Photos – Page 33 – C. Buddha's Hasty Musings

Alien eyestalks

I found these crazy-looking plants in a local wet market at the base of Phu Rua National park in Loei province yesterday afternoon. An old lady was selling plants from the roadside and forest (Loei people are apparently known to be formidable foragers) across from a stall displaying animal traps, snares, and freshly skinned rats.

Nobody who has seen these photos (+/- a few hundred Thais in person and my wife’s Facebook) has ever tried these plants before. But the old lady told me how to prepare them, so we steamed them and ate with a green chili dip (the alternative was to make a soup).

As it turns out, the bigger of the two types of plant (the alien eye stalk one) was better than the smaller iceplant-looking one. If you ate the “eyes” one at a time, they were sweet, but the more you put in your mouth, the more bitter they got. Strange. The iceplant-looking one tasted like… well, like how I imagine iceplant to taste (Thank you, thank you).

Mina loved the mini kabocha (Japanese pumpkin) I also picked up in that market in Loei. — Mina loved the mini kabocha (Japanese pumpkin) I also picked up in that market in Loei (a stringer of 3 sold for 10 Baht)

Although I associate bitter vegetables with poison for some reason (college flashbacks maybe?), we suffered no ill effects from eating these unknown plants, maybe (Nam had a funny stomach feeling possibly due to the cold she was getting over). Overall experience: Exciting in good and bad ways, anticlimactic.

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Cat is Growing, or, Growing a Cat

Mina renamed it. Cat is now known as Donut, although it still doesn’t listen to a goddamn word I say. This is why I like dogs. I generally don’t really care for cats, but they seem to be attracted to anywhere I move in the world, leaving litters of kittens on my every doorstep, and never listening to a goddamn word I say. Dammit.

Cars
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Minor Lamentations – Kujira Crown

The Crown needs to be stripped, patched, and repainted. The last time it was done, it was done poorly. I’m thinking about using a shop just around the way, so I can go watch over the work every day. Just need to save up some money now.. I’m sure I’ll have enough in a few years. Until then? An experimental mix of vinyl wrap patch, black ink markers, and spray paint. The Kujira Crown was apparently made in an era when Japanese steel wasn’t that great – so they made it thicker. There aren’t that many holes rusted through, except at the edges. It does need to be patched properly, though.