Thread: Making Merit

Yesterday was the first anniversary of my mother passing away, and my wife told me it's customary to make merit, either in the home or at a temple on such an occasion.

She also wanted to make merit for the house, as although we've lived in it for 8 years, we've just finished a rolling series of refurbishment projects. So, it was going to be a double event.

The day was also going to be in 2 halves, with 5 monks and mainly Thai friends making merit in the morning, followed by food for the monks and everyone attending, and then rolling into an afternoon gathering of mainly Western friends.

Wife had been to many such events, though had never hosted one herself, so it was really important to her than everything went well.

The paraphenalia for the merit making was supplied by our local temple (Wat Chalong), and I was to collect the 5 monks from there at the appointed time.

Firstly our shrine was decorated:



Then our garage was prepared for the event.



Mats in position for the monks.



One of our own Buddha statues placed on a stand.



Photo of my Mum next to the Buddha.



Then it was preparing our outside kitchen and sala at the rear of the house for the food afterwards. We borrowed the buffet dishes from friends who have a restaurant.













and of course the outside fridge was prepared for the afternoon's action, as well as a large coolbox and inside bar fridge which were fully topped up.

wishing you a reflective day PAG..great abode too

Then it was off to collect the monks (never had 5 monks in my car before, is that lucky?).

They quickly got themselves sorted out, and within 5 minutes the prayers and chants started. Probably about 25 to 30 of our Thai friends were with us.

The Monks each get a gift and an envelope of course.

Then it's off to the races (food time......)

Monks don't eat after 1200, so I knew they'd be clear before then, and I'd have them back at the temple and return ready to meet our friends arriving for the afternoon session. So it turned out. Again, about 25 of them.

























My buddy Peter is excellent cooking beef, so he'd marinated some beef fillet that I'd got, and cooked them on the electric BBQ grill.



Absolutely superb.

Last guests had gone by 7 p.m., and I told the wife we'd leave the clearing up until the morning as I was shattered and off to bed (I'd been up since 3 a.m. as I'd promised to take some friends to the airport).

Of course I woke up too early this morning, and came downstairs expecting to be hit by all the mess to clear up.

But no, the wife had stayed up and cleaned the lot, and it was as if nothing had happened the day before.

Nice event. Nice house. Well done!

Nice thread, nice photos. Nice place.

Thanks for sharing.

god i'm starving now looking at that lot. kanom jeen for lunch i think

Nice house.....And superb-looking hunk of beef!

I forgot to mention the beef fillet - which looks WONDERFUL!

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

I forgot to mention the beef fillet - which looks WONDERFUL!

Actually had 3 whole fillets, 2 Australian and 1 Wagyu. He smothers the fillets in Marmite and leaves them in the fridge overnight. Then he dusts them with English mustard powder before grilling them.

Your garage is clean. Too clean...

Clearly it has never had any vehicles manufactured by the British parked in it!


Looks like a nice day otherwise, nice pics too.

An enjoyable day for all concerned by the looks of it. Lovely piece of beef.

Originally Posted by slackula

Your garage is clean. Too clean...

Clearly it has never had any vehicles manufactured by the British parked in it!


Looks like a nice day otherwise, nice pics too.

We parked the wife's car at a friend's resort for a couple of days and pressure jetted the garage floor. Pretty clean before but wife wanted it immaculate.

How much to rent 5 monks for the afternoon?

Originally Posted by Cujo

How much to rent 5 monks for the afternoon?

Wife not told me. I think the 'donation' is discretionary. Think you can only rent them in the mornings, otherwise they'll miss out on food........

Originally Posted by PAG

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

I forgot to mention the beef fillet - which looks WONDERFUL!

Actually had 3 whole fillets, 2 Australian and 1 Wagyu. He smothers the fillets in Marmite and leaves them in the fridge overnight. Then he dusts them with English mustard powder before grilling them.

Great pics PAG, you have a nice place there and sounds like you have a good missus as well (my wife is the same, she would never call it a night until the mess was cleaned up)
The pics of the food had my drooling, could almost taste it.
Interesting you mention the Marmite on the beef, I stayed with a mate of mine in Australia years ago who used to cook beautiful beef dishes, and I could not work out how he did it. Caught him cooking steak one night, spreading a thin smear of Vegemite on top of the steak as it was frying. Gave the steak a beautiful flavor it did.

Congrats on the merit making.

Nice gaff. Decent nosh.

Originally Posted by PAG

Originally Posted by Cujo

How much to rent 5 monks for the afternoon?

Wife not told me. I think the 'donation' is discretionary. Think you can only rent them in the mornings, otherwise they'll miss out on food........

......and renting afternoons are out of the question as they're always out shopping at the malls.

Lovely familial thread, PAG.

Well done.
Cheers!

Re-reading (its a thread to come back to), just to say sorry for the loss of your mother last year PAG.

Looks like she has left you in good hands though.