Thank you President Obama

Posted on 14 January 2017 by christao408

As January 20, 2017 approaches and, with it, the inauguration of President Trump, I want to thank President Obama. His was the first campaign for which I contributed money and time. Future generations will write his legacy and, just like any politician, he is imperfect. Nonetheless, I want to thank President Obama for three reasons:

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Thank you for conducting yourself unlike any president in my lifetime, with a dignity, intelligence and professionalism that brought honor to the office. There have been no real scandals and your conduct has been unimpeachable – literally “no drama Obama”. You showed love and respect for Americans of all origins and faiths, championed marriage equality and treated women as equals – in short, you behaved humanely and justly. As the leader of our nation, but also as a father and a husband and a man, we could do far worse than the model you set.

Thank you for your political accomplishments. It is easy to forget how dire the world economy was in January 2009. The economy is, by almost any measure, in great shape. Far more Americans have health insurance now than when you took office. In an uncertain world, you kept America safe and out of any new military entanglements. And you accomplished this with a Congressional minority for six years, where Republicans explicitly made it their mission not to govern but to stymie you. Yes, you could have accomplished much more in many key areas, but your accomplishments are significant.

Thank you for risking your life for the country. All presidents are targets for unbalanced people with extremist agendas – thus the constant Secret Service protection. But as the first president of color, you faced a level of hatred unmatched in modern history. Especially in an age where a large percentage of Americans are still convinced you are foreign-born, I am startled that there were no attempts on your life. That was a very real risk you faced and I thank your for doing so. My nieces and young people everywhere are growing up in a nation where having a president of color isn’t an unimaginable future but rather an unquestioned reality.

The third point reminds me that there are some other people whom I must thank:

In a crowded field of first ladies who have been positive role models, First Lady Michelle Obama especially stands out. Her class, style, intelligence and caring has been an inspiration for all of us. The loving partnership between her and the President is a joy to watch.

Vice President Joe Biden is a class-act example of public service. A humble, big-hearted man who has never sought power or personal gain, but rather has always sought to serve and contribute to the betterment of our nation.

And his wife Jill Biden so rarely receives the credit she deserves. While serving as Second Lady of the United States she has continued her primary job as an English professor at a nearby community college, contributing on a local level to the next generation.

There is no knowing how the next four years will turn out, but I invite you to join me in giving thanks to President Obama, the First Lady, Vice President Biden and the Second Lady for their service to the country these past eight years.

Thanksgiving Recap

Posted on 27 November 2010 by christao408

Oh, I hate to admit this, but I don’t have many food pictures. I started out with good intentions but as I proceeded through the cooking, stopped taking photos. And then when the evening of the party came, I was too busy attending to twenty-two guests that I didn’t have time to snap any photos of the food.

Things started out good, with lovely pictures of ingredients before I started cooking. But then I got caught up in the process of preparing dishes like this cranberry-walnut relish from the New York Times, and left the camera sitting in its bag.

The opposite happened with this maple and rosemary candied pecans. I got the end result but nothing along the way.

We set up in the cafe downstairs about 4 pm. The sun was low enough and the breeze was blowing so the outdoor seating was pleasant.

Eventually, the sun set, dinner was served, and we had quite a good sized crowd, enough to fill all the available seats with a few people left standing.

The set-up worked well as they have a small kitchen with an oven and two induction burners in the back, so I was able to keep dishes warm in advance of serving. The two staff members were helpful but took little initiative. If you wanted something done, you really had to explain step by step what you wanted them to do. I asked them to slice some bread and so they sliced it and put it on a plate, but never brought it out. I hadn’t said, “slice, put it on a plate, and set it out with the other food” you see.

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Our Kansas City visitors, Jack, Craig, and Matt. They head off to Chiang Mai on Sunday and we’ll meet up with them in Phuket later in the week.

The only food shot I have at the party – Tod snaps a photo of the desserts.

Juggling Guests and Prep Work

Posted on 26 November 2010 by christao408

A trio of guests from Kansas City as well as a guest from New York City are in town. We haven’t had a chance to see the NYC guest yet (hopefully Sunday) but have been showing the KC guests around. We did an interesting little trip in which we tried seven different modes of transportation (subway, railway, airport express, canal taxi, tuk tuk, river taxi, and Skytrain) on our way to the Temple of the Reclining Buddha.

I’ll write more about that trip and share some pictures in the next few days, but I just have to say that it was a really interesting way to see many different sides of Bangkok. Also, today we did a half-day bicycle ride that went from the heart of the busy Sukhumvit district through the slums of Khlongtoey across the river to the urban jungle of Phra Pradaeng. My guests are sure getting their money’s worth!

At the same time, I’m trying to wrap up a few work projects and also get the prep work done for Saturday’s Thanksgiving dinner. I’ve cooked the turkey breasts already, sliced them, and they are sitting in some broth in the fridge. The cranberry-walnut relish is cooking right now. Gravy is made but needs to be thinned and seasoned. Bread cubes cut and toasted for the stuffing, although I won’t cook it until Saturday morning.

Whew! A whole lot going on. For those of you in the US, I hope you had an enjoyable Thanksgiving with your loved ones.

Prep Work

Posted on 23 November 2010 by christao408

As I mentioned in a previous post, Tawn and I are hosting a potluck Thanksgiving party on Saturday. While it is a “potluck” in name, in reality I am still doing quite a bit of cooking.

Originally, I offered to make the turkey and gravy. These are kind of difficult to bring to a party so it is easier to make it myself. Plus, as host, I like the idea of making the main dish. I asked guests to volunteer for other dishes, providing a list.

Cranberry sauce was given wide berth – everyone seems to like eating it but nobody wants to make it. Okay, fair enough. It is easy to make and I can make it a few days in advance so I’ll do that.

Then it came to the stuffing. One friend did volunteer to do that, but he doesn’t have an oven so there isn’t really any way to do that. So this morning I’m toasting bread cubes and tomorrow will make stuffing.

Maybe I need to re-read the book, “When I Say No, I Feel Guilty.”

Ha ha…

In all fairness, I have guests preparing mashed potatoes, vegetable side dishes, salad, fruit, and many desserts, so everyone is pitching in. I just thought it was funny that with some 26 guests coming, I’m still making stuffing and cranberry salad.

Unexpected Wrench in the Tday Plans

Posted on 21 November 2010 by christao408

Two years ago Tawn and I hosted a lavish Thanksgiving dinner for 14 guests. I cooked the whole menu (except the bird, which I had done at the market and delivered) and we sat at a neatly decorated table on the patio next to the pool. It was quite impressive, if I do say so myself. It was also overwhelming so last year Thanksgiving was hosted at someone else’s house. This year we are doing it again… although a wrench was just thrown into our plans.

To save some myself some of the hassle, this year we billed it as a Thanksgiving Poolside Potluck Picnic. Instead of cooking everything, I’ll just do the bird, stuffing, and gravy and let others fuss over the side dishes and desserts. We’re also dispensing with the fussily decorated table and are instead just using the tables and chairs already available on the pool deck.

Well, that is what we were going to do. Until Tuesday, when the condo management posted a notice in the elevators announcing that a two-month rehabilitation of the swimming pool would commence the next morning.

Now, the rehabilitation is much needed. There are many broken tiles (I cut my foot badly a few weeks ago and considered posting the pictures but they are just too bloody) and this work should have been done a few years ago. But must it begin this week? And with only one day notice?

So the question was, how would this affect Thanksgiving? We’re expecting about two dozen guests and there is no way I can put them in the house and serve food. Poolside is out, of course. Thankfully, three weeks ago a small cafe with outdoor and indoor seating opened on the ground floor of our condo. It is a pretty space and hasn’t started to get a lot of traffic yet. Tawn and I went to talk with the owner yesterday and she agreed to rent it to us for the afternoon (we’re holding the dinner on Saturday since everyone is working here on Thursday).

We’ll see how this new space works but I’m glad we didn’t have to cancel. The cafe has an oven and refrigerator, so we’ll actually have better facilities at hand than if we were by the pool and had to keep running up two stories to the condo. Whew – Thanksgiving is saved!

Thai Style Pumpkin Soup and Cranberry-Beet Relish

Posted on 5 December 2009 by christao408

To catch you up on some of the recent culinary delights that have come out of my kitchen (well, culinary attempts, at least…) here is an update on two different dishes.

The first was a Thai-style pumpkin soup made after Tawn requested that we have some soup for dinner one evening. I didn’t follow a particular recipe with this one but just pulled it together by taste.

Base ingredients: pumpkin, butternut squash, onions, carrots, celery, chicken stock.
Aromatic ingredients: lemongrass, galangal root (similar to ginger but less harsh), bay leaves, curry powder, cayenne pepper.
Finishing ingredients: fish sauce, coconut cream, palm or brown sugar.
Optional ingredients for garnishing: bacon, cilantro, sour cream or parmesan cheese.

Here’s a picture of the finished product, which tasted wonderful.

Coupled with a video that shows the whole “making of”.

The second dish is a cranberry-beet relish that I made for our potluck Thanksgiving over at Vic’s house. I stumbled across several recipes for this and so improvised a bit.

Sautee a chopped onion and then add the cranberries, stirring for a few minutes but not cooking so much that they begin to pop.

Add shredded raw beets – this would actually be gorgeous with golden beets – and cook a while longer until the mixture softens.

For flavoring add the zest and juice of two oranges.

Sweeten to taste with maple syrup. The natural sugars in the beets offset much of the tartness from the cranberries, so I find that you don’t need much maple syrup. If needed, add a little bit of salt to the mixture.

Let cook until at a nice consistency. Since I like to still have some whole berries left, I reserve about a cup of berries and add them later in the cooking process so they don’t pop before the relish is done. This turned out as a very nice alternative to regularly cranberry relish and several diners commented that while they don’t normally enjoy cranberry relish, they particularly liked this recipe.

Back

Posted on 16 November 2009 by christao408

After about a week and a half of kind of drifting away from Xanga a bit, I decided this morning that I need to get back to it. I enjoy the relationships I’ve developed through Xanga and it is a very effective way to keep friends and family up to date with what’s going on in my life. That said, I’d just like to say, “I’m back.”

Villa Market is a local chain of western-style grocery stores, the first such chain in Krungthep. They produce a monthly magazine for customers which this month featured the incongruous headline “Thank God for Chicken! Celebrate with turkey”, leading to much head-scratching on my part.

Yesterday was my thirty-ninth birthday. An Australian friend, Jason, shares my birthday (although nine years younger) so he and his partner along with our mutual friends came over for dinner. I’ll have those pictures for you in a few days.

A lot of people get worked up about birthdays. For some reason, I don’t. I enjoy getting older and think life continues to get more interesting as each year goes by. Perhaps more pragmatically, I don’t see the point in fretting over something that is inevitable. That would be like ruing the tides.

I’ve also been away from Thai lessons for two weeks because the World Film Festival of Bangkok has occupied some of my free time. Which means I’ve been missing my latte art!

Left: the original pig latte that I received. Right: the same latte with some embellishments by me.

Bitter Brown cafe also does cocoa art. Here is a bear. A mouse? A rat? I’m not sure what it is meant to be, actually.

Thailand Thanksgiving 2008

Posted on 30 November 2008 by christao408

Thanksgiving has come and gone and it was, by most measures, the most successful party we’ve hosted here in Thailand. The last minutes weren’t a frenzied rush to the table, clean-up wasn’t such a hassle, and the food was very good.

I started Friday about 6 pm and prepped until just after midnight, focusing mostly on the stuffing and getting dry ingredients measured out for Saturday’s baking. All about that in the previous entry.

Saturday I started about 8 am and worked through my list one item at a time. The morning was spent baking pecan pies and squash rolls. After making four dozen rolls I still had dough left over, so I played with it, making a braid, some mini rolls in a muffin tine, and a pretzel.

This time around, I tried brushing the rolls with a milk and egg wash. Ultimately, I think they are butter wish just some butter on top. Also, I think I overbaked them a little. They were not as light as the test batch I did earlier in the week. The pecan pies were gorgeous and not too sweet. I love the recipe.

Our guest list continued to fluctuate. Ultimately, of the original guest list, we lost four because of the airport closure, gained two because of some new friends that entered the group, and then lost three at the last minute because of various complications.

Trying to plan for an ever-changing number of guests is a pain. I ended up making a lot of extra food, which I realize is the case for Thanksgiving, but I’m not sure how much stuffing I really need.

Fearing that the 16-lbs turkey would not be sufficient (remember, it looked like we were going to be up to 20 guests at one point), I bought an additional turkey breast, dry brined it and roasted it Saturday morning.

Despite dry brining it only about 30 hours, it turned out very salty throughout. Not sure whether I used the wrong type of salt or more than I should have but, while not inedible, it left me drinking a lot of water.

For the sweet potatoes, I went with the toasted spice rub. They turned out well, again I had way too many prepared, but I think they were a little over-cooked and mushy.

Things that were very positive:

Setting up tables and chairs downstairs by the pool. The weather was perfect – about 80 degrees and a light breeze – and having a company provide all the dishes, etc. (and taking them away afterwards to be cleaned) made all the difference in the world. Having people outside the house kept the gathering from feeling crowded. Our house is really at its best with six guests, no more.

Having some friends come over early to help. Boon (in green, right) and Kobfa lent extra hands in the kitchen and as other guests arrived, Tawn wasn’t shy about getting their help with last minute arrangements.

Tawn’s aunt also came over to keep an eye on things and lend a hand. Since we were downstairs by the pool, we wanted to be able to keep the house open for people to get things and use the toilet. Having someone there ensured that possessions were safe and secure. Also, she helped washing dishes so we didn’t have as much of a mess to clean up at the end of the night.

Above, our poolside location. Below, table arrangement by Tawn.

Here’s the menu. Links go to the recipes.

Pear and Blue Cheese Salad

Traditional Roast Turkey with Gravy

Dry Brined Roasted Turkey Breast

Cornbread Chorizo Stuffing

Braintree Squash Rolls

Yams with Toasted Spice Rub

Italian-Style Cranberry Citrus Dressing

Southern-Style Creamed Peas

Fresh Green Beans with Bacon

Pecan Pie

Pumpkin Pie

Assorted Macarons

The pumpkin pie was made by Matt’s partner Si. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of either his pies or the pecan pies I made. They were tasty, though, so if you want his recipe I can track it down.

We had time for a group photo before we tucked in. Standing from left to right: Chairat, Francois, Doug, Matt, Markus, Suchai. Seated from left to right: Chris, Tawn, Boon, Kitty, Si, Tam, Kobfa. David arrived a bit later.

While guests started serving themselves, Markus assisted me with the turkey carving, a task made all the more difficult by a wobbly table and the wrong type of knife. I guess I should cave in and purchase a carving knife.

Below, Kitty and Doug confer, Matt spreads butter on his roll, and Si, Kobfa and Boon converse.

Below, the happy hosts with Kitty and Doug.

We started dinner about 4:30, which meant that even after a very leisurely meal and visit, we were wrapped up by 9:00. Even after cleaning up and driving Tawn’s aunt home, we were in bed by 11:00. Now that’s quite a feat on a party night!

T-day Trial Runs

Posted on 28 November 2008 by christao408

T-Day. For those of you in the United States, Thanksgiving has come and gone, nothing left except your promise to exercise a bit more this weekend and, of course, lots of leftover turkey.

Here in Thailand, though, we’re doing a delayed Thanksgiving since everyone has to work on the weekdays. Tawn and I expect about 16 guests over for dinner this evening. This number has changed a lot because of the airport seizures. Brian, Ken and Vic are all stuck outside the country. On the other hand, we have picked up one or two guests as visiting friends of invitees are stranded and cannot get home.

Throughout the week, I’ve been doing preparation work for Saturday’s dinner and testing out some new recipes, to decide what should make the final cut.

There is a recipe for roasted sweet potatoes with toasted spice rub that sounded interesting. On Tuesday, I made a big batch of the rub and tried it on some regular potatoes.

The rub is mostly coriander and fennel seed, with lots of chili powder, crushed chili pepper flakes, and a dash of cinnamon. The flavor was very nice although I think some cumin would add to it.

I also tried a recipe from my childhood: Baintree Squash Rolls. These yeast dinner rolls have roasted squash puree which adds a wonderful color and an addictive flavor. They are easy to make, especially in this warm country where yeast doughs rise without difficulty.

There really aren’t that many dishes from my childhood memory. While my mother cooked all the time, I don’t have a firm memory of that many of the dishes. West African Peanut Butter Soup is one. These squash rolls are another. Over Christmas I’ll have to talk with my sister and see what dishes she remembers. Maybe my memory just needs a poke and it will kick back in.

Our trial run dinner on Tuesday. This was just for me and Tawn and it tried out a cranberry sauce, the squash rolls, and the toasted spice rub on both regular potatoes and a pork steak.

The sauce, as you can see, was very watery. While making it, I kept thinking that there really was way too much liquid and I even ladled some out. It wasn’t until the following day, reviewing the recipe, that I realized it was watery because I had added only one package of cranberries instead of the three that was called for! The flavor was pretty good, although ratios were off because there weren’t enough cranberries.

My final midweek test was with pecan pies. Matt’s partner Si is baking fresh pumpkin pie for Saturday, which is just wonderful. I’m usually hesitant to let guests cook for my parties because most people just go to the store and buy something prepared. This, in my narrow definition of the word, isn’t “cooking”. But I have full faith that Matt and Si will show up with some wonderful desserts.

To provide some contrast and an alternative for anyone who doesn’t care for pumpkin (I didn’t as a child, but love it now), I started to think about pecan pie. I have two large bags of pecans from Costco that I trucked back from the US with me last visit. Need to use them up before the next visit so I can buy some more.

Pecan “tartlets” after being pried from the muffin tin.

Never having made a pecan pie before, I actually went out an purchased corn syrup, supporting the agricultural monoculture that is American farming. I thought that mini pecan tarts would be fun so I made three different sizes: small, medium and large, below. They tasted fine but the topping just bubbled over the small and medium tarts and made for a huge, sticky mess. It took a long time to get the pans scrubbed clean.

Test runs finished and my menu finalized, I started my preparations on Thursday. Cranberry sauce was first, a re-do that would this time more closely follow the instructions.

Villa Market now had fresh cranberries on its shelves, which had been missing over the past few weeks as I prepared my menu. Curious as to the difference between the two, I bought both fresh and frozen berries. The price (about US$7 for a 12 oz / 300 g container) was the same and I couldn’t tell any difference in taste, texture or quality.

The recipe starts with a simple syrup infused with vanilla, fresh squeezed orange juice is added along with the berries, salt and pepper. This is simmered until the berries start to pop then is taken off the heat. I don’t cook it for too long because I like my cranberry sauce to still have some recognizable berries in it. After taking it off the heat, I stirred in a little Dijon mustard. Sounds strange, right? The tangy flavor goes very well with the tart berries and the citrus-vanilla sweetness of the sauce.

Friday was final prep. After a day of working and completing some errands (our car battery died this week so we had to get a jump start from a taxi and go buy a new battery), Tawn and I stopped by the market for one final push.

The big item: homemade cornbread chorizo sausage stuffing. This is not a difficult process but it is time-consuming. First I have to make the cornbread, then I have to toast the cubed cornbread. I have to cook the sausage and de-fat it. Chop the veggies and cook them, then start combining everything.

The nice thing is that this can be prepared in advance, refrigerated, and then baked on Saturday noon. Trying a few bites after I was done, I have to say that this is probably the tastiest stuffing I’ve ever made. And I was able to find locally made chorizo!

After finishing the stuffing, I sifted the ingredients for the rolls and put them in ziploc bags, then made the pie dough and refrigerated it. Finally, before going to bed at 1:00 am, I took the turkey breast out of the bag where it had been dry brining, rinsed it off, patted it dry, and set it back in the refrigerator to finish drying out.

Because my oven isn’t as big as standard US ovens, I’m not cooking the whole turkey – that’s been ordered from Villa and for 1000 baht (about $30) they are baking it for me and making the gravy, too. But I am cooking a turkey breast myself, either so we have a little extra meat or because I feel guilty for not cooking the whole turkey. I’m not sure which it is.

So here it is, Saturday morning. Cool – about 74 degrees F – with a light breeze. Our pool-side dinner will be fantastic. I just have a lot of cooking to do.

As of this point, I need to finish the pies, make the rolls, roast the turkey breast, bake the stuffing, bake the sweet potatoes, make the salad dressing and go buy salad greens. There wasn’t enough room in the refrigerator for 16 people worth of salad greens.

This time tomorrow, I’ll tell you how it went.

Thanksgiving Day 2007

Posted on 22 November 2007 by christao408

In most any big city on earth, the vestiges of your own foreign culture and traditions can be found. From the little Ethiopian enclaves in Los Angeles to the Bangladeshi community in Stuttgart to the remaining bits of the French in Laos, we bring a bit of ourselves and our cultures wherever we go.

Yesterday evening our bit of American culture in Khrungthep was found in a restaurant located down a scrappy soi behind a theatre with a marquee proclaiming it as “the best female impersonator show in Bangkok”. That was where our slice of Thanksgiving Day was located.

Left: Roka and Jhone, after she told Jhone (who is in sales) that she would never buy anything from him.

As Roka, Markus and I walked from the Skytrain station to join the ten other people in our party, I was thinking about how exciting my blog entry the next morning would be: a play by play account of the experience of a Cajun/Creole Thanksgiving Dinner at the Bourbon Street restaurant.

Sitting down to write this morning, there are certainly plenty of things to tell:

I could tell you how disappointed I was that Tawn couldn’t be there, since he was at the airport picking up his partents. I could tell you about the chaotic mess and disorganization that left our group waiting, even though we had reservations, for a half-hour before we were split into two tables and, eventually, reunited to one table. Or I could tell you about the buffet which, while the food was tasty, was constantly running out – especially of turkey, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin and pecan pies, the staples of a Thanksgiving dinner.

But before we arrived at the restaurant last night, as we walked by Benjasiri Park, there was a beggar in the middle of the sidewalk, legless, pulling himself by his hands and holding a plastic cup in his teeth. A man crawling like a worm.

So as I sit down to write this morning, as those of you in the United States are just finishing up your turkey dinners, let me instead tell you this about last night’s little slice of Thanksgiving in Khrungthep:

I am thankful for the health I and my friends and loved ones enjoy, giving us the means to earn a living, enjoy our lives, and walk upright in this world. I am thankful for the bountiful food we had and the means by which to eat so well. And not least, I am thankful for the pleasant company and the six new friends I met, the opportunity to visit and talk and laugh and learn about different lives and different experiences that brought us all to the same table.

Whatever your worries, whatever your ills, remember to count your blessings and be thankful for them. For if you have the means to access a computer and the leisure time to read or write a weblog, you most likely are among the fortunate.

Happy Thanksgiving!

From Left around the table: Marc, Piyawat, Stuart, (a friend of Doug’s whose name I did not catch), Steve, Markus, Roka, Jhone, Nicha, Doug, Brian, and Tri.

christao408

The adventures of an expat American who moved to Bangkok for his husband.

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