C. Buddha's Hasty Musings

Category: Photos

  • Bengal Currants (carissa carandas)

    Mamuang hau manao ho

    I only started commonly seeing these berry-like fruits this year. They seem to be growing in popularity up here in Issan, but I suspect they were brought here from another part of Thailand, where they are apparently have shorter names: Nam daeng and nam phrong.
    They are apparently used in India for pickles.

    I had started calling these Lao Cherries, but there are a couple other fruits already called that (plus they don’t seem to be from this area), so I finally just looked it up.

    So the important thing: Do they taste good?

    They taste like vitamin C punched you in the throat. Like the sourest mango and unripe lemon (hence the name? Mamuang = mango; Manao = lemon/lime) in the world are frolicking on your tongue. So naturally, Thais eat them dipped in chili sugar and stupid farang stuff three in their mouth at a time to see if it can be done in a sort of personal stupidity challenge.

    So wikicheatia has a long paragraph on names for this fruit which, in the spirit of university plagiarism, I will only only slighty modify before pasting here:
    Arduina carandas
    Capparis carandas
    Carissa salicina
    Echites spinosus
    Jasminonerium carandas
    Jasminonerium salicinum

    karonda (Devanagari)
    karamardaka (Sanskrit)
    kauLi hannu(Kannada)
    karavanda(Marathi)
    karauna (Maithili)
    vakkay (Telugu)
    Canta- (Konkani)
    maha karamba (Sinhala)
    kilaakkaai (Tamil)
    karau(n)da (unknown)
    karanda (unknown)
    karamda (unknown)
    kerenda (in Malaya)
    karaunda (Malaya/India)
    Bengal currant (South India)
    Christ’s thorn (South India)
    nam phrom (Thailand)
    namdaeng (Thailand)
    caramba (Philippines)
    caranda (Philippines)
    caraunda (Philippines)
    perunkila (Philippines)
    Karja tenga (Assam)
    Koromcha(Bengali)

  • Talisman

    Ironic?

    I can’t tell if this guy just put a random sticker on his car, or if this is a plea to the gods because he hasn’t changed the oil for five years. Seen in a random parking garage in Bangkok.

  • Long Fak Bean Stir Fry

    Long Fak Bean Stir Fry (with Red Curry Paste and Pork Belly)

    I guess you could call them yardlong beans, but most of the world switched to a better system long ago, and besides, where’s the fun in that?

  • Our Big Boy

    There’s this girl from school that likes Max. He’s chatting online with her right now in the other room; I can hear their little voices as they talk about whatever kids talk about. They’re only 10 years old. It feels… strange. Very cute but kinda funny?

    All I can think of is:

  • Toyota Crown MS60-NF VIN

    This is my Kujira’s VIN. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

    Well, actually, there are probably a thousand or so left in the world. This one’s still mine, tho.

  • Chonburi Bridge

    The storm dragon chased us all the way over the bridge.

  • Misushit?

    This is probably the best Matsushita knockoff name, ever (combined with a retailer’s misspelling) – and that’s saying a lot since Matsushita and National brands were folded into Panasonic years ago. These trusted brand names live on in developing countries, even if new product lines do not.

    I’ve seen quite a few Matsushita, National, and Panasonic knockoff names (and that’s just a few from this electronics group), but the most often honored here and elsewhere is probably Mitsubishi, including the following permutations:

    Mitsuboshi:”Three hats”

    Mitsubashi: “Three bridges”

    Mizubashi: “Water bridge”

    Matsuboshi: “Pine hat”

    etc.

    “Mitsubishi” literally means “three water chestnuts,” but “-hishi” is what we call a diamond mark so it’s just descriptive of the logo.

  • The Best Braised Pork Leg in Issan

    Google review of Panom Rung Restaurant by Justin Yoshida

    https://goo.gl/maps/cShnNWMJMcu

    Staring locals. Scary truckers in the dark, broken parking lot… Raw chili and garlic in a dirty center bowl. Unapologetically fatty pork. Best of all, it’s sandwiched between a second rank gas station restroom and minimart. Need I say more?

    It’s an epic hole in the wall.

  • Moo Daeng (“Red Pork”)

    The Thai variant of char siu is often too lean and served with overly sweet sauce… This place does it well, though.

  • Red sauce

    Prepping lunch for 20 tomorrow.