Thai-m for a banquet!

On Valentine's Day, I was the lucky winner of a Thai banquet from CP Authentic Asian Foods in their one day only Twitter competition. I've been a follower of theirs on Twitter and Facebook for some time, not so much because of their occasional competitions but because I love all kinds of Asian food. I lived in Hong Kong for seven years and Brunei for one year, and my husband was born and brought  up in Malaysia and served in the Brigade of Gurkhas, so we both feel a close affinity with the whole continent of Asia, and especially its food. In fact I've taught several series of evening classes in Oriental Cookery.

I was absolutely delighted to win, and even more delighted a few days later when the carrier arrived with a huge insulated box, containing the frozen dishes. They sent

• 2 portions of king prawn wonton soup
• 2 portions of firecracker prawns
• 2 portions of red Thai chicken curry
• a half crispy duck

But that wasn't all they sent - they also included a beautiful Thai dining set of a silk table runner with matching tissue box cover and wine bottle cover, bamboo place mats and coasters and elegant wooden chopsticks and chopstick rests, with a carved wooden tea light holder to complete the look.

There was far too much food there for us to eat in one go, so we had the chicken and duck dishes, both of which were excellent. Generous portions and really delicious to eat - all I really needed to add was the cucumber and spring onions for the duck, but as we are huge veg eaters I did some stir fried Chinese leaves as well. The flavouring and seasoning were excellent - not over-salted, which is something that usually puts me off ready made dishes, and with lots of lovely authentic flavours like lemongrass and lime leaves.

I'm not used to ready made meals and was impressed at how simple to prepare they were, although I was a bit alarmed that the chicken dish only had microwave instructions as I don't have a microwave. But  I emptied the chicken and rice into casserole dishes and heated them through in the oven with the duck, and steamed the pancakes as I usually do, and everything turned out perfect.

I'll  definitely be buying these dishes again!