Antebellum reverie

It's a lovely week in the chili patches. Here's celebrating moments that made it so.

Dainty Dory a seafood bistro at Terminal 21. Inside it's like finding yourself in one of those sunny seaside Greek cafes featured on TV and films

Carnation cheer brightened up a dreary day in the office. Read: marking finals that never seem to end. A vase of red pink carnations is the only cheer in a sea of academic bits and pieces. I made it til sign out time by imagining tea served on the porch of an antebellum mansion.

Mother's Day gift. The day for Moms has been awhile but I've been busy. This week was my only chance to take a close look at a gift a friend gave me. 

Finding the perfect purchase during a routine book shopping. The friend who gave me the Body Shop Chocomania gift set (above) mentioned she and her diving buddies fancy the Great Barrier Reef next year. The Dive Sites of the Great Barrier Reef is a nice book that provides what my friend would most likely need to know about the place. I love it when it's my turn to give gifts.

Calamari wish granted: my little brunch at Dory

 ~x~
Favorite Things * Blues * Inspire Me * Food Friday * Fave Fives

Fave Five: week's highlights

Fave Five: week's highlights

A little note for new bloggity friends: It's been an old blogging practice of mine to keep a record of what's positive and good about the week. For several months I have been unable to do it due to a few bits and pieces both on and off line. But I am doing it again. It's quite a good exercise in gratitude and optimism. There's nothing like celebrating! So on to exactly what I'm talking about, these are some highlights, five of them, of my week:

Catching up with movies
Thank goodness for days off.  I managed four of them in two afternoons. Fast and Furious 6 emphasizes teamwork, Hangover III friendship; The Great Gatsby shows lengths humans are willing to go to to gain acceptance, Jurassic Park introduces DNA to pop culture.

Crichton's Timeline
It took me awhile but I got the reading done. I appreciate and love novels that are intelligently researched.
 
Overseas phone conversation with the kiddo
CJ: Are you finished working, Mommy?
Me: No, Baby. I'm just about to go to work. I work evenings.
CJ: Do you go to work on a skateboard?
Me: Skateboard what?!...

He kept on talking. Bla-bla this, bla-bla that. Then out of the blue...

"Excuse me, Mommy. I have to go poo-poo...."

The Grandma was giggling in the background. And the sound of shuffling feet faded away.

I can't believe CJ is now talking like this to me. The phone bill is well, I'll put it this way: this happiness does not come in cheap but it's worth it. It does look like that clinical impression (selective mutism) three years before is gone.

Remembering Papa
It has been eight years since father passed away but each year on Father's Day I have him in my thoughts as I go about delicious food. He was the first one that came to mind when I leafed through this back issue of a society magazine at Starbucks and saw Sean Penn like this. You see I once witnessed my father carry a half sack of rice. In his office clothes?! It made a lasting impression on me although it happened for less than a minute. Unprecedented wonder for a nine-year old. I thought only porters could and would do that sort of thing. The surprise factor was significant. Father just played Samson in front of me. And thirty-three years later, it's amazing to see he's got star company.

Sean Penn- certainly 'more than a face,' and my own father showed me what he was capable of beyond his office persona. The world's got supermen all over :)
 

Father's Day meal

Linking to - Inspire Me * Creative Homeacre * Friday's Fave Five * Momspective * Food Friday

Flea market supper

Three cousins wrestle a mountain of clothes in the flea market. An hour or two in they proceed to the food section. It's been awhile since the girls had somtam, or green papaya salad. So it is high on their list of dishes to have for supper. Joy is finding a vendor whose somtam combo is exactly one's taste.

 

 xxx

xxx

 

This is the state of the coffee table the day after- a mainly fruit breakfast to offset the effects of coke drunk during the somtam supper which cost just $4.50.

And this is how fruits in the tropics are enjoyed: ten mangoes for $1.61, a kilo of rambutan for $0.60, two kilos of mangosteen for $1.30, durian for $3.25, a dozen pieces of jackfruit for $0.65. Joy is spending less for healthy food.

Somtam is everywhere in Thailand and popular among locals and foreign visitors alike. The Thai variation is no. 46 on CNN Go's World's 50 Most Delicious Foods. Here's a recipe by Maangchi Kim.

Visit these sites: Creative Homeacre * Inspire Me * Create it Thursday * Share the Joy * Favorite Things * Time Travel * Thrifty Things * Food Friday

Unbirthday tea

As Lewis Carroll's neologism in his Through the Looking Glass, an unbirthday is "an event that can be celebrated on any day that is not the person's birthday." People who love celebrations may be into unbirthdays regularly. I am. It keeps me counting blessings and looking at life positively.

"Statistics prove that you have one birthday, just one birthday every year. But there are three hundred and sixty-four unbirthdays. And this is a reason to gather and cheer." 

An unbirthday is also

"when you acknowledge that it is, indeed, the date of your birth, but refuse to acknowledge that you have aged."

and to you!

 

~ Sally's Blues and Maiylah's Food: sticky rice sweet coconut balls ~

It is also suggested that an unbirthday is "the day of a sibling's birthday where you also receive presents/money in order to keep the peace." 

I didn't know about this before but I have been buying gifts for my fur kid when the biological one has a birthday, and vice versa. When CJ turned nine I decided to join in the fun with my boys by having an unbirthday; albeit a working mom style one, spread and ongoing.

The local delicacy is the saving grace of the plastic water glass and paper coffee cup - served as snack during a 15-minute research conference break (intense and seemingly endless; not to mention quality control meetings here and there). When things go this way, as they usually do, the answer is an unbirthday.

~ My World: Business Faculty meeting, TRU-STech 18, Bangkok Campus ~

Never mind that it's punctuated with research thingamabobs: Epistemology. ANOVA. Enthnography. Multiple regression. Theoretical framework. Gimme the darn findings already! A long shot but it's nice to wish sometimes.

Plowing on - content validity, strategic communications, deception analysis. Crack! I need tea!

~ Mellow Yellows: it's strawberry milk tea time in my nook ~

And another unbirthday. So I made a little detour to Asia Books from bank errands the other night and got myself the latest Dan Brown thriller. Don't you just love the feeling of holding a 'just out' book in your hands?

~ ABC Wednesday: unbirthday treat ~

I read the prologue aloud to myself, heart skipping at the mention of Uffizi, huddling in the shadows...; then halted unexpectedly on chthonic, laboring beneath the earth.... How is 'chthonic' pronounced anyway? Anyone?

~ Ruby 2: Inferno ~

They are behind me unyielding, closing in. 

They do not understand what is coming.... 

Ungrateful land! 

The pressure to publish is floating around my nostrils. "'Seek and find,' the woman repeats" (Brown, 2013). Back to research mode. The load does get lighter when fueled by unbirthday tea.

Visit these sites: Time Travel * Favorite Things * ABC Wednesday * Our World * Sally's Blues * Mellow Yellows * Ruby 2 * Share the Joy * Food Friday *

Second choices, anyone?

When I got divorced I had to make changes to a life of ease which came with luxuries that I sometimes took for granted. The process taught me a few, important things. Single life so far has been very good and I am grateful for enough blessings and challenges that kept the balance.

My son attends school in the home country. I continue to be a mom to him from a distance, and although it is not exactly what I would rather have, I am learning to work my way around such living arrangement.  Second Choice: embracing life as it is "challenges some assumptions in Western culture and gives a different slant on the idea of success." I pick what's culturally relevant to me.

Viv Thomas, the author "insists that to live our lives well it is vital that we are able to live in a world of second choice or no choice at all." I would recommend the book to anyone who is curious about second choices and how they can become "places of grace, community, imagination and maturity if we learn to embrace life as it is." (excerpt)  The photo above is the cover of my copy. Lovely, isn't it?

The kiddo turns 9. Nine roller coaster years! For his gift I made a financial decision that will impact his life long term. Here's to life, my Baby Pooh you Sweet child of mine! What's a celebration without music? Do you like Gregorian? I do. This is my favorite remake of the power ballad.

So while loved ones at home are busy celebrating with glorious food, I'm having brunch of beef steak, salad and black tea from Fuji, my favorite Japanese restaurant.

Visit these sites: Mellow Yellows * Creative HomeAcre * Inspire Me 

Share the Joy * Food Friday * Favorite Things

Mother's day high tea

This whole tea idea was unplanned. Things were hectic at work. Besides, the son is with Grandma in the home country. But a friend was greeting her Mom friends on FB, I was tagged on cards a couple times and it looked like people were bent on making the day something you wouldn't forget easily.  Well, they show me. I love celebrations so it didn't take long for me to decide that I was having tea after all.

I picked Coffee Beans by Dao, a posh cafe in a posh mall to celebrate Mother's Day with a girl friend. She's not a Mom but her niece just had a baby and that according to her makes her a Grandma. Sweet. I believe in treating the self from time to time, and of course it is such joy to have a friend to celebrate special occasions with.

The Moroccan mint tea (on collage) was a welcome taste as it was my first since 2010. Blueberry cheese cake is the specialty of the house and that's what I had. Yum!

Why does food look so inviting right after work? Yeah... work hard, party hard.

Or maybe it's just me. I'm a fan of food and I love to eat. I even like saying that ;)

Visit these sites:  Mellow Yellows * Creative HomeAcre * Inspire Me 

Share the Joy * Food Friday * Favorite Things

Tea time in Castelgard

Constantly a fan of old, it took me 2013 to start reading Michael Crichton's Timeline. Published by Frederick in 1999, the book talks of going back hundreds of years; of knights and castles, an ancient language, lords and ladies, sword battles - there's my appetite for medieval history.

The story deals with modern machinery to get a glimpse of the old world. That's my cue not to lose touch with reality. High-cost technology is woven into the plot. There's a tournament in Castelgard. A rogue knight threatens to marry Lady Claire by force to save himself from bankruptcy. I need to make sure my own finances are in order after that spontaneous island vacation I did two weeks ago. Things seem manageable. I bought the paperback for just 68 cents. Contrasts keep life interesting, don't they?

So tea time into a tour back in time.

And joy is accompanying the read with a white chocolate macadamia moist cake paired with a cup of earl grey. I love chocolate drinks, hot or cold, but I take care not to have the same flavor in both pastry and drink. What kind of drink do you usually have with cake or while reading?

Visit these sites: Sally's Blues * Thrifty Things * Food Friday * Share the Joy * Favorite Things

Reading green

This post is linked with: Booking Through, Thursday 13 

Does your current mood affect your reading? Affect your choices?

It does. This week I'm in the mood for the St Patrick's day color so I'm reading a book of nature quotations. Its cover is of course green. Men are from Mars, women are from Venus is up next. Its cover also happens to be green.

Thursday 13: Random things that are green in honor of St Patrick's Day.

On my old computer desk
1-  poinsettia leaves on my tea cup

2 - candelabra 'legs' and a bowl where I put water for flowers to float in it

3 - coffee table book of nature quotations

On my dresser
4 - key and coin dish, Marks & Spencer hand lotion
5 - essay on political negotiation tactics
6 - vintage hand bag and ear rings
7 - books: Men are from Mars..., Piano preludes and postludes, Hallelujah Chorus

My restaurant brunch yesterday (I deliberately chose the greens from the menu)
8 - green shumai
9 - green tea ice cream
10 - green noodles with pakchoy and braised beef

On the pages of my illustrated and picture books
11 - birthstone, Everyday handbook for magical mothers by Mary Cicely Barker
12 - Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
13 - the May fairy by Mary Cicely Barker

Memories of green

"Let us make, instead of war, an everlasting peace...."

~ Virgil, The Aeneid 

Book 4, lines 130-136

For years I wondered why my father liked green.

I didn't mind that he bought Mama a pair of high-heeled glass slippers with a light green tint until he bought me a dress that was military green. Of all colors!

He was a typical man of few words and when he passed away, I realized I would never be able to ask him why he favored green so much. I resorted to guessing.

There are instances when I ask myself why I do certain things.

It was most probably Father why I colored this girl's dress green. She's around books and I relate to that.

Father gave me The Aeneid when I was in 6th grade.

I didn't understand the gift and wished he gave me the normal Nancy Drew instead. Why The Aeneid? Of all books!

Could it have been his Jesuit upbringing? (which reminds me of the new pope right now) I vaguely remember him mention they were grilled in classical poetry during his Notre Dame days.

Father was born in May. There sparkles the emerald.

Ex-MIL wears an emerald-studded ring. Rock in the center is almost as huge as this one illustrated by Mary Cicely Barker, which precedes her description of the May Fairy:

"The tiny May fairy always wears her lucky birthstone colour, a clear bright green"

In honor of loved ones who like green, I deliberately choose my tiny cup with green leaves today for tea, and of course picked a green book of quotations to read while sipping green tea.

Would you believe I got this tea cup for just 34 cents? That was thirteen years ago which makes the purchase 'vintage' in my books. One more green: when I ordered this green tea ice cream I had no idea it would be served in a bowl that's exactly what we used to have at home in the 70s!

Charles Baxter says in The Feast of Love, "put your trust in ice cream." Like joy I will!

Visit these sites:  Creative HomeAcre * Inspire Me * Color Connection * Thrifty Things 

Food Trip * Food Friday * Time Travel * Share the Joy * Favorite Things

Patty-patter

Patty patter 

goes the chatter 

I burnt some patty 

while the rain was pattering 

and I was turning 

off the AC 

and saving
electricity

More than two centuries ago a certain grain was generally given to horses in England but in Scotland supports the people. It's the grain I used two days ago to make these patties to celebrate the rain. Bangkok has been searing hot for too long that when it finally poured, I thought a celebration was in order.

Although patties are originally made of meat, sometimes I concoct meals and I'm happy doing that. Tuna instead of beef. I mixed in minced purple onion, honey maple syrup, evaporated milk, soy sauce, salt, sugar, a large egg and butter cake flour.

If you're wondering about the taste, well, it was similar to the one I concocted two years ago with mackerel. My son kept stuffing himself with those as soon as I piled them on a dish from the wok. There was almost nothing left for me when I finished frying the last patty. At least that's the idea.

Back to the grain. It is said to be the "Horatio Alger of cereals, which progress, if not from rags to riches, at least from weed to health food." OATS. Yummy softies. And when I have them in the midst of books, life just seems so pleasant.

Food Friday * Favorite Things Hop * Share the Joy * Color Connection * Blues

Four salad men and a daiquiri poet

Research papers or PhD proposals don't count, right? Yeah, I write those and sometimes a speech to kick off a university business meeting. The rest of the time I play with recreational haiku, and that's that. So I'm no writer, but once in awhile I date some daiquiri. When the calendar showed 1-1-11, I headed off to a beach town, the Thai Royal family's summer home. I did balance the table with something healthy.

Now we don't play with our food but we certainly can have fun:
Guess which writer loved daiquiri: Edward Thomas, Randall Jarrell or Robert Frost 

Clue: "The land was ours before we were the land's..." Read at JFK's inauguration. 

*More on writers and what they love to eat here.*

Someone once said 'it takes four men to dress a salad. One for the salt, one for the pepper, one for the vinegar and one for the oil." 

Can you name which men? Here are your choices:
a. yeoman, barman, monk, gamekeeper
b. wiseman, madman, miser, spendthrift
c. marksman, poet, undertaker, painter

Now have some coffee before finding your answers below

"Robert Frost loved daiquiris. At the Waybury Inn near one of his favorite dining spots - Frost would begin every dinner with a daiquiri. But only one daiquiri." THE AWL

"It takes four men to dress a salad: a wise man for the salt, a madman for the pepper, a miser for the vinegar and a spendthrift for the oil." ~ Anonymous

Leisure research, a memory of celebratory dining and its association with literature are to me sunbeams of joy to a quiet day off work. I hope you had fun guessing. 

Shared with Mellow Yellows * Inspire Me Monday * Color Connection * Food * Food Trip * Share the Joy * Creative HomeAcre * Favorite Things

Libraries and cafes

This post is linked with: Booking Through, Thursday 13 and Favorite Things Thursday

How often do you visit a library? Do you go to borrow books? Do research? Check out the multi-media center? Hang out with the friendly and knowledgeable staff? Are you there out of love or out of need?

When I was a grad student I frequented the library out of both love and need. One biggest distraction to thesis-writing was pleasure reading. You know these things that you can't find in traditional or electronic books - databases and repositories that your university or company is subscribed to, are addicting. It's a world you may not mind spending hours or days in. Practically all collection of knowledge you can imagine is there; not to mention the 'scientific gossip.' And they say academic life is boring ;p

Thursday 13: authors and their food and drink. Let's have fun with who ate or drank what? There's a clue after the names. Answers are on the bottom of the list. And - many T13 participants are authors as well. We'd love to know what you like to eat or drink, if you want to mention that in the comments.

1. Daiquiri - Edward Thomas / Randall Jarrell / Robert Frost 

"The land was ours before we were the land's..." read at a presidential inauguration

2. Apples - Charles Dickens / George Orwell / Henry James

“... It was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light..." 

3. Liver sausage - Oscar Wilde / Frank O' Hara / Boris Pasternak

He had "liver sausages in the Mayflower shoppe." He died of ruptured liver. Larry Rivers, his long-time friend and lover delivered the eulogy at his funeral.

4. Claret - Percy Bysshe Shelley / John Keats / Lord Byron

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever..."

5. Champagne - Oscar Wilde / George Bernard Shaw / Frank Harris

"Always forgive your enemies. Nothing annoys them so much."

6. Eggs - George Orwell / Victor Hugo / Charles Dickens

One of his masterpieces was recently released as a musical

7. Vanilla pudding - Jean Paul Sartre / Boris Pasternak / Gunther Grass

recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature

8. Soda water - Robert Frost / Lord Byron / George Bernard Shaw

One of his most famous poems was sang at the opening credits of the film Vanity Fair: "...like the night, of cloudless climes and starry skies..."

9. Rabbit stew - Sylvia Plath / Virginia Woolf / Emily Dickenson

She advanced the genre of confessional poetry

10. Plum cake - Elizabeth Browning / Jane Austen / Charlotte Bronte

Her most famous novel is celebrating its 200th anniversary this year

11. Oysters - Vladimir Nabokov / Leo Tolstoy / Anton Chekhov

He once said, "medicine is my lawful wife; and literature is my mistress"

12. Milk - Honore' de Balzac / Frank Kafka / Moliere

 Le Peau de chagrin, Gobseck. "A mother who is really a mother is never free."

13. Espresso - Alexandre Dumas / Marcel Proust / Jules Verne

In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower. "Happiness is beneficial for the body, but it is grief that develops the powers of the mind."

~Idea: theawl.  The rest of the research is mine~

Answers: 1 Robert Frost  2 Charles Dickens  3 Frank O' Hara  4 John Keats  5 Oscar Wilde  6 Victor Hugo  7 Gunther Grass  8 Lord Byron  9 Sylvia Plath  10 Jane Austen  11 Anton Chekhov  12 Honore' de Balzac  13 Marcel Proust