Thai Society/Culture
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Issan-Japan Fusion
Accidentally found on Google; cannot find original source but will link to it if I do.
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Best Halloween Headline, Ever
Mukdahan, Thailand – Thirteen Isan youths who dug up a pile of dead dogs to eat found out two days later that the animals had rabies. Everybody loves free food.
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Pokeween
It hath begun here in Thailand, where friendly spirits are mostly known for revealing winning lottery numbers and having extremely long arms. UPDATE: Buddy candies are being quadrupled by decreasing walking distances 75%. Incense now attracts mostly Haunter and Gastly. Indeed, Pidgey and Rattata and other common mons seem to have been replaced by these types.
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Round eggplant tip
After 10 years of experimentation, I have finally figured out that medium-sized round eggplant is the best. Too small, and they are bitter. Too big, like in the photo above, and they are soft, tasteless, and the seeds are too big and numerous. The seeds are actually an important taste component. They can be big, they can be numerous, but they can’t be both because it makes the overall texture too soft. This is something nobody ever mentioned to me. Something really interesting – I’ve seen people have allergic reactions to only the big ones. Specific symptoms were an itchy and swelling throat. So stay away from big round eggplant!
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Fake booze in SE Asia
So I was talking about fake Absolut from Laos with the crew today, and it occurred to me that the last bottle of Heineken I had tasted a lot like piss, which is a trademark of the lowest levels of Thai brew (I’m looking at you, Red Horse). I wondered if people bother to adulterate/fake/fuck with tax stamps and lot markings on beer as well, and fired up the old Web Wombat (it’s an Aussie thang): That video prompted this official response from Heineken: Tampering with Heineken® labels Which led me to this vid: Story here: Heineken ‘absolutely on top’ of fake beer threat after Vietnam gang bust The two…
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Bigo Live, the Snapchat of SE Asia
The Bigo Live app is just getting popular, it seems. After testing it for a day, I think this will shut down Snapchat in Thailand before it ever gets really started. Actually, I think if they can find a way to pay users, either through ad sharing or tipping, or a combination of both, this could possibly be a threat to Facebook. It just suits Thailand very well. The downside? An even more unfair User Agreement than Facebook, which is saying a lot. It is inspiring a lot of ideas!!
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What’s for lunch: Green Curry with Wings and Portobellos
Although I have made green curry with all kinds of meat, chicken is the best because of its wonderful grease. And among the cuts of chicken, we all prefer middle wings with an occasional wing drum thrown in for variety. Today I sliced in a couple small portobello mushrooms, and along with the filtered fish sauce and chicken grease, they made the curry into an aromatic, coconut-infused umami bomb. With local round eggplant and julienned kachai (lesser ginger). As far as eating goes, I actually prefer pulling chicken off the bones and mounding it on top of the rice and curry, but the kids just devour it off the bone.
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Yoshida Kitchen Creation: Issan Sushi
Sticky rice topped with crispy pork rind and corn somtam. Unbelievably delicious dipped in somtam juice.
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Mina’s Picnic
Out of the blue, Mina told us that she and her best friend, on the last day of school (yesterday), had promised to have a picnic together today. It was quite amusing to watch her put together a bag of snacks and water, and she even washed a plastic bowl and dried it carefully with a paper towel. But when it came to asking what time they were supposed to meet, she gave me a blank stare… “She’ll just know, daddy, we’re best friends!” Knowing which way this was heading, I asked if we all could go together. Mina agreed and we were soon hitting the McD’s drive thru and…
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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,…
