Thai food is great, but...

Sometimes you really want to eat something with no fish sauce or shrimp paste. And so things like this happen.


Phitsanulok cornbread. Brought to you by my kind family, the USPS, and the Thai postal service.

Okay, yes, this may have been cooked in a toaster oven with only one setting ("on"). And yes, it might have been cooked in a pan I made out of tin foil. But I think I have a semi-defensible claim to making the best cornbread this side of the Mekong.

As if the cornbread's journey across the Pacific weren't enough of an obstacle, while at the market on Saturday I forgot to buy eggs. I realized this only as I was dumping the cornbread mix into the tupperware container that, when I am cooking, doubles as my mixing bowl. I refused to let my plans be thwarted. So, at 7:30 pm on my Saturday night, with soup simmering on my portable floor burner, I ran down the alley and tried to buy one single egg from the lady making street omelets. Her surprise at my rapid approach turned to utter confusion as I began to stutter in broken Thai, "Forget egg. Cook; forget egg. I buy one egg. But no cook egg." Two other people on the street came over to help. It took about two minutes of myself and my friend Susie gesturing, pleading with our eyes, and shaking our heads that "no," we really didn't want an omelet, before the miffed vendor finally offered to sell me three uncooked eggs for 10 baht. Finally, four baht poorer and one egg richer, I was able to mix up this fine delicacy.


Not too shabby, right?

And some vegetable soup. I tried to make it like yours, mom...



But, in case you're reading this, my soup was far, far too watery and boring. What did I do wrong? Could you also advise me on your potato leek soup, because I was thinking of making that next. Also, this may or may not be a ploy to convince you to send more cornbread my way. And maybe a used copy of The Namesake, if it will fit in the flat rate box. That would be really awesome. Just if you have the time.

Okay I hope you are all well. Enjoy this last day of January, fair reader. I know I did, sitting poolside in Phitsanulok, reclining under palm trees in the 90 degree heat. Goodbye for now.

Yours,
R

Too bad they already made the movie

Dear reader,

With the arrival of the new year, I've picked up a new hobby. Sure, sure, I really ought to be doing something useful like learning Thai or figuring out how to teach but, instead, I'm cooking. Specifically, I've enrolled in a 150 hour night class at the Phitsanulok vocational college. We meet every day. It's serious. And by serious, I mean seriously awesome. My favorite dish so far is gang masaman gai, or masaman curry with chicken, but the most amusing was blaa dek mamuang, which translates roughly to catfish clouds with mangos. It's sort of like catfish that's been minced and then whipped to the texture of cotton candy, and then deep fried.

Here's my friend and colleague P'Add. After bringing me along to her painting class at the vocational college, she continued her streak of benevolence by deciding to enroll in cooking class with me. I'd be lost without her.


And here's me, chopping the fins off my first ever whole fish.


It turns out that there are a lot of very basic procedures in Thai cooking that I, having only the knowledge of an amateur American kitchen-user, am totally inept at performing. For example, deep frying anything, or using a mortar and pestle. That last one is especially unfortunate as traditional wisdom holds that the better you are at using the mortar and pestle, the better wife you make. And, due to my fair-weather vegetarianism, I am also totally inexperienced at cooking meat. The teacher is pretty forgiving of my kitchen dysfunctions, but I did get reprimanded for washing the pork too slowly.

Here's that fish, and a companion, a little later. This is the first thing I've ever deep fried!


I'm learning lots about Thai ingredients and such. This is the shopping list for gang kiew wan gai, or sweet green curry with chicken. Please note P'Add's helpful translations. And also the last ingredient, congealed blood. Note of caution should you travel here: cooked blood looks dangerously like dark tofu, so much so that one could innocently consume it for quite some time until being informed that it is, in fact, congealed chicken blood.


And here's us shopping for supplies at the market. I still miss Whole Foods, but this definitely helps ease my homesickness. Also at Whole Foods you cannot buy an entire pig's head, so really, Whole Foods-0, Thai market-1.


The final product: the most delicious green curry I've ever eaten. Perhaps I have to say that because I spent so very long pounding out the fresh curry paste with the pestle that my arm was sore the next day, but I think I am only a little biased.



Tonight we cooked sticky rice and shredded pork. Tomorrow is a spicy salad with glass noodles. If you tell me your favorite Thai dish I'll learn how to make it and cook it for you when I return.

Okay, I should sign off, dear reader, before I get any more unbearably Julie&Julia on you. I just wanted to keep you abridge of my daily life. I hope you're doing well. And happy belated Martin Luther King Jr. Day! I tried to explain to my students that Monday was a holiday celebrating the life of an activist who fought against racial discrimination, but this prompted one of my students to start calling another (more tan) student "black" in a taunting way. I tried to correct them, but I think something was lost in translation.

Yours truly,
R

Maybe I should change the name of my blog

to "rebeccausedtobeontheinternet.blogspot.com" and then cease blogging altogether. This is disturbing.

"The average young American now spends practically every waking minute — except for the time in school — using a smart phone, computer, television or other electronic device, according to a new study from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Those ages 8 to 18 spend more than seven and a half hours a day with such devices, compared with less than six and a half hours five years ago, when the study was last conducted. And that does not count the hour and a half that youths spend texting, or the half-hour they talk on their cellphones....

The study’s findings shocked its authors, who had concluded in 2005 that use could not possibly grow further[.]"

And I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder

The rumors are true. Rebecca Fischman has arrived in Thailand.


She has been spotted in Phitsanulok, Thailand, but there are also reports coming in as of this morning that she may have skipped town on a second class bus bound for Chiang Mai.

Welcome back, RF.

Yours,
RR

Trouble in the neighborhood, and an EXCLUSIVE blog announcement

SOME BACKGROUND:
As a relatively peaceful and democratic nation bordering several states distinguished for their civil wars and human rights atrocities, things can be complicated. At various times over the past forty years, million of people seeking to escape persecution and violence in Laos, Vietnam, Burma and Cambodia have fled to Thailand, where their reception has often been mixed.

Thailand recently made headlines for forcibly deporting 4,000 Hmong asylum seekers to Laos, contrary to the wishes of the United States and the United Nations. A U.S. State Department official called the deportation “a serious violation of the international humanitarian principles Thailand has long been known for championing.” (The U.S. is a bit more implicated in this situation than our moralizing might suggest; the Hmong are in Thailand because they fled Laos after cooperating with the CIA’s secret war in the 1960s.)

Currently, Thailand plays an ambivalent host to a stream of refugees and migrants fleeing violence and dire economic conditions in Burma. For example, human rights groups alleged in 2008 that Thailand detained about 1,000 migrants, then sent them to sea in boats with no engines.

Some Burmese—those fleeing violence from a decades long civil war—are officially classified as refugees and live in one of the nine refugee camps run by international aid organizations. The refugees are confined within these camps, where conditions are less than ideal. In addition to these refugees there are many other Burmese who have fled crippling poverty to seek economic opportunities in Thailand. Much like illegal immigrants from Mexico (at least, before the U.S. economy collapsed), who exist in a legal grey zone, these migrants from Burma are an integral part of the economy—often engaged in unskilled factory labor—but remain vulnerable to exploitation, lack access to basic services, and often work in inhumane conditions.

BEGIN UPDATE:
A few weeks ago, Marie and I went on a semi-educational adventure to Mae Sot, a town just five kilometers from the Burmese border. Many migrants from Burma live in and around Mae Sot and work for various factories. Consequently, Mae Sot is also populated by scores of aid organizations seeking to help the migrants and refugees. The place is a really interesting mix of Thai, Burmese, and international do-gooders. For example, around the corner from our cute guesthouse was this charming little Italian restaurant with homemade ravioli and banana pie and menus in English—all things unheard of in much larger Phitsanulok.

And here’s a shop that sells crafts made by women in the refugee camps.

We met with the director of a non-profit called Youth Connect that provides vocational training to Thai and Burmese youth. The training enables youth to seek jobs that require skilled labor—for example, with hotels or as carpenters—rather than accept a low-skilled factory job. The director explained to us matter-of-factly that the typical migrant lacks access to any meaningful education, as there is no education system in place except for the uncoordinated, piecemeal efforts funded by international organizations. Where schools do exist, they tend to use outdated and irrelevant curriculum, and may be set up by opportunistic local leaders looking more to collect international funds rather than provide quality education. Without a proper education, Burmese migrants are often only able to find jobs in area factories. These factories are notorious for their poor working conditions. The director also informed us that the Thai government has been so helpful as to suspend the national minimum wage for the area, enabling the factories to pay workers even less.

We also visited the Mae Tao Clinic, set up to provide medical treatment to Burmese at no cost. The doctor who started the clinic after fleeing Burma, Cynthia Maung, has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.

U.S. AID was repping itself hard at the clinic.

I’m still woefully ignorant about the nuances of the situation. I'm only now beginning to catch up on the debate within Thailand about how best to handle the migrants. It feels a little complicated, being a guest in a country but learning about its problems at the same time. Accustomed to freely criticizing U.S. injustices without concern for causing offense, I am not entirely confident navigating such issues here.

Also, Marie and I walked approximately two miles to this wat that supposedly had a sauna. Not so much. Thanks Lonely Planet.


ANNOUNCEMENT:

Anyhow, hopefully we will soon have more insight into this issue as a certain very special friend will soon join the staff at Ban Noi Soi Community Learning Centre, which “seeks to provide English, Thai and Burmese language skills, practical vocational skills, and community development skills to high school aged children living in the Mae Hong Son area of Thailand.” I’m counting on a stream of pithy and informative updates from her blog.

So who is this mystery teacher? None other than the Rebecca Fischman, who'll soon be beginning her career as an English teacher. Estimated time of arrival in Thailand: five days, six hours. See you soon and happy late national bird day!


That's all for now. Take care little reader. Hope your new year is getting off to a splendid start.

Truly,
R

"According to the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, 41 percent of Americans have a positive view of the tea party movement. Only 35 percent of Americans have a positive view of the Democrats and only 28 percent have a positive view of the Republican Party."

-yesterday's paper


Really guys? What's going on over there?

Sam...Song...Nung...

Happy New Year!

Dearest reader, I wish you a wonderful 2010. Any good resolutions? I thought of one but then I forgot it.

I'm on holiday in Chiang Mai. The sign below was posted on a tree at a forest temple I visited.



Love,
R