i finally got around to making michael’s birthday cake cobbler and i’m currently reading barbara kingsolver’s book animal, vegetable, miracle: a year of food life - which i am enjoying and not enjoying.  it has some great recipes and loads of useful information.  too much useful information for this non veg growing gal and i’m not too proud to say i’ve been skimming.  alot.  but the use what’s local and in season mantra has sunk in and i decided to go with something exotic for the cobbler.  so today i busied myself in the kitchen throwing together a mango cobbler.  and i was a bit worried.  i’ve eaten plenty of raw mango since we’ve been here, but never anything with mango where it’s cooked or baked.  but my concerns were for naught.  it was fine.  actually, it was great!!  crust and all.

and thus ends the birthday week.  what does a birthday week look like?  it looks like this - the opening ceremony was held monday with the actual birthday and dinner at miquel’s.  and today, for the closing ceremony, we had the cake cobbler.  and normally the opening and closing ceremonies are held the same day.  because normally the celebratory desert is ready to go on the day.  but this year i wanted to make it special.

my parents are coming in january.  and i wanna be really ready.  more than just the everything unpacked and us all settled in our new house ready.  i wanna already have lots of fun stuff to do and see planned out.  you know, make it an experience for them to remember.  of course, there’s all the touristy stuff to do here and we will definately do our fair share of that.  but my mom’s napped been here once before so she’s already done some of it and i want it to be an all new sensory extravaganza for her.  right now i’ve got two things on the agenda.  and as much as i want to surprise them it’s much more important that i share.

to give you an idea of the fun my mom had the last time she was here i’m including a few pictures.

and i know it’s almost impossible to imagine i could even think there is a way to top that.  but get a load of this.  i’m know it says december, but i can’t imagine it won’t go on into january.

(a dancing club where adds you a hotness
in the fashionable and elegant atmosphere with
professional dancers who will make
you fascinate in a hot step.)

i’m pretty sure my parents have never added a hotness or fascinated in a hot stop.  (and if they have i’m thinking i don’t want to know about it.)

and if that’s not enough.  well, i know they’ve never done this.  (and again, if they have, no need to share.)

i know i’ve got a long way to go to fill a month, but i think it’s a good start and i’m be keeping my eyes out for any other opportunities that come up.

c14 has a wonderful social studies teacher.  she reminds me of my high school american history teacher.  not because of what they teach, but because of their interest in their students and getting their students interested in learning.  right now the 8th grade is studying southwestern asia.  which i’ve always thought of as part of the middle east.  but it turns out i’m wrong and that i’m not the only one confused about it.

today was field trip day.  and we headed to the teacher’s house to cook and eat.  what kind of food do they cook in southwestern asia?  suprisingly, the menu is very middle eastern.  go figure.  they made hummus, lemon chicken, cucumber salad, lebanese potato salad and mint lemonade.  i was really impressed with the teacher’s organisation and the kids’ great attitudes.  and with how great everything turned out - it was quite tasty.

Posted in c14 - previously known as tb, food, school, thailand       ]]> http://transplantingme.com/2008/11/20/i-would-have-sworn-that-was-the-middle-east/feed/ transplanting me img_4667 img_4654 http://transplantingme.com/2008/11/19/i-could-share-some-culture-but/ http://transplantingme.com/2008/11/19/i-could-share-some-culture-but/#comments Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:34:17 +0000 monica @ transplanting me http://transplantingme.wordpress.com/?p=2832

i still have a post brewing about loy krathong and i haven’t told you anything about the 3 day ban on entertainment.  it was kingdom wide.  but right now i have something else.  something that doesn’t involve quite as much any culture.

c14’s got a nasty ingrown toenail.  and because he refuses to let me take a picture of it i’m looking out for you guys i am not going to post a picture of it.  but it really is nasty.  swollen and pussy and oozy and gross.  who knows how long he’s had it.  he showed it to me saturday night - and it looks like it’s really taken root.  it made me cringe.  so today we headed to the doctor.  a doctor we have never seen before.  an american doctor.  yes, an american doctor who jumped through all kinds of hoops so he can practice here.  and it was lovely.  he talked to c14 while i just observed.  a new thing for us.  usually it’s me filling in all the blanks.  we have another appointment next week to remove part of the toenail.  and the best part of this?  yes, there is a best part.

today’s appointment cost us 100 baht.  and when you convert that to US funds we’re talking about $2.85.  yep, that says two dollars and eighty-five cents.  oh, and the antibiotic that the doctor prescribed?  $4.29 in US dollars.  can’t wait to submit those to insurance!

tonight i made from scratch corn bread for the first time ever.  in my toaster oven. and it was good. really, really good.

this is the second pan.  the left over pan. the pour a glass of milk and crumble some into it pan.  and when i went back to cover it after it had cooled there were finger marks in it.  deep ones.  and some big hunks of corn bread missing.  i would have taken a picture, but it made me too sad.  i’m hoping it made someone else really happy.

Posted in family, food       ]]> http://transplantingme.com/2008/11/18/i-could-eat-the-whole-thing/feed/ transplanting me img_4637 http://transplantingme.com/2008/11/18/christmas-in-whoville/ http://transplantingme.com/2008/11/18/christmas-in-whoville/#comments Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:26:16 +0000 monica @ transplanting me http://transplantingme.wordpress.com/?p=2818

the other day at the mall i saw some christmas decorations.  and they made me smile.

Posted in thailand   Tagged: christmas, whoville    ]]> http://transplantingme.com/2008/11/18/christmas-in-whoville/feed/ transplanting me img_4586 http://transplantingme.com/2008/11/17/sook-san-wan-gert/ http://transplantingme.com/2008/11/17/sook-san-wan-gert/#comments Mon, 17 Nov 2008 12:19:54 +0000 monica @ transplanting me http://transplantingme.wordpress.com/?p=2805

or - even more authentically - it’s สุขสันต์วันเกิด.  but - more understandably - it’s happy birthday.  cuz today is michael’s 38th.  and we partied hard.  as is our usual.

there were very manly, lovely drinks. adults only, please.

pretty girls.  an essential for any good birthday celebration. and this was a good one.

great food - mexican is a favorite.  and rousing card games.

accusations of cheating.

(one of them does look a bit guilty)

and a couple of us were smart enough to just sit back and watch.

it was a lovely evening.  and now i’ve got to do some searching for a good cobbler recipe.  michael’s most uncakey birthday cake of choice.  i’m thinking maybe something tropical.  and, yes, it will be a bit late.  but i prefer to think of it as stretching out the fun.

and just so i get it in one more time today -

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MICHAEL!!

this news article came into my feed reader today. i thought that those of you who doubted it could get cold here might like some proof that it can, in fact, get disaster zone cold!  i’ve done the conversions at the end for the things that it might be helpful having converted.  chiang rai is about 180 kilometers north of chiang mai.

Chiang Rai declared cold spell disaster zone

CHIANG RAI: — The Chiang Rai provincial administration Friday announced the province as a disaster zone after it has been hit by cold spell for more than five days.

The announcement allowed the Chiang Rai Civil Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Office to spend Bt300,000 budget to urgently provide winter clothing to the poor in province.

Suthep Dejchaisri, head of the office, said a province which saw the mercury drop below than 15 Celsius degree for five consecutive day could be declared a cold spell disaster zone.

Suthep said the temperature in Chiang Rai dropped to 12.4 degree Friday and the temperature had dropped bellowed 15 degree for several consecutive days already.

He said about 196,167 Chiang Rai people need about 223,389 blankets.

– The Nation 2008-11-14

180 kilometers - that’s about 111.85 miles

bt300,000 - that’s 300,000 baht, which is equivalent to roughly $8,636.08 us dollars.  at least at today’s exchange rate.

15 celsius - that’s 59 farenheit, which is absolutely, disastrously cold!

12.4 celsius - that’s 54.32 farenheit, which is even colder than absolutely, disastrously cold!!  and deserving of 2 exclamation points.

196,167 chiang rai people need about 223,389 blankets - this is math i do not understand.  because 196,167 chiang rai people is the same thing as 196,167 people any where else in the world.  and 223,389 blankets is 223,389 blankets.  and to me that’s asking for 27,222 more blankets than people.  so obviously, there are some conversions i just don’t understand.

i was bested by the lack of internet and the lack of inspiration.  here’s to next year.

and i only have 2 minutes and 3 seconds left on my internet time at wawee.    and 2 minutes and 3 seconds goes fast.  it’s now 1 minute and 30 seconds.  and i’ve still got to hit publish and have it actually publish before the next 44 seconds ticks away.

loy krathong post to come!