NanLaew

My buddy Fred, sadly deceased, was a Captain with the USAF during the Vietnam conflict. We used to have an informal 'steak club' every Monday night back in Houston and settled on Pappa's Steakhouse on Westheimer as their steaks were consistently good and the bar was cigar friendly (Captain Fred loved his stogies). Anyway, he liked his steak done blue and it was his recommendation for the cold serving plate. After being served a less than perfect steak that was attributed to a 'new chef', he insisted that if there was a new-hire cooking his steak, he had to be personally introduced to Fred in the bar and advised on exactly how the steak should be prepared, cooked and presented. The management eventually added this to their official menu where you could order your steak cooked rare, medium, well... or 'Fred'.

I like the garlic and rosemary but never in the pan. Cut the clove in half and rub the open face across the open faces of the steak on each side as it's cooking. Same for the rosemary. Brush the steak with the sprigs while it's cooking in the skillet. So, to review... Steak out of the fridge an hour or so before; no pre salting and/or marinade. Get the skillet hot and drizzle the steaks with olive oil and then liberally grind/sprinkle coarse sea salt on both sides. Let that settle for a minute or two before dropping the cut in the hot, dry (no oil, no butter) skillet. Brush with garlic and rosemary as above, remove and rest. Eat and acknowledge some English celebrity chef's YouTube for the above 'technique'. I like skin-on, butter mashed potatoes and lemon-garlic grilled asparagus for the veggies.

Same experience. For home cooking in Udon, have you tried Pan Foods at the Samrong-Ring road traffic lights? Before covid, they were primarily bulk wholsesale but now maintain a decent fridge/freezer stock for the individual walk-in shopper. There's also some some good Australian grain or grass fed steak cuts to be had at Makro. A recent discovery there were Australian beef picanha cuts that were the best I've had outside of a Brazilian churrascaria. Dining out for steak in Udon sees Prime Steakhouse in the back alleys north of Wing 23 with favorable reviews.

You've got a point there but having flipped between driving in the US and Europe and the 'leftie' countries, the only places I found I had to pay attention was junctions in the cities with tram lines and bicycle lanes or at roundabouts. My observation in sleepy old Savannakhet is the locals know how to use roundaouts better than their Thai brethren and there are less flying idiots on 2-wheels. FWIW, I just spent a few days in Busan, S Korea and the colored 'traffic guide' road markings in between the conventional white markings would take a bit of getting used to.

I opted for a Thai driver to take me over and back. I watched the procedure carefully and it's pretty quick: personal immigration, car immigration and on the way after getting the QR code. There was only ever 2 or 3 people in the queue. If I do it next year and it costs less than the 3000 baht the local guy charged me, I may get the 'car passport', insurance cover and whatever else is needed and do it myself. As we drove through after maybe 10 minutes doing the in/out procedures, I saw some glum faces on those sitting in the waiting room, waiting for a bus.

What do they list for TR application support on their Consular website? With the single, Indian file submission queue and tiny window at Savannakhet, it's pretty hard to check what the person in front is either submitting or getting asked. If an applicant turns away all angry and stomps off muttering and cursing, I wouldn't be game to ask them what hurdle they got tripped up on. Maybe a recent TR applicant will drop by and advise?

In my humidor in my man cave in deepest Isaan. All my cigars are bought overseas from cigar shops with walk-in humidors and stock control. I also buy them duty-free online from a Hong Kong cigar specialist but that 'personal import' regime is fraught with challenges here.

I will send you a private comment. None of these amateurs deserve it. Cool. Then @2009 can post it here.

But we were only coming back from the 7 eleven. BTW, you sound like you're new here?

Your getting the hang of it then.

Tip#84: Don't cook a steak straight from the fridge. Let it settle for an hour at room temperature first. Tip#363: If serving a rare steak, after cooking and resting, serve the steak on a plate that's been in the fridge for an hour first.

Yeah but they don't do Songkran in Namibia either.

Yes, and I heard they all flew 'front of the bus' on THAI for free. There. That should get the usual suspects something to really gurn about.

In case you haven't notoiced, Thailand doesn't do Easter.

A test drive might do the trick. Quite possibly. But then driving past their dealership may become as perilous as walking past a gold shop.

"ChatGPT is not connected to the internet, and it can occasionally produce incorrect answers. It has limited knowledge of world and events after 2021 and may also occasionally produce harmful instructions or biased content." https://help.openai.com/en/articles/6783457-what-is-chatgpt So with its "incorrect answers... limited knowledge..." and "harmful instructions or biased content..." it's all a bit like Aseannow and other chat forums then? I see.

Up to 20 new ones on the BYD dealer's lot on the ring road in Udon Thani. Easily see 3 or 4 of them each day on my travels around town so they're very popular. Suggested getting an ATTO3 to Mrs NL but she's a reluctant adopter.

EU plates are a different size from Thai plates so genuine ones won't fit. If they can't be found on lazada, they don't exist.

Not specific to US service providers but I was disappointed that the new phone I bought in the UK in late 2021 wasn't eSIM compatible. I only became aware of eSIM technology in 2022. While looking at US service providers a few months ago and with a friend visiting in the US, I pondered getting an eSIM and a new phone to use it in. A more recent search came up with this solution from a German company. https://esim.me/ OK it's a card that goes in the SIM slot but in conjunction with their app installed in the phone, it enables eSIM compatibility in phones that don't have it built in.

Maybe somchai can learn that in Europe we stop for pedestrians And when he does, try and not run up his ass.

How old/hard were the Duelers? If they were end-of-life, pretty much any new tire will provide a ride epiphany. Not saying that your Michelin's are a poor choice mind you. They were on my list but I replaced the 6 year-old Duelers on the Ranger with Maxxis rubber and even infrequent driver Mrs NL commented on the difference. Now the Ranger is 8 years old, I think I may pursue a set of those Profender shocks. I have seen reasonably priced Monroe shock kits on lazada but are they genuine?

How do you know that @Isan Farang is a grumpy old man? Did you ask ChatGPT? With regard to @setbkk, judging by their helpful post, probably a good chance of being a grumpy old man.

Good link. I found the following from PwC provided comprehensive and up-to-date information viz a foreigner's tax liabilities in Thailand. https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/thailand/individual/significant-developments

Heard from who? It's an emergency temporary travel document not a substitute passport. The question is whether Immigration will transfer anything at all to an emergency temporary travel document.

The first part of the sentence is true but the last part is rubbish imo. Bi-confused is probably closer to the mark, LB lovers are not attracted to regular men at all. There is a reason LB are called "the third sex". And by the same token, ladyboys typically aren't gay (unless the compensation is sufficient). The preference for a ladyboy is for a straight/bi guy and gay men prefer gay/bi men rather than ladyboys.