Moving to the Moo Ban - Permanently????

[El Gibbon]

yesterday morning I was doing the usual browsing though the new posts on TD. I replied in one post on one of the reasons for leaving Bangers was the air quality, noise etc.

What did I do yesterday afternoon?

Spent several hours in the middle of a huge smoke cloud. "Dad" sold 20 or so rai of rubber trees recently. This patch is on top of a steep hill, a saddle type situation.

When the lumber folks leave there is subtantial about of slash, tops, branches etc. left. They take anything bigger than about an inch and a half with them. After paying B1 mm and more so would I.

That mess has to be cleaned up prior to replanting of the new saplings. The way its done is to burn it. Yep, gather all the twigs, non rubber logs and branches into piles and set fire to it.

I don't known if you've ever been around burning rubber trees but it is a really acrid heavy smoke. This is not a pleasant task to be undertaken especially in swirling winds/breezes, you just can't get away from several fires burning in the same small area.

I can still taste the damn stuff this morning. We got about 2/3 of one side of the hill done, the rest will be a treacherous deal since the back side is very steep and sandy. I don't look forward to it.

The whole family were participants, even the kids when they got home from school and the BiL when he got off work. I guess if I look on the bright side I can say that I've been accepted into the family. Actually got some compliments about my readiness and ability in brush burning.

They don't know I'm a Vermonter and used to clearing land etc. for folks in the extended family.

I'll give them credit though, the whole family including Ms E. G. are like mountain goats and work like crazy. It was pretty funny seeing the missus, who when dolled up will pass easily for Hi So in Bangers, with the straw hat, black boots and long sleeved shirt sweating her ass of for the 'family'.

I love this place!

E. G.

[Whiteshiva]

I love this place!

Stating the bloody obvious, I'd say!

Love your posts, man - keep it up!

[El Gibbon]

Just a quick note as we are off for Bangers today for a couple of days.

Too funny to pass up though.

In the middle of taking care of the gardens, packing etc. etc. the Ms. phone goes off. Dad wants some noodles. huh?

I've mentioned before that Dad is just a little weird, I think either he is going senile or is in early alzeimers. In a year and a half he has NEVER looked me in the eye. (shy is the excuse.) Even during the sinsod deally he never really looked at me.. too funny.... he did want to know if I showered in hot water though... Seems that if you shower in hot water he thinks your 'strong'... go figure. That's another story though, Anyway back to the phone call.

Dad is about 6 ft. and must weigh about 45 Kg. Obviously been a hard worker all his life. His eating habits are non existant. He loves the canned lyche stuff and basically survives on it as far as I can tell.

When he wants real food it is a specifc thing he wants to eat. This morning is was lad na, (sp? as some folks take the piss out of me for my Thai transliterations ), not just any lad na but the Ms' version. So in the middle of the morning's goings on Ms heads for the market in Makham and is currently at Dad's making his breakky.

Anytime he wants to eat real food he is accomodated, basically so he doesn't just fade away. Mom is a pretty good cook in her own right but the Ms beats them all. She is always called upon for any occasion in the family for her cullinary expertise.

This 'call and order' thing doesn't happen often but I get a kick of her willingness to drop whatever she is doing and compling with the request. Family is important you know?

I wonder what happened while we/she were living in Bangers.

Just a part of "living in the Moo Ban" I guess. Gotta love it.

E. G.

[El Gibbon]

Back from Bangers without major episodes. Nice weekend with friends, with
too much food and drink involved. Picked up my mail at JUSMAG, did some shopping
- golf balls, for some reason no recognizeable brands avialable locally and some
shirts.

Spent some time looking for a store that supplies a good variety of cooking/baking products.
What a waste, I had been told that UFM School of baking down the soi from
Robbin Hood's was the place. It was OK if you want decorating supplies but shite for any base products. Just the normal flours available in Tesco or
Robinson's.

If anyone knows of a shop in Bangers that sells, flour products, cornmeal, mixers, pans etc. let me know. I found one shop in Phuket that was great
but nothing in this area or that I've found in Bangers.

Got back to the 'ranch' about 5 yesterday and by 6 the Ms. had weeded the veggies, raked up the leaves and had two fires burning... When I comment the she really is a 'farmer' she doesn't understand it. More important than unpacking, airing out the house and the normal stuff you do when you return she jumped right into the weeks and leaves... tooo funny.

Motosai guy delivered the bike this AM, which we had left to have worked on while away. B689 for changing a gear, replacing the clutch, oil change and new plug and plug wire. How they make a living is beyond me. Tried to give me change from B700.

Bangers was hot and sticky as usual, its nice to be back where the air moves and the evenings are cool. Hot, yes, but it seems breezy here all the time so its not so stifling.

[Lily]

^There is a western baking place in Bangkok. I will find out where it is for you.
I think it is in the high Suk numbers.

[El Gibbon]

Lily
If you do you got some neat bread headed your way

E. G.

[El Gibbon]

We went into the city today, (Chantaburi) to check out some aircons. The weather here is getting very hot during the day. Must be near 37+ or so at times. During the times when there is no breeze its tough.

Sleeping at night hasn't become a problem at all, just a fan and by the morning we are covered up in a quilt. The temperature variation here reminds me of living in the high desert in the South Western US. Roast during the day and freeze at night.

Found a decent shop - on a friend's reccomendation - and he had everything in terms of electrical appliances. A wide variety of aircons in terms of BTU output and manufacturers. The boss man spoke great English and spent some time explaining how to judge the capacity needed etc.

Ended up we bought a Trane 24000 BTU with 7 years warranty on the compressor, installation and servicing for a year for B 29,500. They will install on Tues or Wed, our choice. B 1,000 deposit and we are on our way out the door.

Ooops, as we were leaving I noted some heavy duty mixers, consumer types not the pro bakery type, on a shelf. Not being bashful or cowardly, I asked him if he knew of a shop in town that supplies bakery products. I told him I was not in the mode to purchase mixers etc. but rather the base products needed to bake with.

After realizing I wasn't asking for a competitor he gathered his staff (6) and asked them if they could help out. Wouldn't you know it one of the ladies knows of a shop!!!!

Next time we are in town I'll stop by and see what's up with the shop. As I've found previously in Thailand, everything you really need or want is here, finding the specific shop is another story.

I was really surprised that this fellow actually had a wide variety of electrical stuff and all the electrical wireing stuff you would need to build a house, even proper junction boxes with breakers. WOW

He is a young guy, educated, and seems to have taken over his or his wife's family business bringing almost up to western standards. A nice experience for a shopper.

E. G.

[Itchy]

Don't just fit an Air Conditioner Unit, spend a few Bht more and install bulk insulation above your ceiling. You save a fortune in electicity bills if you can stop most of the heat coming into the house in the first place.

[dirtydog]

Got to agree with Itchy, even if it is just in the ceilings above aircon rooms.

[Anonymous Coward]

Got to agree with Itchy, even if it is just in the ceilings above aircon rooms.

I agree to a point. We did this in the rooms with air con. It did lower the electric bill. But, on days that we don't use air con the insulated rooms stay hotter longer than the non-insulated rooms.

So, if you plan on usually using the air con, by all means insulate. If you will air con only now and then, you might want to think twice....

In my new house I'm going to wait until I've lived there a while before deciding about ceiling insulation.

[stroller]

The other thing with ceilings, if they're anything more than floorboards or plain concrete, mice and other little 'friends' will settle in any cavities and breed.

[El Gibbon]

I had thought about the insulation factor previously. Upon quick inspection I thought the ceiling was poured cement, there are no seams visible even in low indirect light.

I checked today to make sure , I'll be damned if it ain't the best job of taped plywood I've ever seen. Yep just plywood. Now to the question of the insulation.....

The aircon is for only the hottest of times, late Mar. and April. If this turns out to be true then AC's comment on not doing the insulation are appropriate. Time will tell and I've plenty of that. Insulation can always be added is my current thinking. The size of the electric bills will give me an idea.

E. G.

[El Gibbon]

I've mentioned before about just keeping my eyes open and being aware of the little things going on around you.

Last evening I was sitting outside have my 'sundowner' as per normal when I noticed this little guy creeping across the cement.



pretty small eh? I've never seen a bug quite like it. It moves similarly to what we called an inch worm back home. Kinda bends itself up and then the forward part of the body moves forward. I coaxed it to crawl up on my garden slipper and got the following.



Dumped the guy on the table and got some close-ups.



Really an odd looking little creature, 5 sets of legs, some humps on the back I found out about later and an odd tail with fine hairs below it. Wierd.



This photo shows the hairs at the back more clearly. Note the red coloration. Insects actually have a genetic color code in some instances. Butterflies for example have an orange or red coloring if they are poisonous or irritating to birds.

As I was photographing this the Ms comes out and yells at me not to touch. Worm! not good for you.????

Seems this little guy has some type of venom/irritant associated with it. It causes severe itching, apparently to the point where your liable to try and remove skin to get rid of the irritant. Never touched it myself so have no personal experience.

***

While preparing the above the Ms and her sister could be heard outside doing the whoooo whooo bit. The standard, at least in the village, method of hailing passer bys. Up the driveway comes a dude on a motorbike that is ladden with all sorts of stuff. Looks to me like a mobile market.



Turns out he is the 10 baht man. Every bag on his bike is 10 baht. From a couple of mangoes to zesty snacks, he has quite a bit on there. The SiL is holding two bags, the one that looks like doughnuts is actually iguana eggs cooked like a jelly doughnut. Sugar coating and all, a little tough but tasty.

The other bag is boiled egg in some kind of Chinese (not to brag ) sauce. The guy was really taken aback when I went out with my camera. Falang in Ban Ang????? didn't understand what or why I was doing here.. lolol

In the last five minutes while typeing this the Amphur guy came to collect for water and garbage. 90 baht, and we owed two months for trash (20 / mo.)

Life goes on in the Moo Ban.

E. G.

[El Gibbon]

Well today is Buddha day, so the family is off to the temple for a couple of hours. Interesting thing about this is that each of the three close sisters do different things to prepare for the day. One went into Makham and got the flowers, one did the cooking for the monks and one did the sweets for the monks and family. Kinda neat to see them all involved in what is generally a family day.

So, while Ms. E. G. is off at the temple I figured I would try some baking. We bought a new toaster oven the other week and so far have found it to be OK, nothing too special but functional for the price. It holds a loaf of bread and the temperature seems to be stable.

I’ve done some bread which came out well, so what to do today. Bagels! Yeah, that sounds good. I use the following recipe:

1 ¾ cups of water –warm but not hot
½ teaspoon of dry yeast – don’t be tempted to use more.
2 teaspoons salt
6 cups of flour
1 ½ tablespoons of sugar

Combine water, yeast, salt and sugar, stir until salt and sugar are dissolved

Pour into the bowl of flour and mix. It will be very very dry and seem to crumble instead of clinging together like a bread dough. When you’ve got it all into one clump (you may need to add just enough water, a couple of drops at a time, to make it manageable), put it on a board and let it sit for a couple of minutes.

After letting it rest, knead for at least 10 minutes. It will all start to come together like you’re used to with bread. It will be a very heavy and stiff dough, just what you want. After kneading let it rest again for at least 10 minutes. At this point I divided the dough into halves and froze half. Cut the rest into four equal pieces. Form those pieces into long cigar shapes by rolling between your hands or on a table top.






This step takes a try or two to get the size you want. I roll them about the size of my thumb and then join together. The first one I did today wasn’t quite long enough so no hole in the middle. Don’t handle too much trying to get them right. As one famous baker said, “…make a mistake while your baking? It will still be better than anything you can buy at the store”.

Make a circle and be sure to twist the ends together quite well, you don’t want them to come apart when you boil them.






Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet and cover with a damp towel. Let raise for 1 ½ hours. As you can see they won’t rise too much so don’t be disappointed.

Get a couple of gallons of water boiling at a rolling boil (hard boil). Drop each into the water, they should sink but if they don’t, don’t despair just roll them over occasionally. When they float, if they’ve sunk, this should be about 20 or 30 seconds, take out of the water with a slotted spoon and put on another greased cookie sheet/pan.

I have found that instead of using corn meal that caraway seeds work just as well, when keeping breads rolls etc. from sticking to the pan, and are readily available here in Thailand.






Put in your oven at 200 C until golden brown. Each oven is different, but mine took about 20 minutes




This is what they looked like.






The tried and true test of any bread product for me is to toast it and use just plain butter or margarine. That way you get the true flavor of your efforts. These came out quite well in the taste department, as for looks they could be better but are not bad.









Any math geniuses catch the difference in what I started with? Yep dumped one on the floor. They are really slippery coming out of the water.

What I’ll do different the next time? For starters I’ll not let the raise cycle exceed 1 ½ hours like I did today, got distracted watching a torrent… ooops. I will also take great care in removing them from the original cookie sheet. I damaged them slightly getting them into the boiling water. Any time you disturb a raised product prior to cooking you’re liable to damage the raise process – getting air into your dough.

Bagels can be as varied as just about anything you can bake. The next time I might add some fresh dill and spray the tops with vinegar and and then sprinkle some coarse salt on them, right out of the oven. Another time I think I’ll add some chopped chili during the kneading stage, or maybe raisins or something else that crosses my mind, fried garlic and onions are a favorite also.

What makes bagels fun is when served they can be adorned with a huge number of coverings, sauces and pastes. Think cream cheese and olive or onion or chives, jelly, peanut butter, smoked salmon, or dipped in honey or warm olive oil with basil, the combinations are endless. Have some fun and make some bagels. They are not real hard to do and you can freeze them with good success.



E. G.

[Anonymous Coward]

Good for you EG. A new tradition in the moo baan: Bagels on Macca Bucha Day!

Well done.

[stroller]

Those look like sesame seeds, not caraway, that you use in place of coenmeal.
Caraway seeds would add a rather strong flavour.

[El Gibbon]

oops your correct. Was thinking of doing rye bread and caraway stuck on the brain.

These are in fact sesame seeds available in either white or black. I usually grind some up in the blender but figured I could use the whole seeds with bagels.

Thanks for the observation, don't want anyone screwing up the taste.

You are correct in that caraway seeds are pretty strong.



E. G.

EDIT: you CAN use caraway seeds if you choose, they are a pretty standard addition to bagels, non problem as long as your expecting the taste.

[El Gibbon]

Well, this morning on a walkaround the house while having my third cup of coffee I found these.



Not in just this location but in several places around. my first thought was cool a room omelet. NOT

The ms says you cannot eat these, bad for you. OK



When I asked if we could smoke them she whacked me..... hard.

She then jumped on the bike with a plastic bag and went to the "jungle". Seems that when one blooms others do at the same time. She said she'll be back in a couple of hours. Seems she is going to collect for the whole family.

Guess you gotta be 'Johnny-on-the-spot' when it comes to shroooms.

Does anyone know if these are good for anything? Maybe FF reads this thread

E. G.

[friscofrankie]

Of course I read the thread. But I only have knowledge of a select few varieties of 'shrooms
I did find an interesting variety in Phuket a few years ago... Didn't look much different than than the "interesting" ones I used to grow, so many, many years ago.

[Thetyim]

^ My resident expert has said DON'T eat them

[stroller]

Yeah, these are what I found lots of when I went mushroom picking - because noone else would touch them.

Haven't tried drying and smoking.

[El Gibbon]

That's three for three DDRATTTTS!

How bout putting them in Lao Kao?

Seems all other odd bits and pieces end up there. The loca favorite is scorpions Yuk.

thanks guys

E. G.

[El Gibbon]

Well its been some time since the last post. Have to blame it on the young un. She is home from school for a couple of weeks before starting summer school.

I also found out about the "tea" money for assured acceptance into a decent High School.... No wonder Thailand ranks so friggin low in both education and moral ethics. Oh, well.... "when in Rome......"

I mentioned in the previous piece about the shroooms.. They were all mush and pretty much gone the following day. Real short shelf life it appears.

The Ms. did however score these, out in the jungle.





Turns out we went to the market the following day and the same exact ones were to be had for B100 per Kg.

So, what happens to the shrooms????

A huge pot of curry.. mmmm and the whole lot was gone.

E. G.

[klongmaster]

I also found out about the "tea" money for assured acceptance into a decent High School.

you'll be pleased to see this then from The Nation...

Kasama Sunday said the Education Ministry already assigned its inspector generals to closely monitor how popular schools admit new students.

"Any parent or student can report any teamoney case to us via our call centre's hotline number 1579," she said.

.

[dirtydog]

We used to grow our own mushrooms, we used to buy like 50 big soft drink bottles with the spoor inside for 5baht a bottle, stick them in a dark place and keep them damp, trouble is with 50 of them you end up giving mushrooms away as there are too damn many of the things.