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.

Review: Lost in a Good Book

I have just finished reading Jasper Ffordes second book in the Thursday Next series. This is a review I found of the book. I liked this one even better than the first one - and boy was it fun being lost!

The inventive, exuberant, and totally original literary fun that began with The Eyre Affair continues with Jasper Fforde's magnificent second adventure starring the resourceful, fearless literary sleuth Thursday Next. When Landen, the love of her life, is eradicated by the corrupt multinational Goliath Corporation, Thursday must moonlight as a Prose Resource Operative of Jurisfiction—the police force inside books. She is apprenticed to the man-hating Miss Havisham from Dickens's Great Expectations, who grudgingly shows Thursday the ropes. And she gains just enough skill to get herself in a real mess entering the pages of Poe's “The Raven.” What she really wants is to get Landen back. But this latest mission is not without further complications. Along with jumping into the works of Kafka and Austen, and even Beatrix Potter's The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies, Thursday finds herself the target of a series of potentially lethal coincidences, the authenticator of a newly discovered play by the Bard himself, and the only one who can prevent an unidentifiable pink sludge from engulfing all life on Earth.

Review: Jane Eyre Affair

I haven't read a book quite like this in a while! Despite being science fiction (which I generally don't like too much), the surreal world he creates and the way he writes makes it very believable and extremely witty.

Background: Great Britain circa 1985 - time travel is routine, cloning is a reality (dodos are the resurrected pet of choice), and literature is taken very, very seriously. Baconians are trying to convince the world that Francis Bacon really wrote Shakespeare, there are riots between the Surrealists and Impressionists, and thousands of men are named John Milton, an homage to the real Milton and a very confusing situation for the police. The country is close to being a police state. The Crimean War has dragged on for more than 130 years and Wales is self-governing. It is a place where an aunt can get lost (literally) in a Wordsworth poem and forging Byronic verse is a punishable offense.

Plot: Acheron Hades, Third Most Wanted Man in the World, steals the original manuscript of Martin Chuzzlewit and kills a minor character, who then disappears from every volume of the novel ever printed! But that's just a prelude . . . Jane Eyre is next on his list. Thursday Next is a literary detective who handles security of original manuscripts, piracy and other crimes related to the literary world.

Some parts of the book are just hilarious. I laughed out loud while reading the incident where bookworms expel apostrophes, hyphens and em-dashes. Other post-modern satirical twists include the footnoter phone, an ubiquitous communication device in the BookWorld. A footnote number pops up in a dialogue, the visual equivalent of a cell phone beep, and the character receives a message via footnote at the bottom of the page - which is there on the page (literally:-)
All in all, the dizzying pace made me feel like I was web surfing through a huge library with Alice in Wonderland as my guide. Whacky, intelligent, and wonderful. Read it if you can. I am sure some of you would love it....

Updates: Larisa

I met friends of Felix yesterday, Larisa and her lovely daughter Vera. They were here to visit her sister who lives in Bangkok. After a lot of missed communication we managed to meet for drinks on Sukhumvit a few hours before they were to fly back to Europe. She was really nice to talk to, but most of all I loved hearing about how she knows Felix and their stories together - it brought me closer to my father despite the kilometres distancing us....

Updates: Ruby Ring

I just have to show off my new ruby ring! :-)

After firmly swearing that we wouldn't buy each other any Christmas presents this year (we had already bought our new computer before we left for Portugal), Amandio turned around and surprised me with a little red box under the Christmas tree with my name marked on it. Cunning little devil, we had killed some of our time waiting at the airports looking at jewellery cases and 'playing a game' of him guessing which rings I would choose. We had of course discussed rubies since the first day we arrived in Thailand when we were snapped up in a tourist trap and bundled to a jewellers. Sapphires and rubies are mined in Thailand (the mines are now exhausted) so naturally the prices are much cheaper here. During our time wandering aimlessly into jewellery shops we have been taught the 5 Cs of choosing gemstones... oh, lets see if I remember: Clarity, Cut, Colour, Carat - erm.. have to look up the fifth one -oh, there are only four! LOL

Well, this one, as far as budget goes naturally, is gorgeous (a little cloudy perhaps but invisible to the naked eye). Amandio did a great job in choosing, just how I like it - single stone, not too small, with either other surrounding stones or a double flank/side with a design, and a higher relief - portruding slightly. My style can vary between romantic old fashioned, neoclassical and extremely modern with those variables. Perfect!!

It must have been bought on a last minute whim (he hadn't taken one of my own rings to check size) and it was 5 sizes too small - so torture, I had to wait over a week to take it back to the jewellers here to get it enlarged! I finally got it back today and I am like a child - showing off my new shiny gift. Okay, okay.. enough said :-)

Updates: Happy New Year

So back in Thailand... well, in body anyway. After a fantastic New Year's Eve dinner (smoked salmon, lumpfish caviar, snails, pate, shrimp, cheeses, dark chocolate mousse and wine and champagne...mmmm) with siblings we left Portugal with heavy hearts and suitcases on 1st January. I didn't sleep a wink on the plane, crammed, a crying baby behind us, an annoying person who kept on switching on the light, and an energetic sleeper beside me and erm.. digesting. As a result, we are both suffering from serious jetlag, worse than ever and combined with a period and a cold makes for some discomfort and listless moods. Waking up after only one hours sleep, dreams that go nowhere, hunger pangs at odd hours.. urghh! I need a holiday!! LOL
Luckily, I only start back at work on Monday but poor Amandio had to brave it the following morning. Isla, who is enroute back to Scotland via South East Asia and an Indian tour after a year in Sydney, is coming to stay with us. I will also get to meet Zain, her now fiancee (CONGRATULATIONS!!! - proposed while skydiving - sounds very adventurous). I am so excited to catch up with her again - it has been TOO long. Julie, a great school and university friend also got engaged over the holidays. Congrats to you both too! Love must be in the air....
It was so lovely to see Sandra, Antonio and Alex and meet the newest addition to the family, Rafael. It was so warm and 'cosy' to be a part of the family for one day. Hugs :-)
I have unpacked all the goodies we brought back from Portugal and had fun putting them in their new homes, ie. books, photos, embroidered cloths and am slowly uploading the videos and sorting out photographs. I love that part - indulging in reminiscence. Happy New Year to all of you and wish you peace, love and happiness for 2008....

Wedding Rings

Why should the wedding ring be worn on the fourth finger?

There is a beautiful and convincing explanation given by the Chinese Legend...

Thumb represents your Parents
Second (Index) finger represents your Siblings
Middle finger represents your-Self
Fourth (Ring) finger represents your Life Partner
& the Last (Little) finger represents your children

Firstly, open your palms (face to face), bend the middle fingers and hold them together - back to back
Secondly, open and hold the remaining three fingers and the thumb - tip to tip

Now, try to separate your thumbs (representing the parents)..., they will open, because your parents are not destined to live with you lifelong, and have to leave you sooner or later.
Please join your thumbs as before and separate your Index fingers (representing siblings), they will also open, because your brothers and sisters will have their own families and will have to lead their own separate lives.

Now join the Index fingers and separate your Little fingers (representing your children),they will open too, because the children also will get married and settle down on their own some day.

Finally, join your Little fingers, and try to separate your Ring fingers (representing your spouse).
You will be surprised to see that you just CANNOT...

ISN'T THIS A LOVELY THEORY? At least it makes for a nice 'useless bit of information' party piece :-)