CD SIAM SQUARE

เจ มณฑล ใน คริสเดลิเวอรี่ part 2

เจ มณฑล ใน คริสเดลิเวอรี่ part 1

โดนัท ในรายการ คริสเดลิเวอรี่ part2

โดนัท ในรายการ คริสเดลิเวอรี่ part1

Foie Gras double delight

The gourmet menu for the 2010 Bangkok Chefs Charity Gala Dinner & Auction are prepared by 19 executive chefs from leading hotels in Bangkok and Phuket.The menu's impressive starter is presented by Martin Faist and Leslie Stronach, executive chefs of the Plaza Athenee Bangkok and the InterContinental Bangkok.

Foie gras is a must-have on the Bangkok Chefs Charity Gala Dinner, and this year, the German/Australian duo will work on the French delicacy to dish out a two-in-one starter. One half of the dish will be chef Martin's foie gras with spiced chocolate and wild hibiscus flower and the other half, chef Leslie's duck and foie gras ballotine, apple mustard and cepe dust.

"Leslie is a great partner. It was very easy to design the foie gras dish with him over a couple of conversations on the phone. The idea was born and now we're putting it on the plate," said Martin.

Last Friday the two chefs prepared their contributions and put them together for the first time, and the tasty starter received a thumbs-up.

Last year, Martin created the charity dinner's lobster dish, and this year he's delighted to be cooking foie gras.

"I grew up in Germany, near the French border and Alsace. We always went over to France to get the freshest and best products, including foie gras. And I love foie gras because it is quite unique and a fine product to cook with. The possibilities are endless," he said.

The German chef who's an expert at French cuisine chose to poach the foie gras. Poaching at 60 degrees is a gentle way to cook, he explained, and all the flavours will be easily absorbed to bring out the full taste of the marinade. The smooth texture of the poached foie gras with the sour, sweet taste of the hibiscus jelly and the spiced chocolate perfectly complement each other.

Martin was one of the five chefs to cook for the Yoovidhya family (owner of Red Bull) following the first Bangkok Chefs Charity auction. It was a great experience for them to come up with a one-million-baht menu and design each dish for a very special dinner.

Leslie is a first-timer to the Bangkok Chefs Charity event. The Australian chef has 30 years of cooking experience, working at luxury hotels in many countries before joining the InterContinental Bangkok in January. However, he had previously worked in Thailand in 1997 to 2000 at another five-star hotel, so it's great for him to be back.

"I love Thailand and I'm very honoured to be asked to be a part of this event," he said.

"This for me is my way of saying thank you, and helping others with my fellow culinarians is magic, especially when it's for children."

Working with foie gras is always a passionate experience for Leslie, and his foie gras creation is a recipe from his cookbook. It works perfectly with Martin's in a marriage of flavours that complement and balance the richness of the foie gras.

"It's really a delicious combination and please enjoy it in good company with a lovely Sauternes," said Leslie.

Iran opposition says rulers crushing freedom

Opposition leaders issued fresh calls for freedom on Saturday, accusing Iran's rulers of robbing liberty, jailing people and banning the media, as the nation marked the anniversary of last year's disputed presidential election.

Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi called off plans to stage new demonstrations against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over safety concerns, but vowed that their agitation against his re-election will continue.

Late on Friday, Mousavi said Iran's rulers had distanced themselves from the goals of the 1979 Islamic revolution and the constitution and were "shutting peoples' mouths, banning the media, holding elections as we saw last year and filling the prisons" with those who opposed them.

The security forces used deadly force to quell the massive demonstrations that erupted after Ahmadinejad returned to power in what the opposition had charged was a massively rigged poll.

Protests have not now been held for months, but Tehran's governor general warned against any attempts to demonstrate on Saturday.

"Any illegal move to disrupt public order and trouble people will not be tolerated and will be dealt with," Morteza Tamaddon was quoted as saying on Friday by the state news agency IRNA.

By noon (0730 GMT), there were no reports of protests, but late Friday people were shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) -- an opposition mantra -- from rooftops in several areas of Tehran.

The election bitterly divided Iran's political elite and dragged supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who openly backs the president, into the crisis.

He accused the West of masterminding the protests in a bid to topple the Islamic regime.

But former premier Mousavi and ex-parliament speaker Karroubi, who were close to Iran's revolutionary father Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, brush aside such allegations.

For them, the opposition "Green Movement" is a grassroots initiative pursuing the aspirations of the revolution, including free elections, freedom of expression and respect for human rights.

Mousavi urged that the opposition movement be kept "alive as they (rulers) will be afraid of this very thing."

He said demonstrations need not be the only way to protest and that the opposition must spread its message through "real and virtual social networks."

"We should... help expand websites... as films shot on cellphones... are our best instruments. They act like an army," he said on Sahamnews, Karroubi's website.

Last year's uprising was symbolised by a mobile phone video of 26-year-old Neda Agha-Soltan bleeding to death on a Tehran street during a protest posted on the Internet.

US President Barack Obama, whose country has had no diplomatic ties with the Islamic republic for three decades, noted her death on Thursday as he urged the world to support the Iranian people in their fight for "freedom."

Karroubi said "what counts is the vote of the people and that there are free elections."

He said currently the outcome of polls was being decided by the electoral watchdog the Guardians Council. "Is this a republic?", he questioned.

Dozens of people were reportedly killed in in running street battles between security forces and protesters in Tehran and other cities after the election.

The regime crushed the protests, rounding up politicians and journalists close to Mousavi and Karroubi and unleashing the feared Basij Islamic militia on those who dared to demonstrate.

In its 2099 annual report, Amnesty International charged that "compelling evidence emerged that a number of detainees, both women and men, had been raped and otherwise tortured in detention."

The authorities reacted furiously to the accusations of rape first made by Karroubi. But they were forced to admit abuses at Tehran's notorious Kahrizak detention centre, which was closed after at least three protesters died of injuries there.

Iran has also sentenced 10 protesters to death and hanged seven people on security charges unrelated to the election -- but seen as a warning to opposition groups.

Mexico dent South Africa World Cup dream start

Host nation South Africa got their continent's first World Cup off to a thrilling start by scoring the tournament's opening goal in a spirited 1-1 draw with Mexico.

Siphiwe Tshabalala's stunning 55th-minute strike had most of the 85,000 fans in Johannesburg's Soccer City stadium - and an entire country - on their feet.

Mexican veteran Rafael Marquez equalised in the 79th minute, but only a post denied South Africa a famous late victory when striker Katlego Mphela was denied by the woodwork.

South Africa's Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Parreira praised his side - ranked 83rd in the world - for holding their nerve in a match many had expected them to lose.

"As the game progressed, the players became more relaxed and I think the players have broken the ice in terms of playing in a competition like this," said the Brazilian.

"Most of our team are a home-based team, players who are not used to this big environment, and we tried hard to adapt to this ambience, but after 15 minutes we started playing our game, putting the ball on the ground.

"The draw keeps us alive in the competition."

Mexico's coach Javier Aguirre said his team had failed to capitalise on their early domination.

"I think we had a very good first half, but we weren't capable of really putting away our chances," said Aguirre.

"Both teams are going away with a bitter-sweet taste and now we are forced to beat France in our next game."

Elsewhere former champions France failed to set the World Cup alight as they struggled to a 0-0 draw against 10-man Uruguay in an uninspiring start to their campaign.

France coach Raymond Domenech raised a few more eyebrows by leaving not just Thierry Henry on the bench but also Florent Malouda.

Nicolas Anelka was tasked with the main goalscoring duties and Arsenal's Abou Diaby drafted in for the Chelsea midfielder.

But they looked far from convincing at a packed Green Point Stadium.

"It's frustrating not to have won. Perhaps we weren't quite calm enough or precise enough, but they defended very well and they have a certain quality to their game," said Domenech.

"Clearly I would have preferred 1-0 but that is not what occured."

Both sides started lively enough with France having a great opportunity to take an early lead on six minutes when the dangerous Franck Ribery gave his defender the slip down the left.

Uruguay were struggling to find their groove until Diego Forlan found space just outside the penalty area and curled in a shot that forced a fine save from Hugo Lloris.

But just as suddenly the match got bogged down in midfield and the chances dried up, with the teams going to the break all-square.

The second half started as the first finished and it was becoming a turgid affair.

Forlan showed glimpses of the form that bagged him so many goals last season, but the goalkeepers were hardly troubled.

In Johannesburg, the curtain-raiser was preceded by an entertaining opening ceremony infused with the colours and sounds of Africa.

Hundreds of dancers filled Soccer City stadium and the air hummed with the sound of thousands of vuvuzelas which are set to be a constant feature of the tournament.

One heartbroken absentee from the party was Nelson Mandela, who decided he could not join the festivities following the death of his great granddaughter in a car crash as she was returning from a pre-tournament concert.

The tragedy threw a shadow over an event which is about far more than just football.

South Africa's pride in making history as the first African hosts has shone through as the Rainbow Nation rides a wave of euphoria not seen since the collapse of apartheid and Mandela's subsequent election.

Friday's action starts a 64-match bonanza, which will culminate back at Soccer City with the final on July 11.

On Saturday, the fabulously talented Lionel Messi and his Argentine teammates coached by the unpredictable Diego Maradona take on Nigeria, and Wayne Rooney leads England in search of their first world crown since 1966.

England's Italian coach Fabio Capello is confident Rooney will prove against the United States in Rustenburg that he can be one of the tournament's leading players - providing he keeps his famously short temper under control.

"I hope it will be the same Rooney in the World Cup. I spoke with him. He is a fantastic player because he wants to win and the hunger in him is really, really strong," Capello said.

"But in this World Cup we have to be careful and respect the referees."

European champions Spain, bidding to lift the World Cup for the first time in their history, became the last of the 32 teams to arrive in South Africa, touching down in Johannesburg on Friday.

Bookmakers have installed the gifted Spanish team including Fernando Torres, Andres Iniesta and Xavi as the favourites, but Spain have crumbled so often at this level that many observers believe Brazil could add a sixth title to their record haul.

Kaka and his Brazilian teammates open their challenge against surprise qualifers North Korea on Tuesday, while Spain take to the pitch for the first time on Wednesday against Switzerland.

The mysteries of history

Olly Steeds wears no fedora and has no whip tucked in his belt. Yet bring it on: from high-altitude Peruvian tombs to the Middle-Eastern desert and an Ethiopian cathedral where occult treasures are thought to be hidden, the man strives, like Indiana Jones, to unlock the mysteries buried under the sand of time.In the new series for Discovery Channel, Solving History With Olly Steeds, which will premier June 28 across Asia, the journalist/adventurer/daredevil takes his viewers across the gruelling stretch of latitudes and history to search for possible answers to some of the world's most popular mysteries.

In Singapore recently to promote the series, Steeds, sporting a good mix of rugged charm and boyish ease, talked to Real.Time about how journalistic approach can be applied to find credence in the obscure, even apocryphal, chapters of human history.

As a broadcast reporter for ABC, Al Jazeera and Channel 4, Steeds did news reports on illegal logging, slavery, and human smuggling. Yet wearing another hat as an explorer, he promises to bring history and adventure together in the seven-part series that will probe the "iconic mysteries", from the Ark of the Covenant - that fabled chest containing the Ten Commandments - the Nazca Lines of Peru, the trail of Eldorado, the Lost City of Gold, Atlantis, the Nazi Treasure, Hitler's Mummies, and the notorious Devil's Island.

The title of the show, Solving History With Olly Steeds, may sound ambitious, but the man assures us that he's not out to solve anything - instead, he's simply guiding us through a learning process in which history can teach us about the present - and, why not, the future.

You're a journalist, but with this show you're also a TV personality. What do you bring from your journalistic experience into the role of a TV adventurer?

I see myself as a journalist, I don't see myself as a TV personality, because I believe I have credibility as a journalist. For half of the year, I still do frontline reporting for Al Jazeera, Channel 4 and BBC. I need to go out and learn what's going on in the world and to be in touch with the reality of the present.

Yes, some of the time I come in and investigate these iconic mysteries - from the Ark of the Covenant to Hitler's Mummies. I want to find out what is fact, what is fiction, what is opinion, and draw my conclusion from it. So I bring in all my journalistic skills into the series.

One of these skills is to be able to ask tough people tough questions, and also to operate in a difficult environment. For instance, in doing the story about the Ark, we went and talk to antique smugglers in the West Bank, then we met with grave-robbers and arms smugglers in Peru for the Nazca story, because they know the landscape better than anyone.

Benitez signs two-year contract to coach Inter

Spaniard Rafael Benitez has signed a two-year contract to coach Inter Milan until mid-2012, the Italian club said in a statement posted on its website on Thursday.
Benitez, 50, will be presented at the Appiano Gentile sports centre near the northern city of Milan on Tuesday.

"Inter welcomes Rafael Benitez. This morning, the two-year deal tying the Spanish coach to the club until June 30, 2012 was finalised with mutual satisfaction," said the statement.

He will take over from Jose Mourinho, who joined Real Madrid after leading the team to a unique treble of Serie A, Italian Cup and Champions League titles last month.

Inter president Massimo Moratti had announced on Tuesday that Inter and Benitez had reached an agreement.

Benitez parted company with Liverpool last week after guiding the English giants to a disappointing seventh-place finish in the Premier League last season.

The Spanish coach had enjoyed a golden start to his Anfield tenure, inspiring the club to their fifth European Cup title in 2005 as they came back from 3-0 down to beat AC Milan on penalties on a memorable night in Istanbul.

Benitez is a renowned operator on the European stage, having also led Valencia to UEFA Cup glory in 2004, and his challenge at the San Siro will be to continue the work of Mourinho after the Portuguese ended Inter's 45-year wait for the top prize in club football.

Inter won their fifth successive Italian title last term, but Benitez has been targeted to ensure they remain competitive in continental competition.