Updates: PN and Mafalda

Well, it is the time of year for visitors again this year. Isla left a few days ago to join her mother and sister in India and now Mafalda and PN (AMandio's brother) have arrived from Portugal. I am tiptoeing around the house as they sleep off their jetlag.

Food: Cajun Shrimp

salted butter
olive oil
6 cloves garlic
3 diced onions
1 cup celery
1 cup green bell peppers
1/2 cup red bell peppers
2 cups white wine
1 pinch cayenne pepper
2 bay leaves
2 tsp cajun spice
1 cup tomatoes
3 tbsp of tomato paste
2 tbsp fresh parsley
2 tsp fresh thyme
1 lbs large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 cup of dried shrimp
3 Tbsp of chives



Place the butter and olive oil in the pan over medium heat and add the minced garlic and dried shrimp. Cook, stirring frequently, until it softens. Add the onions, celery, green and red peppers and cook until the peppers are slightly soft. Add the wine and tomato paste. Stir in the salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, bay leaf and Cajun spice (to taste). Cook slowly adding wine/water if necessary. Add the tomatoes, parsley and thyme. The sauce can be made to this point and kept warm or overnight. When ready to serve heat the sauce and add the shrimp. Cook until they are pink and firm. Serve over Jasmine Rice and top with the chopped chives.

Updates: Valentines

Chinese New Year has come and gone.. it was very uneventful in Bangkok this year as we are still mourning the death of the King's sister (dressing in black and white and no festivities). We did have a dinner party at home for twelve friends (Phil's leaving for Spain for a few months - I know.. any excuse for a get-together). A great night was had by all and only ended at 3am.. felt the effects (getting old!).

Isla arrived from her trip around Asia the same day. We had a

fantastic few days together doing some retail therapy, much to Amandio's anguish :-) Chatuchak market, Suan Luam (night market) and China Town were our favourite haunts, splashing out (modestly) on new bikinis, sun dresses, tops and cotton trousers and several necklaces and earings..oops! She has now gone to Koh Lanta for some sun and beach therapy taking the sleeper train there, which by all accounts is a very safe and relatively comfortable way to travel on a budget. She is coming back next Thursday for one night before joining her mother and sister in India - what a life! :-)

Today is Valentines Day so for all you romantic lovers .. have fun

:-) We don't really play along with the marketing ploy that marks and has ruined the tradition of this day.. afterall, shouldn't a woman get flowers and special attention ALL the time! LOL.

My private lessons are going really well and the ladies have decided to up each lesson to 2 hrs.. which means four hours a week 'che-ching' (how do you spell that!!?). Speaking of which gotta go prepare my lesson for this afternoon and tonight.

Food: Thai Pumpkin Curry

Serves 4

Ingredients:
4 large onions
Medium sized pumpkin
3 carrots
1 Red pepper
2 Apples
Cashew Nuts
Coconut milk
Thai Chili paste
(or something else spicy)
1 Cinnamon stick
4 Cloves of garlic
Ginger root

Method:
Heat the olive oil and add chopped garlic browning slightly. Cut the onion halves into thirds (large wedges)and then later the chunks of carrot and sweat for a few minutes. Add the red pepper chunks and large cubes of pumpkin and allow them sauté and brown. Add some fruit juice (I used cranberry), Thai Chili paste (to taste) and the cinnamon stick. Cover the pan and cook the vegetables, until almost tender. You may need to check them regularly and add more water/juice. Add a carton of coconut milk and cashew nuts (optional) and continue to stir with the lid off until the sauce begins to thicken. Season to taste and serve with Jasmine Rice (or on its own for a low carb meal).
If you wish to have meat, this recipe would be best with chicken or lamb (cook longer)

(a dish I threw together this afternoon - working the evening shift :-(

Updates: Ages!

Gosh.. it has been ages since I blogged. I have finally joined Facebook though in the interim - I am still stumbling around in the dark, not really sure what I am doing, besides of course getting into contact with old friends which is loads of fun. I have been warned that it is addictive.. but so far, I'm not really into the time consuming links, games and activities... for now anyway. I have enough to do with my blog, dailymotion and poetry sites....

I have started a second job - teaching conversation and grammar to four high-so Thai ladies privately (royal connections). It is very well paid so I intend to put that money aside 'to buy a baby' :-) (IVF). It does disrupt my week a little as the lessons are on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons and makes for less flexibility to go off on long weekends for a while.

Isla is coming back from her month's SouthEast Asian Tour on Saturday so I am really looking forward to spending some time doing girlie things with her in Bangkok - shopping and spa are definitely on the cards. Unfortunately though, our plan to go off to an island to do a diving course fell through due to my new job. SOB! Priorities I guess (this is the financial opportunity we had been waiting for - can't really turn it down).

For the rest, our social life is buzzing with weekly dinners with friends, the next one being a dinner party at our house for ten people on Saturday! Yikes.. better start planning the menu! A Beef Red Curry plus a Cajun Shrimp Stew with Jasmine Rice for maincourse and a Dark Chocolate Mousse with strawberries for dessert, I think. Hmm.. I will add the recipies here. Thankfully I have Friday off to cook all day.

Work is the same as ever. A new teacher.. yes, another male! (Female teachers seem to be non existant). I am planning another project to sink my teeth into. The University Entrance Exam papers have been written, tried and tested - so that chapter is now closed. The IELTS academic writing course we offer is becoming extremely popular among students in Bangkok and we are building a very good reputation. I have proposed that the course be revamped to accomodate the new numbers, recent exam changes and to make it more user friendly for our teachers who haven't been teaching this course to date (we have been using a lot of our own materials on an adhoc basis to meet the diverse needs of the students - the course is lacking in some areas). So.. it all depends on the budget allocated for the revamp - but I would love to do it.

We spent two days in Hua Hin Evason Hideaway resort last week - spent my time reading 600 pages (trashy beach novel) by the pool - joy! Strange, but after 26 days back I was already hanging for another holiday! Yeah.. I know..spoilt :-) Our next break will probably be in March when Mafalda and Paulo Nuno (Amandio's brother) come to visit for a month... Angkor Wat perhaps... but in the Bangkok Post yesterday it warned that the Hot summer would start two months earlier this year and temperatures are expected to be around 45degrees in March! oops! Not the best time to go inland really. We'll see.

Damn.. I just discovered that I cannot add more photos here, nor in Picasa until I buy more storage space from Google. That went fast!

Poetry: Incantation of Moon

Flame crystallised against black velvet
Silently illuminating the lacklustre
Veined with determination
Purity willed beyond the rim
Satiated by crators of soft lace

Seduced by a gravitational pull
Ebb and flow dance to your rhythm
Lulled by tracks of glistening silver
A celestial siren beckoning lovers
Weaving a magical interlude

Each changing facet reveals truth
A phoenix rising at one with fire
Peaceful rapture forever present
Confidant and keeper of dreams....
Radiating runes - my relentless moon




The moon here in Thailand will be full on Wednesday 6th marking the eve of the Chinese New Year.