cooked

Looks very much a plant that Jimmy photographed in my garden which has a pink flower. However despite the almost identical leaf shape, my plant does not have serrated edge to leaves.

I wondered that too Old sailor! but I don't think same ! I did wonder about that too! Here is a pic of OS's plant!

There is a thread going in Chaing Mai forum, which I think fits this... a type of Ginseng.... but I am not sure!

Nope. An important characteristic is the edges of the leaves, which according to the original foto are serated, not as in this foto. Ginseng won't be growing like a weed, they need stratifying to germinate.

Bush officially authorised and supported it. Churchill didn't want to know.

The UK got through the Second World War without using torture, at least according to official orders from Churchill. It could be argued that the Nazis were worse than the Islamists.

Wrong. The British used torture/enhanced interrogation and Churchill knew about it.

How Torture Helped Win WWII

If anyone believes that SIS persuaded each of these 19 hard-bitten Nazi spies to fall in with Operation Fortitude by merely offering them tea, biscuits, and lectures in democracy, they’re being profoundly naïve. An SIS secret house located in Ham Common near Richmond on the outskirts of London was the location where the will of those agents was broken, using advanced interrogation techniques that reportedly started with sleep deprivation but went on to gross mental and physical abuse. The result? Many thousands of Allied servicemens’ lives were saved because the German 15th Army stayed well away from beaches such as Omaha, Utah, and Sword. And another 100,000 others were stationed in Norway for another attack that never came.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2009/05/13/how-torture-helped-win-wwii.html

Silly. The difference is that Mr. Bush authorised the use of 'enhanced interrogation techniques'. I was careful to write

' at least according to official orders from Churchill.'

This was at a time when the Gestapo and other organs of the Nazi party were cheerfully and routinely using torture to obtain information and kill people. Big difference.

I read your link long ago. There is a documentary on Youtube somewhere.

Wifey says, without hesitation, cotton plants ฟ้าย , GOSSYPIUM

deleted, wrong

Buriram building boom because thats where the Govt are going to build the Nuclear Power Station.

The thought of Thai government money funding building a nuclear power station with workers from Buriram is enough to make me want to live on the other side of the world.

Half will be skimmed and the rest will be substandard with local rice farmers cobbling it together.

Have you ever witnessed Thai building work and the total lack of skills?

There is,as far as I know, nothing behind this strange rumour. Solar power investment? yes.Corruption turned up there already.

I got sent a link for this video from the UK this morning. Global.

The Swiss Embassy is almost opposite the UK Embassy. I have twice seen people outside the UK Embassy looking distraught, it may be just a matter of time until somebody attempts suicide. The Swiss Embassy probably is expensive as far as fees go but I have always been happy to be able to go there unannounced and get the job done on the same day. I decided not to renew my UK passport years ago.

I quite like enjoying driving in Thailand apart from during holiday periods when everybody is trying to get home / get back to work at the same time. I can now drive down Sukhumvit which I never would have imagined possible a year or two ago. And I remember the white knuckled, sitting on the edge of the seat, first drive into Buriram. I just anticipate when stupid things might happen and keep away.

What annoys me? People opening the doors of their cars abruptly without looking, especially if this forces a motorbike to veer out into your path. This is why I tend to drive so slowly in town. The other thing is the guys that overtake you on the left (which is ok with me as I expect it) and then force me to brake as they overtake the truck that I was just tentatively starting to get by. Oh, and driving in torrential rain as though it was a bright summer's day.

Anyway, I have seen all of this behaviour in Europe, they do all the stuff listed above also. Belgium was the worst.

Most of us grew up with parents or grandparents that had a car and we were in the car as they swore and complained about bad behaviour. Very few Thais driving today had this experience. Before they had buffalo carts or boats or just never left the village.

I don't think that there are more stupid people with a driving license here than in other countries, the problem is that stupid, selfish and reckless drivers (similar to the 'you have to die of something' young guys in Europe) don't get taken off the roads.

Sometimes you get locked out of a forum because of some configuration on your computer. I can only reach Buriram Expats foru using Internet Explorer. Mind you, I got banned from there for suggesting the admin.be banned for lacking a sense of humour.

You need a cool room because the melting point of butter is about 20 degrees Celsius. If the butter melts, you'll wind up with sort of a brioche. To get those flaky layers, the butter can't melt. So work quickly.

I've never heard of lard being used. But it sounds like it could taste good. I believe the Scots make some kind of pastry which are kind of a croissant but use lard or a mixture of lard and butter.

I've also never heard of lard being used. I'd thought the whole point of a good croissant was its butteriness. However, Wikipedia tells me that in Argentina they have medialuna de grasa which are croissants made with lard.

The melting point of butter is a bit higher than 20°C - around 40°C. I think that in an aircon room at 24°C there shouldn't be a problem if you work quickly. (That's based upon my experience making puff pastry.) You'll need to allow plenty of time for your work surface to cool down. I'd also be inclined to put the flour into the freezer to cool it down before starting.

If the butter does become too soft and starts being absorbed into the flour at any stage during making, it's always possible to put the dough in the fridge for half an hour or so to firm up the butter.

Well the result has been judged as 'aroi' by the committee. I did find a few croissant recipes that included lard, so I substituted the initial dosage of butter to mix into the flour with lard. Everything that I have tried up to now seems to be improved by its use in taste and texture.

The butter I used later on was quite runny, I let it get that way as I thought that it would be easier to spread, but it isn't, everything sticks to the knife. As I said, I got excellent results but next time I will use cold, thinly sliced butter as it will be easier to apply. The dough had been in the fridge for an hour before I started applying so that's one thing I did right. I left the dough in the fridge overnight before rolling it out again and coating it with egg white. Quite unlike anything I ever tasted before and I used to buy croissants regularly in France and Switzerland.

Try Cromwell tools, they seem to have everything and the boss, an Englishman, is very reliable

Interesting, i remember trying to find rennet also, a long time ago.

If I was capable of making cheese, I might think of making my own rennet. Apparently rennet is an enzyme that curdles milk . There is a rennet that can be made from stinging nettles apparently, which may explain wht somebody asked a month or two ago if he could grow them in Thailand.

Anyway, as mentioned, you don't need rennet to make cottage cheese.

You need a cool room because the melting point of butter is about 20 degrees Celsius. If the butter melts, you'll wind up with sort of a brioche. To get those flaky layers, the butter can't melt. So work quickly.

I've never heard of lard being used. But it sounds like it could taste good. I believe the Scots make some kind of pastry which are kind of a croissant but use lard or a mixture of lard and butter.

WE'll see. I couldn't wait and didn'tknow that about the butter. Oh well, I like brioche also. Thanks

I have eaten excellent croissants in Thailand, on Koh Samui to be exact, French bakery.

Reading various recipes, they recommend working in a cool room. I guess I could get temperatures down to 24°C if I leave the undersized A/C on all night. I also read that traditional recipes used lard or maybe lard plus butter. I have made lard and it makes great bread when I substitute butter or oil with it. One recipe:

http://www.helpwithcooking.com/pastry-guide/croissants-recipe.html

Any tips before I start please?Not much info out there on the net

Ps this recipe seems to use a lot of yeast....

In my village,, my other half insisted we buy as much land around us as possible,, i saw many blocks of bushland being leveled,

the monk going in and blessing the land, other people checking the land for bones,, this went on and on,, i refused to buy

anything as (it would be owned by the other half) eventually i asked as to why so much land was being bought and cleared,,

"don't you know Bangkok is sinking and it will be flooded completely,, people are preparing to leave Bangkok once it is

underwater" so that's the answer my friends.

That's what I was told also. Good to see that the Thais are thinking ahead! What time scale is this based on, 25, 50 years?

Nope, just plan for 2% fall off to the one side or the other. I have had experience with porous slabs and pavings and they invariably stop working after a year or two.

I really wouldn't know where you can buy this kind of stuff. You want to walk barefoot? Should be no problem with granite chippings to walk on if done properly and of course they are less dangerous when it is wet. I'll take a foto this afternoon of what can be done. If I don't forget.

Come on guys, other countries go in for dual pricing. Living in Switzerland, I could use public transport for half price, visit museums cheaply, because it wasn't worthwhile for two week tourists. I'm sure other countries have this kind of set up also.

Yes, that's exactly the sort of thing! That would be great if I I could find something like that.

As an alternate option, I was thinking putting concrete straight down, and placing slate chipping on top on the concrete. So similar look to the slab at the factory place with slate chips laid over it, but just one whole surface of concrete / slate chippings rather then slabs of it. Not sure how much bags of slate chippings cost or how much I need. But may work out cheaper than individual slabs...

Can be done, just do a test area first, and don't be too fixated on using slate. Look at

and decide if you want to do that! You can mix additive into the concrete mix before use if you really want pink! I hate pink, but up to you! Don't let moaners like me discourage you, but be prepared to be responsible for the result. I have seen some nice jobs done in Thailand.