Category Archives: friends real & cyber

summer’s treacherous a**

Posted on by

“but then fall comes, kicking summer out on its treacherous ass” -  stephen king salem’s lot.

i am so ready for september.

ok, that’s not totally true.  i’m currently eye ball deep trying to plan our family vacation to tokyo.  what feels like our last family of five vacation (that may or may not prove true).  and i’m liking being the one in control, cuz i’ve been able to throw a few things into the itinerary that i’m pretty sure no one else would have considered.  like a meat theme park.  that’s made the final cut.  a parasitological museum?  we’re doing that.   and 7 days of just the 5 of us?  mastercard got that right – priceless.  i’m totally sure it’s going to be worth the crazy way we’re getting there.  two of us on one airlines.  three on another.  different airports and different layovers.  memories galore.

but then we head to america.  i’ve got a whole lot of mixed feelings about that.  i know that the “omg – chan’s going to live in america even after the rest of us return to thailand” situation has me all kinds of out of sorts.  (chan is C19′s real name – or at least his real nickname – he’s an adult now.  no need to protect him any longer.) but there’s also the perceived expectations i’m already feeling (i bolded perceived on purpose, because i know there’s a slight possibility that it’s all in my head).  our time in the states – as a whole – is not a relaxing time for me.  it’s a go here, do this, get this done kind of time and by the time it’s over i’m totally ready to get back to my life.  my home.  my agenda.

it’s not easy to depend on others for almost everything.  where are we gonna stay?  we can’t afford hotels so we count on friends and family to put us up.  we do have plenty of offers and i’m pretty sure none of those offers are given grudgingly.  some people like us.

there’s also the getting to and fro?  we need to be picked up and delivered to airports.  we’ve got doctor’s appointments to make.  i’ve got a few courses to attend and michael’s going to need to get to and from work.  and sometimes it’s just nice to be able to get away.  for one hour (or two or three).  alone.  or with a kid (or two or three) who need a break because we’re overwhelmed.  because america is awesome and at times just way too much to take in.

it feels so ungrateful to whine and complain.  we have some of the most generous, amazing friends and family who we know are spending time and money to be there for us.  and i am so appreciative of that.  i am looking forward to being able to spend time with people who love us and who have loved us for a long time.  i crave the heart to heart talks i know we’ll have, the sharing of life that we will do (short as that time might be), and the ability let our guards down – to just be.  but the scary part of that is that i’m not sure i know how to do that anymore.

dissertations are really long

Posted on by

When making a proposal, consider that committees evaluating PhD dissertation still look for the originality factor. They would want to see to it that you are working on something genuine and also promise great contributions to your field. Your audience has now become professionals with high standards. You are expected to present something that matches or at least comes close to their level of knowledge. This part of taking up the doctoral degree trains you to become a professional researcher yourself  ~ dissertation today

we so totally got this. just start calling us dr. monza and dr. nic.  (aussies do such crazy things with names.)

dr. monza & dr. nic - research can be so grueling

a few months ago, i was having a chat with an australian friend, nicola, about the pros & cons of cadbury creme eggs.  and that got us wondering as to what might be the differences between the ones made in “the land of the free and the home of the brave” and those made in “the land down under”.  and from that little conversation we hatched a ph.d. idea that oozes originality and also promises to be a massive contribution to our field – a mostly undefined field, but i’m pretty sure whichever lucky school we decide to bless with this dissertation will appreciate our need to not be tied down to anything too specific.  and, as if acquiring eggs from two countries wasn’t difficult enough, we upped the ante by making a batch ourselves.  for real.  and, yes, it’s as difficult as it sounds.  or maybe not.

as with any good research project we had our fair share of research assistants from both countries and i don’t think any kind of dissertation writer worth their salt would feel good about neglecting to give credit where credit is due.   the following researcher assistants hail from the land of oz (not to be confused with the yellow brick road oz, this one has ‘roos and outbacks – but not the steakhouse, but maybe those, too)  sue t. answered a desperate plea for corn syrup and posted it, enabling us to take on the challenge of homemade creme eggs.  cath p. and beth l. contributed the australian cadbury creme eggs and cheryl chez a. transported them to chiang mai.  in her suitcase.  research assistants from the land of opportunity include michael (my husband), he transported the initial american contribution.  but, being unaware of the huge scale of this project (and possibly the lack of self control of one or two of the doctoral candidates), more were needed.  bonnie c. answered a frantic facebook status update and mailed plenty more eggs – enough that the good ol’ u.s. of a. didn’t end up with egg on her face.  (egg… ha ha).  and our last research assistant was an american living in chiang mai, laura h.  her role was taste tester – she was very good at tasting eggs.  so with the gathering of necessary supplies we were ready to begin.

our initial observations led us to conclude that the eggs were wrapped differently and that the aussie egg was bigger than the american egg.  (for the purposes of this project bigger is a very exact unit of measurement.)  we were both a bit surprised by these findings, but we double checked and confirmed that they were indeed accurate.  after our initial comparisons we got to work on the batch of homemade eggs.

ingredients

first up was creating the egg innards. i’m not sure if we used the exact technique that cadbury does, but i feel pretty safe guessing that we didn’t.

i’m not up on the exact mechanics of how real chickens go about getting their yellow into the middle of their egg white, but we found it very helpful to have cold hands when it came time to embed (official lingo) the yolk into the white.  luckily, when we’d checked a14 out of the hospital a few months ago we thought to grab her ice pack thing.

time to prep the chocolate.  then coat the eggs.  one thing that we were certain would set the homemade eggs apart from the store bought is the coconut oil we used to help set the chocolate.

we assumed there would be other minor differences, but were optimistic that they might not be too noticeable.  we were working with a handicap – not having molds – but were confident that this was only a slight obstacle, one that we could easily overcome.

 

after we’d created the best replication of a cadbury creme egg we had to let them firm up.  and, not the kind of gals who just sit on our laurels, we went ahead and did some cleaning up.

well, it looks like only one of us was actually doing the cleaning up. maybe i was just sitting on my laurels.

and now for the heavy duty ph.d. dissertation worthy stuff – complete with supporting evidence.  first, a visual examination of the eggs.

wait, wait, wait…  there’s one missing.

that’s better.  upon close inspection it is obvious that one of these eggs is noticeably different from the others.  that’s right, the one on the far left is obviously bigger.  and if you guessed that’s because it’s the australian egg, then you’re pretty smart.

surprise, surprise - the one we made is on the far right

now, we weren’t sure why the australian egg was bigger.  the packaging told us that it weighed 39 grams.  the american egg weighs 34.  but we wanted to know why?  (intelligent types and 2 year olds always want to know why – proof again of our ph.d. worthiness).

again, look at the one on the left!?!  it’s got gobs more chocolate.  we were shocked.  so shocked that we didn’t get out any measuring devices to find out just how much more chocolate it had.  but, for our purposes, gobs is as exact a scientific measurement as bigger.  at this point we noticed that our homemade egg wasn’t an exact replica of either of the others – being the observant lasses that we are.  but we were still feeling like it could hold it’s own.

and now for the results of the taste test.  after some serious deliberation about our personal capabilities we came to the conclusion that for each of us to try to eat an entire one of each of the three different types of egg might prove difficult.  and dangerous.  so we went with eating 1/2 of each of them.  which meant we would be eating 2 whole eggs each.  what?  oh, how did we get that 3 halves make 2 wholes?  well, we added a fourth secret ingredient homemade egg.

that one there on the far right?  it has orange extract in it.  it wasn’t part of the official dissertation.  but rather an opportunity for us to show initiative (i think that’s another ph.d. worthy trait).

so how’d the eggs stack up?

 

we both agreed that the australian egg was better.  the extra milk chocolate seemed to help cut the overpowering sweetness of the fondant egg innards.  we also agreed that we weren’t exactly sure it was a good thing that milk chocolate was cutting the sweet.  the american egg has 10 fewer calories going for it.  you should never undervalue 10 fewer calories.  our homemade egg had an added coconut flavor, from the coconut oil we added to the milk chocolate.  i found this to be a lovely addition.  my favorite might have been the orange egg.  i’m a sucker for orange/chocolate pairings so it was right up my alley.

but i think the most valuable thing we learned was that what goes up must come down – sugar highs don’t last forever.  and coming in a close second was that we could make some pretty good creme eggs ourselves.

signs of change

Posted on by

sure signs the seasons they are a changing here in chiang mai

  1. frigid morning and evening temperatures.  and when i say frigid i mean it. it was 66 this morning and i didn’t want to get out from under the warmth of the comforter.  if you had told me 3 years ago that i’d be digging out hoodie sweatshirts and warm socks when the thermometer hit 69 i’d have called you crazy – or at least thought you were crazy.
  2. khom loy.  you actually see them off and on through out the year, but they are in full force as the loy kratong celebration approaches.  releasing these lanterns always feels sort of exotic.  this past weekend i went to a party to celebrate a couple of friends’ 50th birthdays.  as part of the festivities we released many lanterns.  the brisk air and the lanterns made for a perfect cool season evening.

 

 

one is silver and the other gold

Posted on by

as a general rule, i don’t do friendship well. like any rule, there are exceptions, but they are few and far between. i am great at acquaintances. keeping things surface is my forté. see, i sort of keep people at arm’s length and i can be a bit prickly – which really gets in the way of getting below the surface.

part of my struggle is that i’m pretty sure i lack the friendship forming gene. i honestly don’t get how people become fast friends – and by fast i mean, like, taking less than 4 years – and where i find myself now is a difficult place. and i do mean that literally. because it’s a very transient community. people are constantly coming and going. and it’s a diverse community. people from all over the world, with different customs, expectations and not to mention languages and accents. it makes it all a bit more difficult. but, i also mean that i’m in a difficult place figuratively. because i’ve reached the point that i have become fully aware that the root of the problem is me. i’ve been resistant to putting myself out there – to being vulnerable. and i want to be different. i want to have people (heck, i’d be happy with just a person) that i can be completely me with. that i can laugh with and cry with. that i can share the ups and downs with. i’m tired of being lonely. and i’m tired of wishing and wanting.

and what’s really frustrating is that those people. those people who can be friends – really good friends – are right in front of me. and i’ve made excuses, pushed them away and sabotaged relationships. but it’s time for a change. it’s time to take control. it’s time to mend fences and take risks. i’m not so confident of what the results will be, but i’m willing to give it a go.

good pai

Posted on by

i’ve just returned from a lovely no-kids-nor-husbands invited few days away. our escape getaway started in the cutest toy plane ever

IMG_7716

and we sat closer to the pilot and copilot than i thought was possible.

IMG_7712

the flight was only 25 minutes.  and, for those of you who might be wondering (dad) yes, we could have taken a bus.  and, yes, it would have cost less baht.  but it’s a 4 hour drive on a road that has 700 or so curves and would have guaranteed that at least one – and most likely both – of us would have needed a barf bag.  or 20.  which we hear the are kind enough to hand out by the handfull as you board.   and had we ridden the bus we would have missed this runway.

IMG_7714

and a very cute toy airport that exists solely for the toy plane we flew on.

IMG_7729

once we arrived in pai we quickly settled into our own personal paradise.

IMG_7719

which came with some lovely views and two of the most adorable neighbors.

IMG_7725 IMG_7726

we wandered into town for a late lunch,  enjoyed a cup of perfect – at least that’s what the slogan at the coffee shop claimed – and then returned to our bungalow for a little peace and quiet.

IMG_7722

a relaxing time was had by all.  at least the two of us who were away.

making a list, checking it twice…

Posted on by

i’m getting serious about the whirlwhind north american tour thing. c15 and i have our travel booked for india and now we’re just waiting for finalization of travel dates for america.  i’m constantly making lists of people we need to see, places to go, where might we stay, etc… and until now, i’ve never bothered to put a number to it all.  and by number i mean money.  us dollars, not thai baht.  it’s kind of put a damper on things.

it looks like the biggest expense is going to be car rental and there’s sort of no getting around without a car.  plus, we’d intended to fly between texas and colorado, but we only have enough points for 4 tickets and it’s cheaper to rent a car and drive it than buy one ticket.  but, if we drive it frees up some airline miles for visiting other people (and that means a side trip for me, alone, possibly to a beach.  i can’t really complain about that.)  we’ve also got stocking up to do.  undergarments are in high demand as are shoes, especially for me (thanks dad for the big feet).  and, of course, there are foods we won’t have had in 18 months that we just can’t live without.  but before we even get out of thailand the expenses are piling up.  there’s rent to be paid, our house help will need to be paid ahead of time for the entire time we’re gone, the dog will need to be put up somewhere – unless we can find someone to housesit.  and souveniers to bring back with us.  and i know there’s plenty more that i’m not thinking of, but it will come to me, i know it will.

the money isn’t a huge issue – we’ll most likely have 3 years to recover.  (that’s how long it’s likely to be before our next visit back to the states.)  and it’s possible we’ll find cars to borrow and, thankfully, it looks like we have plenty of offers of places to stay – so no hotel bills.

and besides that, as the mastercard commercial goes…

visiting family and friends…  priceless.

the letter meme

Posted on by

i found this meme at hay’s and have just copied and pasted the instructions.

the rules for the letter meme are as follows :

you leave a comment on this post, and I’ll assign you a letter. you write about ten things you love that begin with your assigned letter, and post it at your place. when people comment on your list, you give them a letter, and the chain continues on and on.

( I know ya’ll are like, *well I ain’t commenting and getting a meme*, so as always it IS optional, let me know if you want to play.)

my assigned letter from hay?

Hmm, it has to be a *T* for Thailand!

you wanna play? just leave a comment and let me know you want a letter.  don’t let that scare you off  from commenting.  if you want to comment, but don’t want a letter – then do. comment that is.

my Ten Things That start with The letter T

1.)  Tortillas and almost any of the foods that come wrapped in one, especially of the Tex-mex variety.  or just plain with butter – that makes me happy, too.

tortilla1 img_4588 enchiladas

flauta chimichanga

2.)  Thursday is my absolute favoritest day of the week.  why Thursday?  well, the whole weekend is stretched out before you on Thursday.  untouched.  perfect.  waiting.

calendar

3a.)  Travel.  as in people traveling to see us.  like my mom and dad.  who will be here this coming weekend.

continentmap

3b.)  Travel. as in us traveling to see people.  which we’ll be doing this summer.

continentmap2

4.)  Transparency. don’t go playing games with me.  say what you mean.  do what you mean. be who you are.

transparent-sim

5.) Texas. you can take the girl out of Texas, but you can’t take Texas out of the girl.  or something like that.

texas-logo

6.)  Thongs. at least that’s what we called them in the olden days.  now I think flip-flop is the p.c. term

flipflop

7.) Talking. what can I say?  (alot)  I’ve got the gift of gab.  I don’t think everyone thinks it’s a gift.

talk

8.)  The Princess Bride. (yes, the T in The totally counts as starting with T since it is part of the official title and all .) “you rush a miracle man you get rotten miracles.”

princessbride

9.)  Titmouse. mainly because the name makes my children giggle.  and it is a very cute bird.

titmouse

10.)  Thailand. which is a good thing, since we live here and all.

thailand

big chewy ginger cookies

Posted on by

It’s a food post.  With pictures.

I got myself invited to a cookie exchange.  And then I panicked.  I needed a good recipe. Something interesting. Just off the beaten path enough to not be the same cookie everyone else was bringing and at the same time it needed to be just the right amount of unimpressive to make it not look like i was trying too hard.

I ruled out anything with icing right off the bat.  I know my limitations and baking 96 cookies in a toaster oven is enough of a challenge without having to worry about icing them perfectly.  And, because this is Thailand, there were many recipes that could be crossed off the list because the ingredients are unavailable or way, way too expensive.  I ended up going with Big Soft Ginger Cookies.   It helped that someone had just given me a few cups of tar molasses.

And, since I know you have no desire to click on over to the recipe, I’m going to go ahead and post it.  With pictures.

Big Soft Ginger Cookies

  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup margarine, softened
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tablespoon water
  • 1/4 cup molasses
  • 2 tablespoons white sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

In your very best dry ingredient mixing bowl

img_4690

Sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt.   No need to worry if you live in a country where you’ve been unable to find a sifter thing.  They come out great without the sifting.

img_4693

Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy.

img_4696

Beat in the egg,

img_4699

then stir in the water and molasses.  I know, it looks a whole heck of a lot like tar.  But it smelled a whole heck of a lot like molasses.  Yuck.  I hate the smell of molasses.

img_4702

Gradually, stir the sifted ingredients into the molasses mixture.  The recipe says to stir, but I’m pretty sure it meant to blend or mix or whatever the proper instruction is when using a mixer.  I also made that same assumption in the above step with the smelly molasses.

img_4703

DO NOT CONTINUE.  If you follow the directions you will have a huge mess and miss out on the secret they don’t tell you.  Trust me – this secret is a secret worth knowing.

Cover the bowl and stick in the refrigerator for about an hour.  It helps immensely.  While the dough is chilling you should chill, too.  Shhhh…. that’s the secret.  It is the only thing that will get you through baking 12 batches of cookies in your toaster oven.

Pour yourself two one of these.

img_4694

That would be vodka and cranberry juice.  Start with mixing it 1/2 and 1/2.  Adjust to meet your fancy.

After an hour has passed take the dough out of the fridge and…

Shape dough into walnut sized balls, and roll them in the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar. Place the cookies 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet,

img_4711

and flatten slightly.

img_4691

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes

img_4686

before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.  Depending on how much of the secret ingredient you used you might need to arrange for some cookie guards.

img_4706

Mine are raw silk Santas.  Working hard to protect me from the cookies.  They did a fantastic job and will be moving on to serve as teacher gifts.  They are very talented.

Store cookies in an airtight container.

If you’ve made it all the way to the bottom of this post I’m sure you’ll be tickled pink to know that I had the only Big Soft Ginger C0okies at the exchange.

are there language lessons for that?

Posted on by

recently, it’s been brought to my attention that animals speak in different tongues. and i had no idea that one country’s animal onomatopoeia isn’t the same as another.  for example, an american pig goes “oink, oink” while a japanese pig goes, “boo boo”.

this discovery was made when a thai friend was talking to me about a rooster and it’s incessant “ake-e-ake-ake”-ing.  rooster in thai is gài dtua pôo.  and i didn’t know that.  so when she was telling me the gài dtua pôo woke her up going “ake-e-ake-ake” i assumed she was talking about a charlie horse in her leg aching and waking her up.  and what a good laugh she we had once we figured out how silly i am.  i immediately came home to google this and see what was up.  sure enough, roosters around the globe speak many languages.

and because i would hate to think i could have stopped you from the same embarrassing situation, i’m sharing my new found knowledge.  one day, you’ll thank me.

plus, i found this way cool website where you can hear different animal sounds.  but i’m not 100% sure of the accuracy.  i don’t agree with all the sounds they say the animals that are american make.