pizzachang

Hi, All you bakers. I have been using a bread machine for about 4 years in Thailand. I am the only person in the house that eats bread. I would appreciate some advice that would give my bread a longer life. it goes a little moldy after 3 or 4 days. Also when I cut a normal slice from the loaf ( unless it is a thick one) it tends to fall to bits. I have tried wheat flour and bread flour and mixed them together 50/50 with no different results. Thank you for any suggestions.

Knead the bread longer to get better texture. Be sure to use hard winter wheat flour. The whole wheat flour sold may be soft wheat - no way to tell and that won't make good bread. 3-4 days sounds about right if you bag the bread w/ any residual heat and store outside the refrigerator. Lots of molds in the air here. I store mine in the fridge after 2 days sitting out. Texture will change and become more crumbly as time goes on. Tougher bread is made by rising a 'slurry' or sponge and letting it age a bit, then add another teaspoon of yeast, more flour to make the dough and knead like hell. The breadmaker type of bread is good too - just eat it up fast.

I have the problem of getting the nice crusty brown shell on the rolls and even the pizza dough. I have a large (toaster) oven that goes to 250C. I've used my granite stone (preheated), used a baking sheet and even just the oven racks but I cannot get that golden brown shell. Is it the oven?

I'd say your oven isn't hot enough. I have a "point & read" thermometer and also a direct reading one installed in the pizza oven door. Top heat turns the top of the loaf brown - I cook loaves in 15 - 20 minutes. I would check your oven temp with a separate thermometer. It may not be as hot as you think or too much heat is escaping.

I use my pizza oven and make 3 or 4 loaves at once. Many recipes and finding an oven may be the biggest hurdle. [Ajarn Martin - do you leave your starter outside the refrigerator? Did you start originally just letting flour & water ferment? I used to have an awesome starter in Alaska but haven't tried it here]

I bought some fennel & cardamom there about 1 month ago.

I ran an iceplant in Alaska - selling ice to mainly the halibut & salmon fleet. Everyone laughs when I mention this but the truth is, fish is one of the most 'delicate' meats. You would not have decent fish without ice. To qualify a little - the State of Alaska inspects canneries and iceplants; The inspector( a qualified biologist, among other degrees) told me that bacteria attack fish very quickly and bacteria causes Smell of Fish! If any of you have actually caught a salmon or halibut right out of salt water, you'll know that it has almost no odor and very little "fishy" taste. The fat on salmon starts to deteriorate very quickly and I imagine tuna, and some other Thai varieties do the same. Halibut lasts (w/ice) about 7 days before "smelling like fish". Hence, Alaska is under the '5 day rule'.....land the fish in 5 days, well iced. The canneries even take the temperature of the catch. So, my guess is unless you enjoy the 'old fish taste' buy fresh or good quality canned tuna. I don't mind a bit of Thai fish sauce but the general quality of fish (unless swimming)puts me off. I went deep-sea fishing in Koh Tao and really enjoyed grilling the catch very quick.

Well, we did have some new people show up to fence with us. One fellow was pretty darn good, despite being away from the sport for many, many years. I'd been away from it myself for almost 30 years, and it feels really good to be back at it. But we would love to have some more people to play against.

The Chiang Mai Fencing Club is open to all. Young or old, male or female. (If you plan to compete, you will have to select one from each category. )

If you have young children at home and are thinking about a good activity that promotes thinking more than fighting, planning and working towards a goal, and develops good strong bodies quickly, Fencing is the way to do that. Most people don't realize that Fencing is more 'thinking' than fighting... it's a 'moving chess game' without the boring waiting between moves... At the same time, it's full contact one-on-one combat, but without getting hurt.

The Fencing coach is happy to offer lessons to newbies, correct mistakes of us returnees, and fence for fun with everyone. You don't have to be in perfect shape to fence well. You do have to be able to think well. Fencing quickly 'cures' being out of shape. It's a perfect sport for us old timers as we can play it at our own speed.

If you've been looking for something new, looking to change your daily routines, looking to get in better physical shape ('round' does NOT qualify as 'better shape,') looking for a good sport that you can play with your kids or your spouse/partner, think about taking a look at the Chiang Mai Fencing Club. It doesn't cost anything to look. In fact, it only costs 50 baht a week to play. Come take a look. We are always looking for new fencers!

Few more questions: Is there a national interest in fencing in Thailand? Can a non-Thai compete in national events?

How does one score hits without impaling your opponent? Can I just try a few times to see if I like it?

Diamonds are actually very plentiful. The amount of gem-quality diamonds that reach the markets is strictly controlled. Other precious gems such as rubies and emeralds, are definitely getting harder to find, especially in larger carats. By the way, this is just what I've recently read.

TBH I never really considered it worth watching until the last Olympicals, and then when they explained all the rules I found it quite riveting.

I thoroughly enjoyed the High Definition Olympics!

FolkGuitar, 2 questions: Is it dangerous at all? Do you have to "be in shape" to learn and enjoy the sport?

About 3 months ago, while waiting in my car at Rim Ping Market, I observed a falang drunk run out in the parking lot in full view of the traffic on the highway and proceed to whip out the johnson and take a leak. Of course, he could have been a mentally-disabled fellow with a weak bladder, who escaped his handlers but I didn't check. I did feel a bit uncomfortable seeing this, especially when I caught the eye of a Thai man standing by his car - I just made a face & shook my head. Meatheads are everywhere.

Upon listening to my wife explain Suthep's proposals, I found them eerily similar in scope to the rants of Hitler. Seems this guy wants everything his way and anyone that is non-Thai (not pure?) is causing the "problems" for Thailand. Scary that any people listen to this nationalistic rot.

Windows 8 works great. I bought online from the MS store when it first hit the market for $39usd, full version. Not even sure I want to "upgrade" to Win 8.1 (MS keeps asking) I did register my original MS account inside the US.

Good riddance...

Individuals are usually the Thai people "we" have to deal with. How "you" treat those Thai people is a reflection of who you are - how they respond, reflects them. I was in True Visions paying my bin and observed a foreigner trying to pay or do business - mostly I heard him complaining about how "no one speaks English" . This, to me illustrates what I mentioned in the beginning sentences. I grew up in the deep south of the USA and I can tell you that there were a lot of folks there that thought foreigners were from north of Virginia and west of Iowa. Bigotry, racism and just pure stupidity were common - or common in my experience and neighborhood. Those things exist everywhere, in some degree (in my limited experience). Mostly, I get along fine in Thailand - when I have a problem(so far) it has been my own attitude and responses that have caused my problems. So far, I still enjoy living here and going through the hoops to stay. It is the easiest and historically common tactic to blame foreigners for the problems in any country. You have to have a common 'enemy' to get others to join your group and this Maejo teacher is not forming one of those groups (I don't think so) Officially, foreigners are welcome and when official policy becomes too much of a burden, "we" can still leave.

Have you observed this situation?: Young, obnoxious man with young woman,

woman ends up going home with older man - a man who knows how to actually have a conversation and has something to offer, rather than something to prove. "It" is all in the mind, anyway.

I usually don't stop if someone tries to 'flag me down'. Sometimes you are rude and sometimes you are not. 2 young guys on a motorbike usually do NOT need "help". Bad guys are everywhere in the world. My wife(Thai) can spot them easily. She says, Thais normally would not stop someone randomly like the o.p. described, they would call a friend if they needed help or pay a sawngthaew.

I believe the O.P. has confused xenophobia with racism. I have noticed some of the former - i.e. anyone who is not a Thai. But I have noticed on occasion some references in 'Thai conversations' to some person being not 100% Thai. Part Chinese get the brunt of this, I think. Or someone from Myanmar.

I am hoping that you could apply at a different office and even possibly use one of the legal services, owned and operated by Thais. This is scary as I also use Embassy letter to verify my US Social Security and a State pension. Let us know what happens.

If there is enough left of the bullet, I suppose origin 'could' be determined - bullets are fairly generic though. Brass or nickel-plated brass casings are usually stamped on the base w/ enough marks to discern manufacture. "Specially modified" sounds strange to me as well as determining where the supposed gun was manufactured. Probably more info here than is public.

Just because the logo appears similar is not a reason to sue. The Starbung logo is not a copy, it is different in many points. Copying something (to me) is where it is hard to tell the differences - not the case here. No one has confused the 2 logos, or the coffee. No one has come forward and complained that they were 'deceived' into buying 'fake' Starbucks coffee. I hope a Thai jury decides that no "infringement" exists.

In reality, Immigration should know exactly how many visa's of any kind have expired. You are entered into a database when you enter the country and even if Immigration doesn't immediately locate you, their computer will eventually flag you. The 500 baht seems like a different issue than overstays and the overstays are more than likely dominated by Thailand's neighbor countries.

This is not world first.

Many country have such law.

Some even force you to exchange x dollars per day to their currency.

What countries are these "many"? No place I've visited. I'm not doubting you but which countries have such a tourist unfriendly law?

No doubt this is yet another hare brained idea that will die the death it deserves.

Seems like I remember Mexico charged a fee, maybe an exit fee?

Legal immigrants to the USA have always been welcome. Thailand welcomes, for the most part, legal immigrants and long and short term visitors. I don't see much difference in the 'official' stance but in practice, illegals in the USA can expect lots of benefits supposedly reserved for citizens, such as tax refunds when working illegally and drivers licenses in several states. Probably more stuff that I haven't researched, too.

The really cool thing is: the right hand lane on the 4 lane roads is the 'fast' lane. That is the lane where the U-turns are. Most of the U-turn lanes are not long enough for the number of cars using them and many do not have a real lane, just a wider area. I think it is why I see more 'white outlines' on the road in these places than anywhere else. Instead of changing which "side" of the road is driven on, (it is actually ambidextrous - only the steering wheel is different) just change the fast lane to the left.

Only 10 streets? They could actually accomplish something if only 10 streets are monitored.