Chaine des Rotisseurs, email the Bailli
[email protected]
A swellegant time was had
by all at the Chaine des Rotisseurs’ glitziest gourmet dinner.
PILC has been busy
The Pattaya International Ladies Club has been busy
of late, as shown here by Ingrid Cunliffe, PILC Welfare Chair:
Sponsoring Jesters Family Fun Day
At St Andrews School, Meryl, head of PTG and Mr Weir, a year
5 teacher, received from me on behalf of the Jesters Committee a plaque
of thanks for the 10,000 baht bronze sponsorship money they donated to
the Jesters Family Fun Day, which is 9th September 2007.
Providing a chance to read
This is Wat Nongkeit Noi School, a school PILC supports with
scholarships, and recently we funded the tiling of 4 classrooms. This
photo is the handing over of monies raised with the Opium Art Gallery
night we hosted a few weeks back - the PILC book club bought 2500 baht
worth of great books for the children’s library at the school, which is
fantastic. In the photo are Por Or and PILC members with children from
the school enjoying the books already! Thanks to the PILC book club
members. PILC look forward to continued support for this school.
Supporting Tiew and “Our Home”
PILC Welfare team members, including Kathleen, Fiona and
myself recently handed over monies raised from the monster garage sale
held out at Phuluang, near Green Valley where Tiew has “Our Home”. With
these funds Tiew has nearly reached her target of 450,00 baht to extend
the home so she can take in more homeless girls and teach them the art
of quilting and give them a warm and loving home environment. PILC looks
forward to continued support for Tiew and “Our Home”.
Opium Art Gallery donation
Recently at the Mercy Center, the kids and staff received
from PILC Welfare team members monies raised from the Opium Art Gallery
night.
Providing dental care for FOL
children
Dr Tassanee, head of the dental at department Bkk Pattaya
Hospital and her team visited the Fountain Of Life Center again this
year to check the children’s teeth. 80 of last year’s children have
moved on to government school, which is fantastic, so a lot of the new
children who have recently started at the FOL have never seen a dentist!
The afternoon ran smoothly, with only a couple of kids having tears!
Unfortunately the diagnosis for most of the kids was grim with many
having 10 to 20 cavities on the baby teeth already. I can see we are
going to have another busy time this year ferrying the kids to the
dentist.
If you would like to help with this mammoth task, please either phone
the center or Ingrid, 0870631807.
Ban Eire 1 residents love their new
homes
Recently at the North Star Library, PILC Welfare team members
and Bic handed Marco from the Camillian Center 55,000 baht to go towards
the building of the Ban Eire 2 project, which will be the second Irish
Village built at Ban Chang. Ban Eire 1, which was completed last year,
is going well with the 10 families loving the homes that they now have.
The building will commence shortly for the second project and the 10
homes that will be built will be filled with needy families that
currently have no homes in the area. PILC is proud to be a part of this
worthwhile project and I will keep you updated of the progress made with
the homes.
AustCham for great golf and lovely lamingtons
Nisit Krutkaew, associate of Opus
Recruitment Ltd.; Shane Torr, director of AustCham Thailand; Nonie
Adams, Head of Primary of The Regent’s School; John L. Pollard, managing
director of Meinhardt (Thailand) Ltd. and Gary Woollacott, president of
AustCham Thailand.
Ross Leabourm, E&I superintendent of CUEL
Limited; Ratsame Upato; Ron Smith, senior materials coordinator of CUEL
Limited and Russell White, technical manager of Thai Leighton Limited.
Dr Iain Corness
The Australian Chamber of Commerce (AustCham) organized another of their
very successful (and enjoyable) networking events in Pattaya last
weekend.
Following on from the popular 9 hole golf tournament last year, they
went the whole hog (or should that be the ‘hole’ hog?) and put on an 18
hole charity tournament at the Phoenix Golf Course on the Friday. This
was a very well supported event with over 100 golfers and floggers
swarming on to the course, following the shotgun start at noon.
Fortunately nobody was hit and injured.
The organizers, Tony Emmett, the Eastern Seaboard representative for
AustCham and Paul Wilkinson, GM of AGS Four Winds International Moving,
were delighted with the response, and every hole was sponsored, complete
with a Toyota Fortuner up for grabs for a hole-in-one at the 700 yard
14th. Peter Smith and Malcolm Scorer from AA Insurance Brokers had taken
out good insurance on that one! (It was a shorter hole, I made that up!)
Other memorables on the course included Lisa Smith, the marketing
manager from QBE Insurance Thailand, who was handing out water to the
golfers, while having perhaps something a little stronger herself, being
later unable to remember what the initials QBE stood for! Or perhaps it
was heat stroke. The proceeds were donated to Fr. Giovanni from the
Camillian Center, to assist his hospice for children born with HIV/AIDS.
The day finished at the Marriott Resort and Spa with cluster GM Somsak
Tanruengsri in attendance to make sure everything went well. And
everything did, as the Pattaya Marriott always does. New young Aussie
Kitchen operations manager, Luis Zomora, provided Australian sirloin and
rib-eye beef, plus the Australian tour de force - genuine lamingtons!
(For all those people who don’t know what a lamington is, it is a
Queensland specialty, named after Lord Lamington, the governor of
Queensland in 1898 and further popularized by Flo Bjelke-Petersen, the
pumpkin scone-making wife of an (in)famous Queensland Premier.)
Of course, there was also plenty of networking carried out, with a team
of attractive ladies from Pattaya dot Com, led by their GM Piyanuch
Thanasakrungruang, seen collecting business cards. Also in the
attractive ladies department was Nonie Adams, Head of Primary on the
Pattaya Campus of The Regent’s School. I am sure none of my primary
school teachers looked like fashion models. I must have gone to a
government school.
As the evening wore on, and the wine bottles evaporated, John (T) Dooley
from Grant Thornton was heard to be singing refrains from the 1950’s
under his breath, while hanging down his head (don’t worry, you have to
have been born before 1950 to understand), while John L Pollard
commiserated with him.
AustCham president Gary Woollacott managed to circumnavigate the room
several times before the wine caught up, while executive director Martin
Kyle looked down benignly from his 6 foot 17 inch vantage point.
It was a most enjoyable evening, made even better by affable Aussies
like Paul (Tinfish) Whyte, and renegades Maurice and Juanita Bromley.
Those who could be roused on the Saturday went voluntary English
teaching at the Baan Khao Huay Mahad School, Rayong. You can always
recognize these children, as they are the ones that say “G’Day Mate”,
rather than “Sawasdee”!
Well done, AustCham.
Marco Palestrini, volunteer Camillian Social
Center; Tony Emmett, ESB coordinator of AustCham Thailand and Fr.
Giovanni Contarin, director of Camillian Social Center Rayong.
John DaSilva, business development manager
of Kenan Institute Asia; Stuart Reid, export merchandiser of the Bangkok
Nylon Public Company Limited and Neil Blenkharn, general manager of
Garden Cliff Resort & Spa Pattaya.
Jon R. Hetherington, technical advisor of
Jardine Lloyd Thompson Limited; Mr Smith and Lisa Smith, marketing
manager of QBE Insurance (Thailand) Company Limited.
Martin Kyle, executive director of AustCham
Thailand; Shane Torr, board member of AustCham Thailand and Mike Smith,
managing director of Sinclair Knight Merz (Thailand) Co., Ltd.
Lisa Smith, marketing manager of QBE
Insurance (Thailand) Company Limited and Dr. Iain Corness.
Colin Rogers, regional director of Opus
Recruitment Ltd.; Keerana Dulyapraphan, marketing manager of Bovis Lend
Lease (Thailand) Limited; Stuart Edwards, director of construction of
Trafalgar International Ltd. and Nisit Krutkaew, associate of Opus
Recruitment Ltd.
John Gillies, managing director of Indochine
Asset Management Ltd.; Mark Bowling, sales manager of Indochine Asset
Management Ltd.; Peter Smith, director of AA Insurance Broker Co., Ltd.;
Tim Beaumont, chief executive officer of Woods Bagot (Thailand) Ltd. and
Yupa Chongpatiyutt, partner/country manager of Woods Bagot (Thailand)
Ltd.
Charles Wrightman, general manager of
Natural Ville Managed by Accor; Gary Woollacott, president of AustCham
Thailand; Charles Wrightman, general manager of Natural Ville Managed by
Accor; Albert Ritzer and Berud Batthous.
Gordon Huntly; Charles Wrightman, general
manager of Natural Ville Managed by Accor; Berud Batthous and Albert
Ritzer.
Bangkok International Film Festival
Asian films to take center stage
 For
the first time, the focus of this year’s Bangkok International Film
Festival will be on Asian movies.
Asian films will make up more than 50 per cent of this year’s festival,
which runs from July 19 to 29, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT)
said.
The move is in response to the popularity of Asian films in Thailand and
abroad.
The added movie genres such as horror and romantic comedies had garnered
large followings, and some Asian movies had also been remade into major
Hollywood productions.
The TAT said more than 100 films from some 30 countries would be
screened at the festival, which was initially scheduled for January, but
postponed due to the unavailability of theatres.
Chief Officer of the festival, Mr. Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya, said this
year’s festival was shaping up very well, despite its budget being cut
in half.
He said: “It (the budget cut) definitely won’t have an impact on the
festival.
“We had allowed for the budget cut. We will get good films, you can be
sure of that.’’
He said this year’s event would be a “streamlined festival’’. He added:
“The focus will be on quality films, which is really the heart of any
film festival.
“This year, our main focus will be to provide movie-loving audiences
with the films they’ve been waiting to see.’’
The festival, which is in its fifth edition, will comprise four main
segments: film screenings, workshops and seminars, the film mart, and
the awards ceremony and gala dinner.
The film mart is expected to do brisk business in the acquisition of
Asian films for theatrical release overseas.
The seminars and workshops will educate the public on new developments
in movie-making and highlight important pioneers and periods in local
cinema.
Some of the awards to be given out include the Kinnaree Award for the
best film in the festival as selected by a panel of international
jurors, New Voices Award for first-time directors and ASEAN Films Award
for the best film from ASEAN.
TAT said an ASEAN category would be unique to the festival, and would be
made up of 10 films from countries that included Malaysia and Indonesia
- while the short film competition was a new addition to this year’s
festival.
The World Cinema section includes about 20 movies from countries such as
Germany, France, Denmark and the UK, while the Asian Cinema section is
expected to comprise nearly 30 films from across the region.
The Thai Panorama section would be made up of 12 newly released films,
the NTO said.
The films will be screened at Central World with the film mart held at
Siam Paragon from July 23 to 25.
While earlier editions had been organized with an American-based
partner, this year’s festival is being organized by a group of Thai
organizations, namely, TAT, Central World, SF Cinema and the Association
of Thai Film Federations.
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