The uniquely Thai combination of “goodbye” and “seniors.” I’m at a farewell party for our graduating class.
Month: February 2013
Prime Brahman Beef
After years of experimenting with the tough meat of Bos primigenius indicus (commonly known as Brahma or Brahman, the breed of bovine originating in India that eventually spread to the rest of the world to be enslaved, robbed of milk, and mass-consumed – why oh why did they ever leave the land in which they were worshiped?), I have found the best cut of meat for general purposes:
This is what is referred to as the “neck hump,” or more disgustingly, the “neck boil.” Here is a good photo of one, if you can keep your eyes off of dangling distractions:
This cut of meat is not tender enough for steaks, but is great for stews, curries, and the like. I have never had a good beef steak in Thailand, and it is my belief that, generally, the tenderness of beef runs inverse to your current proximity to India, with a few exceptions (Japan being the most notable). That’s fine, since it’s a trade off for good quality of other meats, fish, and fowl.
I used the neck hump above to make an excellent batch of Japanese curry a couple months ago. When we went to buy it from a roadside stand, we were lucky to get it very fresh:
Teaching with Google Plus
I’ve now fully implemented my improved ad-hoc Google+ system for my weekend classes and have found the greatest barrier for entry to be that some students cannot use the net except for clicking on virtual cows and Like buttons.
After having them sign up for Gmail and Google Plus and showing them how I want work to be done for the first couple of classes, I now have a couple of active “Communities” where I post assignments and class announcements, and students ask questions and check their grades. It seems to be working smoothly. I’ve had some inquiries from people who saw my workshop at the conference last month, so it’s been good to experiment with new ideas and functions for this system.
Mussels and Archa
One of the best dinners I’ve had this year, at a friend’s house a few weeks ago.
9 Butts 990 Baht
Right on the heels of the Best Product Name of 2013 comes a damn fine contender for Best Marketing Campaign, but I forgot to take note of the brand of jeans using it. I’ll have to check it out next time.
UPDATE: The brand is Maximus Roma Jeans, who do’t have much of a web presence but apparently put a value of 110 baht on each of their individual asses.
bleatz
Finals week has come and gone, leaving me with a sore throat and plenty of grading to get through. One last push with a huge synchronized test for combined classes this afternoon and it will be done. In this time of paper flurries and worried sophomore ministration, only one thing can snap me back to my happy place at any given time:
Mina is little Mika/Merin
There is no denying it:
Just as there is no denying that Max is little Adam.
jeebus, i miss my silvia ps-13
He’s right, though… Street racing is a young man’s game.
Mosquitoes Eating Fruit (Part 2 – Eggplant)
I thought I was going to have to rename this series to “Mosquitoes eating Fruits and Vegetables,” but as luck would have it, it seems that the internet mostly agrees that eggplant is actually fruit. So anyway, here’s what a typical vegetarian mosquito sucks on:
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Click to see the entire Mosquitoes Eating Fruit Series.