It’s nice having a truck

Someday, I will make a list all of the vehicles I have owned over the years. A truck has never been among them, until recently. After our neighborhood and my precious Crown was flooded in 2022 (the Crown is sitting at my mechanic’s place, waiting for me to save enough money for a proper restoration), I needed new wheels. Since both of our kids were studying in the USA at the time, I figured we could get away with a standard size pickup and got a great deal on the Triton. It’s been great for carrying stuff around.

An older lady in the neighborhood was giving away huge potted plants, so Nam and I headed over to her house after work one night.

She told us the local name of the plants, which I have since forgotten, and I have since misidentified them several times. We originally thought they were giant lilies (Crinum asiaticum), but that appears not to be the case.

We gave the two shown on the back of the truck to Nam’s mom and kept the twins in the pot on our driveway shown in the top pic. The twins were eventually infected with rust, so I had to do some serious leaf removal.

Allomyrina dichotoma

Female, I guess.

AKA Japanese rhinoceros beetle, Japanese horned beetle, or kabutomushi (カブトムシ).

They show up in our yard at least once a year. The males are more impressive, with their long horn. I was not shocked to read about their use in Chinese medicine, but I was surprised to see that researchers have discovered that their larva show anti-obesity and antibiotic effects. Thank you, Wikipedia!

Gaeng Liang (Spicy Thai Vegetable Soup)

If I had to describe it in two words, I might say “peppery” and “fishy” – which is strange, because I hate most fishy things. For some reason, it really works with this soup, although not everywhere makes it fishy. This soup is a bit rare and old school, but I’ve found it’s an excellent indicator that you should try other less common dishes on the menu if it’s good. Places that don’t have fresh ingredients all the time won’t bother to make this.

Celica GT

I found this beauty at one of my go-to breakfast places in town – it doesn’t serve breakfast food specifically, but it’s open from early, so you can eat whatever they make from the early morning all day. I usually order several bags of curry, stir fries, soups, and desserts to take home. But hey, I got all excited talking about food, and this is a car post.

This is an original or reproduction Celica 2000 GT liftback, reminiscent of a mini ‘Stang from the same era. It might have the legendary 18RG engine in it. I’m still heartsick about what to do with the Crown (it’s been sitting in the back lot of a nearby body shop since it got flooded), so I didn’t want to stick around and wait for the owner to ask questions. But damn, it was pretty. I generally like my cars black, black, and black, but this color really suits this car. If I found one in crustier condition, I would wide body it and immediately change the wing mirrors…