butterisbetter

Here's a page that contains lots of useful information about nixtamalization. Among other things, it rules out the use of cornmeal to make masa for tortillas. Might be okay to use to make masa for tamales.

http://www.cookingissues.com/2011/03/09/mesoamerican-miracle-megapost-tortillas-and-nixtamalization/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

You might find the real thing here... at the Sausage King.

http://www.sausage-king1.com/sausages/126-pepperoni-sausage.html

What Americans call pepperoni is a mixture of beef and pork. I don't think that's what Sausage King is offering.

The reason Thai cheese is so expensive is that milk is expensive here ....

The last time I was in the States, four years ago, a gallon of milk was almost $6.

I think that's pretty expensive. And the other costs are far higher than here.

No, I've no doubt that they saw the prices of imported cheeses, then rather than make the smart business move and undercut those prices and garner a following, the typical Thai ego figured they knew how to make just as good a cheese, and that we'd pay full price for it.

Having said that, perhaps it is a farang-run business. In that case, the move was even dumber.

Makro does have a nice "shakeable" Parmesan cheese that is just as tasty as Kraft. Schreiber is the brand, 454 grams at 250 baht. The Kraft is 250 grams and tops 400 baht.

Big difference.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4 years ago the average retail price of milk was $2.98 per gallon. Currently it's $3.45 per gallon. Which comes to about 30 baht per liter. Maybe you were computing in Singapore dollars?

In addition to which the U.S. government subsidizes the corn, soybeans, and other grains used to feed the dairy cows.

There are also programs in both the USA and the CE to subsidize cheese exports which puts pressure on New Zealand and other producers to keep their prices low.

The reason Thai cheese is so expensive is that milk is expensive here. In lots of parts of the world it's subsidized. Not in Thailand. Also, in a tropical country, the cost of keeping the cheese at the right temperature while it's ripening is considerable. There's a reason why aged cheeses generally come from regions cooler than Thailand..

As for good cheese in Thailand, there's a company in Chiang Mai called Hapico that makes a Camembert that actually tastes like Camembert Don't know if it's available elsewhere..

You don't really need any kind of machine to make tortillas. I used to live in the Yucatan and the tortillas most highly regarded by the locals were those that were made by hand. They tended to be thicker than machine made tortillas.

Boon Daeng is not very soluble in water so most of it will stay at the bottom. That is why you can repeatedly drain off the upper 2/3 of the water and replace it with fresh water. Each time you add fresh water a little bit of the boon daeng gets dissolved.

Bunnydrops,

You place the Boon Daeng in a container with at least 3 liters of water or more, mix it well and just let it sit, when you are ready to use it, take out 2 liters of lime water, from the clear water at the top of the container without disturbing the Boon Daeng that has settle to the bottom of the container.

Place the 2 liters of lime water in a SS pot with a kilo of dent corn, and bring to a boil as it reaches a boil lower the flame to a simmer and simmer the corn from 10-30 minutes, turn off the flame and let it sit for at least 24-36 hours, last batch i let ferment for 4 days. Wash well, take off the skins.

The ratio of 2 liters of lime water to 1 kilo of corn, if you do 2 kilo's of corn you would place it in 4 liters of water.

Then simply replace the 2 liters of water in the Boon Daeng and let it rest until you use it again, has a long shelve life.

Cheers:.

JUst of the off chance that bunnydrops or anyone else doesn't know what you mean when you write "SS pot", it mans stainless steel pot. You don't want to put anything caustic in aluminium.

From the list most are items locally produced or imported cheaply from China. Imported from elsewhere and so rather expensive are: almonds, Brazil nuts, peas (frozen, Australian mostly, not fresh), salmon, tuna (fresh - but readily available tinned), avocado. (Avocados are likely to become very expensive soon since the Thai government has just banned imports from Australia leaving the USA as the main source.)

Difficult to find and very expensive: turkey (more readily available around some American holidays), honeydew melon.

And I've never seen proper, yellow-fleshed sweet potatoes here - only hard, flavourless white fleshed ones. Tinned sweet potato puree can be found, however.

I live in Chiang Mai and we get fresh grown sugar snap and snow peas pretty much year round. It's now avocado season and they're not expensive. In fact, the Royal Project is now selling Haas avocados. Turkey is expensive. About 200 baht per kilo. I don't know what salmon costs in the usa. Fresh salmon at Makro with skin on one side is 430 baht. they have lots of different locally grown melons here. Some resemble honeydew and they go for aboutg 40 baht a kilo. I've eaten white sweet potatoes here and they sweet, and to me, at least, delicious.

Air quality in the hot season can definitely be a problem. Hot season runs February to May. Usuallly there are a couple of bad weeks. Of course, if you are unusually sensitive, maybe more weeks. That might be a good time of year to go elsewhere. Of all the foods you listed, only brazil nuts might not be readily available.

Bakersmart, Makro Hang Dong, and I think Rim Ping, too.

We get our Japanese rice from Makro Hang Dong

The chicken used at Subway in Thailand is not processed meat and not turkey meat It is what it says.

Horse meat...

Is that a good or a bad thing?

that bar is decent. Large Leo is 65 thb. 49 thb sub is finished. I went to Rim Sting today...omg....15usd per pound for kraft cheese? Good thing I like Thai food.

You're that that's not the price per kilo?

This is a depressing thing I have been seeing a lot of recently

Why does it depress you ? Do you get depressed about a lot of things that are no concern of yours ?

It's called Reckless Endangerment of a Child and it is a felony in many places.

Of course, that is in the "nanny state" where sensible laws are enforced.

or "nonsense" laws!!! It's all your perspective. Personally I'd prefer seeing motorbikes with full roll-cages and drivers and passengers both required to wear full body armour Seriously, where are the solid studies showing that helmets make a difference for careful drivers travelling at low speeds (or high speeds for that matter).

Here is a link to a CDC study that will give you all the data you could ever hope for:

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6123a1.htm

And here's another report about what happened in Michigan after helmet laws were eased:

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2013/06/05/294382.htm

Most of the vets I know...

I suspect that you will soon be knowing a lot fewer of them.

bring tons of facemasks, especially for the kids. they will need to wear them for a few months, at least, every year. if not, I worry about the development of their lungs. yes, this is very serious. or hopefully you can leave for a few months a year....

This is just nuts. Our child is thriving here, it looks like the kids at our child's school are thriving, Chiang Mai is overrun with children and they all seem to be doing well. The is a case of one more over-the-top negative poster.

A bit OTT but still a problem. We leave C.M. every March for the entire month and go to the beach. The first couple of years our child was getting respiratory infections like crazy during March and April. He was always on antibiotics and for a while needed respiratory therapy 3 times a week. He was hospitalized a few times. We try to get him to wear a mask the first couple of weeks of April when we get back but... Any way since we leave each March it's not a problem anymore.

OP just google (images) "air pollution chiang mai" to see how it looks during the burning season.

You're right, of course, It can be a problem for some sensitive people, children and adults. But I think it's a bit of an understatement to say that puukao's observation was "a bit OTT". ANd the way the OP tells it, it seems like he will have the leisure and the income to vacation when needed.

bring tons of facemasks, especially for the kids. they will need to wear them for a few months, at least, every year. if not, I worry about the development of their lungs. yes, this is very serious. or hopefully you can leave for a few months a year....

This is just nuts. Our child is thriving here, it looks like the kids at our child's school are thriving, Chiang Mai is overrun with children and they all seem to be doing well. The is a case of one more over-the-top negative poster.

I'm in Chiang Mai but I've seen all those things except juniper berries in either Makro or Rim Ping supermarket. So between Makro and Villa you should be able to find most of this stuff. Juniper berries were once in Rim Ping but they sold out before I could get to them.

Thai TV has lots of soap operas. A hugely disproportionate number of the actors in those soap operas are half thai half farang. These shows are in the business of selling products. If a certain class of actor turned off the audience, you can be sure that they wouldn't be hired. In fact, the ratio clearly suggests that being half farang is considered a good thing.One of the nice things about Thailand is that it's one of the few countries whose citizens largely aren't prejudiced against white people. Of course, if you are African-American or a member of some other darker skinned racial group, then you will experience prejudice. ANd your children will especially experience this in a Thai school. But this is general to virtually all of east asia.

There was another post recently where someone made similar allegations against the Thai people. I think that, oddly enough, this same poster that cited this parable which I will retell badly.. There was a Village A and a Village B. On the road between them was located the house of a wise man. A traveler coming from Village A told the wise man that the people in Village A were very kind and friendly and asked the wise man what the people in Village B were like. The wise man said, "You will find that they are just the same." Another traveler going from Village A to Village B also encountered the wise man. He said that the people in Village A were very unkind and hostile and asked the wise man what the people in Village B were like. The wise man replied, "You will find that they are just the same."

Thank you for your service to your country.

Op have you considered the Philippines? I believe you can get a retirement visa there at 35, English is very common, huge expat community.

Check out Cambodia. MUCH easier than Thailand for visa and cheaper, but less facilities and maybe too wild west for the kids.

Look into the city of Udon Thani. A little cheaper than Chiang Mai.

You need to come to Thailand on a vacation trip and look around. I have been all over the Caribbean. The beaches in Thailand not anywhere as nice as the Caribbean. The weather is not as nice as the Caribbean. The air and sunlight is not the same. It is hot and humid 24/7 in Thailand.

Roads are extremely dangerous. I am a very experienced driver and I can tell you the tension driving in Thailand is unbelievable. If I had kids I would be very concerned all the time. Common sense transportation safety regulations for buses and trucks are a joke.

I am a American. Get ready to sit on a bus with some of the people you just got finished shooting at or have nukes pointed at the US right now. It is all cool here but you really have to keep your mouth shut around other foreigners.

Thailand is a de facto police state. So police check points are common on the highways and you have no rights. Unlike the US, you will be asked and If you can't show you are in the country legally you will be detained.

Thailand is the child molesters and human trafficking capital of the world.

is your wife ready for zero Political Correctness? No work place discrimination or sex harassment laws? I have no idea what kind of shape in are in physically, but your relationship with your wife could be strained being surrounded by Thai woman all the time.

How are you going to get the kids back to the US to work after growing up in Thailand? The culture shock would be very difficult. Because of the draconian drugs laws in Thailand, have rebellious teenagers here could be a real nightmare.

OK, that being said, you should be able to live quite nicely on your income. Chiang Mai is very laid back and appeals to a more intelligent group of people than say down at the beach areas. Great hospitals, many universities, malls, nice restaurants, Internet can be hit or miss and requires some research.

I am wondering with you disability, can you ride a scooter or motorcycle which is a very common mode of transportation here? Other wise you should know cars and trucks of all types are very expensive here compared to the U.S.

Sorry to be so negative, but it is really easy to see all the great things about Thailand. It can be really wonderful here. I just wanted you to know about some of the down side.

The problem with Huay Tung Tao is that the water is very, very murky. So if, God forbid, a kid goes under and doesn't come back up, finding him or her is next to impossible. I happened to be there when an adult drowned and they were looking for his body for hours. I think a pool or a place with naturally clear water is the best bet.

If you want your visa questions answered, here's a link to the forum for that: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/forum/1-thai-visas-residency-and-work-permits/

As the name of this website suggests, that class of question was the reason it was created in the first place. You can probably get recommendations there of good local people to work with to make this all simple. In Chiang Mai, there are business devoted to doing just this kind of thing. I use Star Visa which is located near the American consulate in Chiang Mai. But there are others.

First, thanks for your service. As a US taxpayer I am happy to contribute my part to your needs. As they say, you wrote a blank check for your life and now we should happily take care of you.

I don't understand why you don't go back to some part of the US. You have a right to be there, a right to own land, it is huge and varied in weather, appearance, lifestyle, and even cost of living.

In Thailand you will quickly find that you are a guest with no rights at all, almost. Visas for the whole family will be tricky, long term. Thailand has long term visas for people in other circumstance such as the over 50 retired group and the married to a Thai group and the work permit group, but you don't appear to fall into any of those categories.

Just my two cents, and good luck in whatever you decide.

Possibly because while an income of 139000 baht per month may seem munificent here, in the States it won't get you very far.

I knew someone who studied Thai for 7 years via education visas. . I've lost track of him but for all I know he's studying still. So an education visa shouldn't be a problem. As I noted above, there are also visas available for people who want to do volunteer work.

look at Europe has it worked really,that is what they are base they model on

The EC was working fine until they decided to institute a monetary union without a fiscal union. Nothing like that has been proposed for ASEAN.