thaipete

try this one for summat different

get a piece of decent steak about 1" thick

make a small incision on the side of the steak and make a pocket inside

fill it with oysters, use a tooth pick to close the incision

cook the steak, I love it

Surf and Turf is great have a crayfish tail on the side or here rock lobster but make sure it is from the sea not fresh water

All very well in normal circumstances but PGAT sent 10,000 volts through my house twice in 3 months costing me roughly 150,000Baht per time I had a commercial RCCB installed but that just burst into flames as it is an Amp protector. The only protection I was told was about 10 ton in weight

If living in an apartment building, what difference does this make ?

They don't have grounding? Talk with the housekeeper!

They might have grounding, and again : I am the utter layman... Are the same steps you mentioned valid ?

Basicly yes. All you need is to get a cable connected to the maybe existing Grounding. Again, contact the Housekeeper for the Info where is grounding is located at your building!

I brought several anti-surge plugs from UK I have grounded three pin sockets here but for some reason they do not work on my computer or other electronic units here yet do on my kitchen equipment anyone any ideas?

Please keep your tipping over generous or otherwise to Pattaya and other tourist resorts up country restaurants etc. are generally family run and charge correctly you will be degrading a beautiful race of people by any sort of tipping. It might make the tipper feel good but stay in the restaurant after he/she has left and you will here the familiar stupid Farang comments

How many of you tip the department store clerk, or the HomePro staff you spend hours with choosing your tiles and suchlike? Do you tip the cook that actually make your food over a hot stove, instead of the sweet waitress who just takes 30 seconds to carry the food to your table?

Or do you tip the taxi/hairdresser? OK, I do too, sometimes. But why? It is their job isn't it?

Do you tip the check-out girl at Foodland/Villa Market? Why not?

Do you tip your doctor or dentist? If not, why not? They perform much more important services on you than the waitress. OK I know, they have better salary...

Edit: I see I have left myself open for attack as for the "performance of much more important services". I hope we can all agree to leave it to each person's imagination what this service might entail. My meaning was purely medical. OK?

I was told off by my ex for even saying thank you to my Doctor/Dentist, she said you pay him that is enough

Fully agreed I have eaten duck eggs here and UK, for decades, 80% almost red yolks I used to have my own ducks and geese but with the recent flu I have not had recently but the local market supplies, almost need a hammer to break the shells lol

Farang (in Thai: ฝรั่ง), sometimes pronounced falang, is the generic Thai word for a foreigner of European ancestry. While generally farang is a neutral word, it can be used in a mocking manner, or even as an insult depending on context. For instance, the expression "farang ta nam khao" (listen (help·info)) (in Thai: ฝรั่งตาน้ำข้าว - which literally means farang with rice-milk-colored iris) would be considered an insult. It is common in Thai to just say "farang" to point out the presence of one, without making a whole sentence. Black Americans have been occasionally referred to as farang dum (black farang) in Thai: ฝรั่งดำ especially American servicemen during the Vietnam War.

Because there's no other simple word that so neatly encapsulates the more or less shared cultural background of the whole Western world.

Occidental? Western?

Do they call African-Americans farangs? I always thought it was also a RACIAL thing. As in WHITE.

No they call African Americans the equivalent of the Spanish name

I still cannot understand why anyone would want to eat British Chinese when there is so much genuine Chinese in this country, I have been to China and eaten in Shanghai and Beijing as well as some small villages it is the real thing not a British bad copy.

The same with Indian which in fact in UK is generally from Bangladesh the curry there and here is made from the natural spices not a Brit badly copied tin or jar.

Apart from that there are so many Thai variations of dishes from those two nations that are as good if not better

All the signs are there again in 2007 just as they were in 2005 , I strongly predict that Liverpool will will the champions league. We are a better side than 2 years ago and apart from a hiccup against the mancs , are form of late has been superb. If we were allowed to have a bet then Liverpool would bring the baht home !!!.

Taking a look at the other so called contenders , Chelsea dont have the european pedigree and the atmosphere at stamford bridge is nothing when compared to other venues.

Man U , even though they've got one of the best players in the world ( steven gerrard being the best ) in christiano ronaldo , their squad just doesnt look like seeing them through to the end of the year , losing larsson and now the injury to Vidic doesnt bode well for the red devils (superb !!!) , plus with captain Neville out and Rooneys poor form , I can see Man U being happy with the premiership.

That leaves us with psv - no chance!! , Roma - will get beat by united , Valencia - will beat Chelsea but loose to Liverpool in the semi's and both Milan and Bayern are too old. I would love to hear some intelligent opinions on who you think is going to win but I'll still be saying Liverpool !!!!!

I had the whole Liverpool team in my bar in the eighties on their way to play in Australia, the only problem was Craig Johnson he was the only Oz player but missed the flight as he loved LOS and stayed here for a couple of weeks

A walk down Lower Sukhumvit during the wee hours was an interesting and almost exciting journey a few years back - loads of interesting characters, shenanigans and encounters to experience. Today the experience is more likely to be dangerous rather than fun and the early morning dregs from the night before avoided at all costs.

I remember those days well the only things you would lose was your virginity or wallet if you were stupid enough to carry one

I used to have a large swimming pool in Rayong province and yes I maintained myself with the aid of my staff, I found liquid Chlorine the best for maintenance, when there were too many snakes, frogs and scorpions in it I new it needed more chlorine. Actually true but seriously why not get a local lad or lass to clean for you a lot cheaper and you will not be paying 90% to the company

It's so sad isn't it. The Chinese took away the Panchen Lama... Why can't these amazing people keep their beautiful tradition? What was the name of that film about the little boy the monks found in America and took him to Tibet to become a Lama?

I became a good friend of the Prachin Lama's head monk whilst in Nepal some years back and he assured me the Prachin although Kow Towing to the Chinese was still at heart a true Tibetan and in regular contact with the Dalai Lama forwarding a lot of important information

My first thought about the election date was it's another initative by TAT to promote the high season

I believe CM is still under Martial law? The powers that be are still nervous about the Toxin effect in this province so expect things to be more controlled than usual and the alcohol ban rigorously enforced. It wouldn't be the first time this year that I've seen a bar with BIB connections, that can normally bend the rules being shut down by the military.

Anway, Christmas is great in Thailand becasue of the total lack of deference Thais exhibit towards it. I hate what its become in Europe... HUMBUG! If you're coming here looking for a mega Christmas party you've picked the wrong country (and if you're coming here just to party with Farangs you are coming to this beautiful country for all the wrong reasons).

When they picked the date they won't have given even a seconds thought to some farang holiday. But getting it all over before the New year holiday (Which is big here) may have been a consideration.

Melly Christmas to you, I thought Jan 1st was a Farang New Year too Thai is April.

I have been celebrating some great Thai Christmases here since 1973 Thais of course will take any and every excuse to celebrate whatever

Yes I would recommend the injections 2 last 9 months and no more scratching

Thai 'bird'????????

Yes her name was Nok

Around here there are many small oyster farms and I can buy a large bag of about 40 fresh that day oysters for about 40B.

I tend I tend to make a creamy oyster soup, fry some red onions and garlic to taste in butter or oil until translucent then add depending where you are, fresh cream or a can of evaporated milk thicken with cornflower then add the oysters for a couple of minutes only, add parsley if you grow it or else pak che season with salt and pepper and enjoy.

Mango Sorbet

You need:

1½ cups water

1½ cups white sugar

½ cup strained lime/lemon juice

3 large ripe mangoes

Method:

Place sugar and water in a small saucepan. Stir and bring to a boil then reduce heat, simmer 5 minutes. Set aside to cool to room temperature, then add ½ cup strained limejuice and refrigerate.

Peel the mangoes add the flesh and chilled syrup in a food processor and blitz until smooth. Pour into a metal pan (the larger the base the better). Freeze 1 hour.

Sounds great, I am a diabetic but I love the big yellow mangoes which are so sweet anyway, does the sugar do anything but sweeten

Using a sturdy fork, break up ice to slushy consistency. (this is to stop large ice crystals forming) Repeat this step 3 times at one-hour intervals. Each time the sorbet will be firmer. After the last freeze, use an electric mixer, food processor, or whisk to get a good final texture. Pack in a storage container, cover, and freeze.

Other fruits can be used or a mix such as:-

Papaya & Mango

Pineapple & Mango

Melon & Lychee

Coconut

Orange

Strawberry

Never Tried Durian - let me know if it stills smells and tastes like death !!!!!

When i lived in my wife's village we had both electricity and running water. However, whenever there was a storm or heavy rain the electricity dissappeared. The running water was not very good quality and was really only used for washing the dishes and showering. Other than that we used rain water that was collected via pipes leading to huge concrete(?) storage vessels. If you see these storage vessels anywhere it would give a good indication of either poor quality or no running water.

Not entirely true they are used commonly for storage tanks from wells or company water, the company water is often intermittent and a supply is needed for household use.

Deep well water is often expensive to pump and the resultant flow often poor so a storage and a further household pump are essential

I don't know if anyone in these forums knows anything about importation tax, I am hoping to import a mobility scooter, in USA and Europe virtually everything for the disabled is 0 rated for purchase and importation but this is Thailand.

Apart from all the technically correct Thai practically an inch is an English inch as in wood measurement and everything I have seen is measured with a tape measure in inches and feet unless using metric especially in the building trade.

Here in the south east 95% of the local market fish is fresh from the sea, we even have a smaller market here where the local fishermen's wives come and sell their husbands catch of fish, crabs, shellfish and even the odd small shark or ray no mud or pellets here

I use HSBC here Miggy, my SCB Thai account does not need a SWIFT Number, just the Bank address, name of the account holder and account number.

I cant speak for other Thai Bank accounts though,

Hope this helps, just fax HSBC the details in plain English and all should be OK.

Don forget to state that the money should be transferred in GBP not Thai Baht as the reate you will get will be better

I used HSBC one time to send quite a large amount to my Thai bank, I gave them two weeks knowing how they can bugger up and sure enough they did eventually they said they could not find it, then a week later it turned up in my account, I was calling my bank here daily as the money was for a land purchase.

They not only did not pay me interest for the missing time period they charged me two transfer fees which was not cleared up until I went back to the UK and faced the manager who could not have been more apologetic probably only as I was one of their best customers at the time

What is this buy booze early for Christmas, I agree the most I have known here is one full dry day and the evening before for elections

I am not sure it would be viable on 150 Rai for you to process your own latex, it is very time consuming and labour intensive, although you get twice the price for the finished product by the time you deduct the labour chemicals etc.

I have about 35 rai, 30 of which has trees that are fully mature and with the different sale prices I thought to do the same but after checking prices and talking to local growers the only way to make it viable would to but in extra latex from other farms and process that too it is also all likely to be ruined with a sudden downpour during drying