Very Good Quote

"Your assumptions are your windows to the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or light won't come in."

Monday 17 August 2009

Village life and food.

Had another really good weekend up in Ban Muang. It is so easy to jump on a bus on a Friday evening in Pattaya and wake up in Khon Kaen the next morning. Going VIP class costs Baht 450 about GBP 8. The seats are like business class on a plane with the added set of buttons to give massage. Real luxury. Furthermore I really enjoy the few days away from work and Pattaya.
This weekend was no exception. We managed to relax for a while amid all the chaos. The chaos was caused by us, so cannot really complain to much. Last week we had started getting the house painted. Not completed yet but certainly it makes what was a cement coloured hut into a major transformation to a good weekend home. I took some photos and am very pleased. The house now looks completed. Yes, I know I do need some doors. Eventually….. We chose some bright colours much to the surprise of Wanna’s Dad who kept complaining he now needed sunglasses!
The colours to me are fine. They also tend to show the ceiling in a good light (pun!!!). The ceiling is a compressed bamboo like a matting or thin plywood. I suspect it would not pass any fire regulations anywhere, even here! But it looks good.
Wanna on Saturday morning prepared a breakfast for her parents. Nothing special for any of them, just normal Issan food. The just ‘normal’ consisting of ‘Lap’ which is chopped beef, chopped very very finely into what we would describe as a mince. It was prepared in two ways, some was cooked in the frying pan and some just cured with lemon juice, both recopies involved the meat being mixed with several herb, tamarind, ground sticky rice, dry roasted chilies and various fruit leaves etc. Also she made a beef soup/stew. And in addition from out of nowhere there appeared a bowl of freshly fried insects, sort of grass hopper type. (always a good source of protein), all this topped off with some sticky rice and Volia! Breakfast.
So it was great not only for them but also for me. I managed to be around there at the correct time to watch Wanna preparing this amazing mixture into a really tasty meal. I had at the beginning of the cooking stopped her for about two minutes so I could rush home and get my video camera. No sooner had I returned than she started cooking, did not wait for me to set up etc. Getting to hungry so I rushed into it and started filming.
It was all going so well till Wanna got fed up all the activity going on around her and I think the straw which broke the camels back was with her Mothers constant advice and chatting, all this while trying to translate to me what she was doing. Finally she just about lost it.
However the video of the cooking was not the loss I was beginning to expect it to be despite the rush to get it all up and running, no rehearsal etc. I’m certain with some (for ‘some’ read ‘a lot) of editing I can produce something possibly worth watching… You decide on that. Only down side during the filming was that we used a remote (blue tooth) microphone, nothing wrong with that but….we forgot to switch it on till about half way through the proceedings. Dumb or what!!!! I’m blaming Wanna and for some strange reason she seems to think it’s my fault… I’ll never understand women.
After all that hard work watching Wanna cooking, I got to eat some good food. We all enjoyed it. And finally it was Wanna's turn behind the camera. My turn in front and all you can see is me eating...

The rest of the weekend was one big relaxation. Till next time.

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