Sao Darly

I was out shopping yesterday, trying to find a good deal on after Christmas sale. I didn’t buy anything except for food and added on more calories with an apple pie at Bijenkorf department store. It was crowded in the city center with people looking for a good bargain. At least there was a sort of carnival set up all over town to cater to young children. I did run into a sign that made me think of Nye and took a few pics for her. NYE stands for New Year’s Eve but to me it was like Nye talking to me in hidden language.

Another Christmas spent in the Netherlands. The celebration here is not much different than that of the US with the exception of having to make a wish list for the gift exchange part. At first I thought it is quite unusual for people to ask you what you want for Christmas. Then again it is quite practical since you don’t have to take back the gifts that you don’t want or having to deal with keeping the gifts that you don’t like or want to have in the first place.

With my family we never had to deal with unwanted gifts in the first place (among ourselves) since we always knew what the others wanted or needed like a new pair of shoes or winter coat or something useful around the house that our parents wanted. As for this year I did get what I asked on the list like Clinique lotion and cream and USB stick and SD card for my camera. What I wanted more than anything else was to be able to go home and spend Christmas with my family. The alternative would be to spend a couple of weeks in Laos so I can recharge my energy and be back here to finish up the last term of the school year. But hey, we can’t always get what we want and sometimes we have to be happy with the current situation and make the best of it.

If you are wondering why there is pictures of tum maak tdeng. Well, let’s just say that I didn’t eat enough at the dinner party and was still hungry when I got home. So I was making my own meal in the middle of the night.

The sun came out on last Saturday and the trees were dropping the snow on the ground. I thought it was a good day to do some grocery shopping in China town, stocking up on some chili peppers and shrimp paste, as well as other essentials. I ran out of shrimp paste more than two weeks ago but didn’t have the need for it yet since I couldn’t eat any tum for awhile. It was a bit cold so I bundled up like an Eskimo and went shopping with Johan.

He had to do some Christmas shopping for his family and I was looking for a good bargain on winter coat and maybe an outfit or two. We went to my favorite department store, the Bijenkorf and shop and shop and took a break for some coffee and cake. I had green tea and coconut cake for a late afternoon snack. After getting more energy I went through racks and racks of clothes and found a white blouse and a pants set with matching blazer at 50% off. I decided to be good to myself and bought them.

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ละครรักแท้ – แคลช or La Korn Ruk Tae by Clash

บทละครทุกตอน คนรักกันนั้นต้องทะเลาะกัน
พอถึงตอนจบ ไตร่ตรองหัวใจมองตา บอกรักแล้วดีกัน
แต่ในชีวิตจริง กลัวสองเราไม่จบดั่งในละคร
ตอนท้ายเรื่อง จะเจ็บทั้งสอง หรือปรองดองกัน ไม่รู้จะยังไง

บางอารมณ์ฉันก็เป็นตัวโกง
จนเธอต้องชำปวดร้าวแล้วเลิกกัน
แต่วันดีๆ ที่สองเรากอดกันนั้นอย่าลืม
โปรดกลับมาหาคนเดิมๆ อีกครั้ง
ตั้งแต่เธอเดินไป เหงาจนครวญใจ

ละครรักแท้ ฉันขอเล่นใหม่สักที

บางอารมณ์ฉันก็เป็นตัวโกง
จนเธอต้องชำปวดร้าวแล้วเลิกกัน
แต่วันดีๆ ที่สองเรากอดกันนั้นอย่าลืม
โปรดกลับมาหาคนเดิมๆ อีกครั้ง
ตั้งแต่เธอเดินไป เหงาจนครวญใจ

ละครรักแท้ ฉันขอเล่นใหม่สักที
ละครรักแท้ ฉันขอเล่นใหม่สักที

Last Thursday and Friday I woke up to something that was so familiar. For a moment there I thought we would be getting a white Christmas. Whenever I see a little bit of snow it would remind me of years of having to shovel the snow in the driveway and on the street so my parents can drive their cars into the garage. We live on a hill so you can imagine the fun that I had during the winter months of heavy snow. It was a good exercise though, especially when you have to shovel the snow twice daily for hours.

I don’t mind the cold over here that much. So far it has never been as cold as what I am used to back in the US. I was out and walking around on Friday night doing some Christmas shopping and getting some fresh air.

Happy Xmas (War Is Over) music by John Lennon with wise words from Mahatma Gandhi at the end “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.”

Merry Christmas to all.

I’ve been spending a great deal of time examining the fish section at my local grocery store lately. When I saw the last package of salmon at 35% off (expired in a day or two) already seasoned with some spices, I decided to give it a try. Using one tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, I sauteed sweet onion and zucchini, and then cooked pieces of salmon for 4 to 5 minutes using one tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. After tasting the salmon I didn’t think there was enough flavor so I added on tablespoon of teriyaki sauce.

With warm steamed brown rice the meal was delicious. However it was too much food for one person so I had left-over for the next day.

It was a bit cold on Tuesday, last day of school for the first semester. I didn’t check the weather channel but knew it was cold from seeing the frost on bushes and trees and some white spots on the ground. I don’t have a winter coat yet and have only my leather jacket that I bought before I went to Laos in January of this year. I managed to stay warm so far by layering my clothes with undershirt, a long sleeve shirt, and then a wool sweater before putting on my leather jacket, with gloves, a scarf and a winter hat. Let’s just say I look like an Eskimo and fashion is not my problem but staying warm is all that matter.

It was minus 4 Celsius degrees on that day and it reminded of the winter in 2004. We just might have a white Christmas after all. My school even had two Christmas trees up in the lobby and with empty boxes of present. By the end of the day all the students were running out the door like there is no tomorrow. Many of my classmates are going home for the one month winter break and most of them are heading out this Sunday, after they all turned in their last assignment by midnight tomorrow night. That includes me also.
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I weighted myself on Sunday morning and noticed I lost a kilo in three days. Since I can’t chew real well yet and with no appetite there is not much I could eat except for banana for breakfast and lunch and then drinking plenty of soy milk. I only eat one meal a day now and had to make something that I can eat. For Sunday’s dinner I decided to make goy pa and only added a few dashes of roasted chili peppers, just to test out whether or not my mouth can tolerate the spiciness.

I had no problem eating the soup and had enough left over for the next day’s dinner. The goy pa was easy to eat and it’s a good thing that I don’t mind eating fish like I used to. The only mistake I made was to add one shallot to the goy pa. I woke up the next day with more rashes on my face and my arms. It looks like I will be eating plenty of fish for the next two years. After dinner I treated myself to a small carton of vanilla ice cream from Switzerland.

The day after my visit to the dentist I was trying to get through the day. I woke up with a big puffy face with red patches and swollen eyes. I thought my face was going to blow up and was trying to figure out what I ate the day before. I was also itchy all night all over a sort of reaction I get when I eat garlic and breaking out in hives all over my face.

I could only drink warm soy milk for breakfast. For lunch I wanted to eat the left over roasted duck but was not able to chew the meat. Since I made thom khao phiak using brown rice with two chicken eggs the night before and had some left over, I put the roasted duck and thom khao phiak in a tiny blender and made something that didn’t look too appealing. The taste was not too bad though.

For dinner I made two slices of French toast and drank a cup of warm soy milk. I knew it was going to be a long week for me. Good thing for paracetamol to keep the pain somewhat away.