moogradod

Lucky you you had dinner at Schloss Schauenstein. Me and my wife in Switzerland just made it up to the Dolders The Restaurant. We are food enthusiasts like you but have visisted more upscale places abroad than in Switzerland were we (I) have been living for decades. But you raise my attention with your above post again: WIth "cherry schnapps" you must mean "Kirsch". I have have never seen any for sale in Thailand ! The best in my opinion is Dettling (I think it is from Germany) although I have been living for quite some time in Zug, the Kirsch Capital). But can you please tell me: Where do you get your Kirsch here ?

Completely agree - the only problem being: Where to get tasty tomatoes ? The best I know are sold in TOPS, but they are crazy expensive for the amount you would need (approx 1.5 kg minimum). For spices it will be Rosmary, Tyme, Oregano, Bayleaves. Muskat, Pepper, Salt for the Béchamel. Receipt by Andreas Caminada. Should ring a bell if I look at your avatar name...????

Will try the Vespresso. Thank you. In the meantime: I just did it myself for the first time in my life and my message is here to the asean members: It's easy ! Try it. Minced meat 70/30 (next time I will be doing 50/50) and self made Béchamel (pasteurized Grass Fed Milk). It was not 100% yet (but very good already and certainly better than many you can buy), but now I know the secrets of doing it and my next try will be using a receipe of a 3 Michelin star cook. This should then definitely yield the full desired result. As always while cooking, a lot depends on the ingredients. I used Barilla pasta sheets and 18 months riped original Parmesan from Italy. Next time the sauce will get more attention using fresh spices.

Mix it with mayonnaise, capers, onions and put it between 2 slices of the phantastique Baguette they make (like the real thing) in Big C Extra. 1 Baguette good for 1.5 meals (my size)

My wife gets the superb ones in Sattahip. Maybe a bit far for a shopping trip for you ???? - but you have wonderful shops in BKK, too ! Forget the half white hard sour ones ! The real thing exists !

Re.: Strawberries: You buy the wrong stuff - they used to be as you say but now wonderful (and my standards are high) strawberries are available on markets. Re.: Bananas: We get medium sized bananas directly from private gardens which are the best you can imagine. Light years apart from every other standard from Supermarkets here or what you get internationally from the 2 giant banana producers. Re.: Rest of the fruits available here: Thailand has a very large variety of Mangoes, but again, you need to find the one variety that you like. I do not like overly sweet ones. And unfortunately a number of favourites are missing (like Rasberries, black Cherries etc.). If you are willing to spend a few bucks more than Thailand provides a pecularity: They import at ridiculous prices, but the quality they get then is extraordinary. TOPS sells the best white grapes (from California) I ever had in my life, they offer a lot of special apples (Japanese) and even pears that are edible. But prices are really high then. What disappoints me here too are the cantaloupe melons - not sweet enough. Watermelons are good and reasonably cheap. As are gooseberries if they are in season. Recently they started to import very good Blueberries (the best are available from Big C Extra). Again a better quality than they used to sell in Switzerland (for high prices).

You can get strawberries like this on a market in our vicinity. And they taste better than the ones I used to eat in Switzerland (both local and imported). And they are not even overly expensive. Thailand has made a huge step forward as strawberries are concerned. The times of the half-white-tasteless-hard ones are over. They used to grow them in the Chiang Mai area I remember, but I do not know where the really sweet and full tasting ones are grown that my wife buys now (if they are available and not sold out) but almost 100% they are not imported. So it is a question of knowing where to buy the right stuff only.

Me too. I have had already two of them in Thailand, but my hospital makes a difference between colonoscopy with only mild sedation or with full sedation. The difference is the price because they told me even only a sedation with Propofol is regarded as full anesthesia and this a whole world apart. In Switzerland I have had several colonoskopies. All with Propofol and administered by the nurse - not an anesthesist. Propofol is easy to administer and easy and safe if done properly. But I do not know where I could get the same treatment at the approximate same price (Switzerland was by far cheaper).

"Early warning signs" surely relates here to immediately perceivable signs IMO, such as pain somewhere or a malfunction. Colon cancer for example does not make you feel bad immediately but if it does it is too late. Same for prostate cancer. While a PSA check is always helpful (especially overtime (each year)) a colonscopy should be done once with an age from about at least 50 (or earlier) on and then depending on the outcome (number and types of polyps, your family history) repeated in a cycle that may be much more than a year. I can tell that from experience, because my father died from colon cancer and they needed to remove my whole prostate gland with robot assisted surgery DESPITE my yearly checkups. This does not make the test obsolete - on the contrary. There are many markers in the blood that will be rarely routinely be checked. So from time to time I would invest in a full blood picture as well which goes beyond a yearly "package" and then checking only the more relevant ones specificially for you on a yearly basis. PSA anyway, but maybe specific liver markers because you drink maybe a lot, Ferritin etc. Your doctor should know what you need based on your medical history as well and after you had once a full blown blood test. I wish you the best of health.

So you do the dessert before your Lasagna as well. Completely agree !! "What's your drinking time?". When I am thirsty of course. Strange question. I used to get up in the middle of the night to cook me a meal when I felt it was right.

We will get soon children visitors from the country side (Korat). Two very young, but one girl is 13 years old. I am not even sure she is vaccinated. Would all / some need some sort of permission or certificate etc. to enter a restaurant in Pattaya ? (Vaccination Certificate, Tests of all sorts etc. ?) In fact neither my wife nor me did visit a restaurant for a long time. All I know is that the restaurants in the Shopping Malls do not care (my wife told me).

I cannot help myself to think that rising prices are apart from macroeconomic mechanisms pure greed. Supplier do increase prices with every excuse they can think of. Its a ripoff - same with insurances and alike. Or why do you think that the owners of the big supply chains have dozens of big houses, yachts etc. whereas you do not even have a rubber boat and neither villas in several metropoles in the world ?

Like with everything the price is a result of offer and demand. And the demand may be the result of many factors. Maybe the beer brand offered, maybe the friendliness, maybe the location, the atmosphere, if it is a celebrity place etc, etc. etc. Endless possibilities. Now its up to you what is important. And then you are as well willing to pay the price for it. I recently heard of a pair of ordinary cantaloupe melons in Japan who were sold (or at least offered) for $40'000.- a pair. In this case one of the criteria was the design of the surface. Different priorities obviously. Same here.

I suggest 3 possibilities: 1. Buy yourself the best noise cancelling headphones you can get with emphasis on the cancelling function. Wear them without signal input but switch them on of course. This works already quite well. Be aware that this is expensive but you get a usually quite acceptable headphone on top. You must get used to wearing them (In ear small cheap speakers are questionable, would maybe a waste of money). 2. Get the following. I know they are sold in Switzerland, but maybe you may get hold of some online. These will really stop any noise almost completely. Very much more better than the reusable ones made of polyurethane. Dont believe the description that they are only for one time use. Rubbish. A friend of mine shipped some to me and they lasted months. 3. See your hospital for sleep supporting medicine as a last resort. I tried histamines but they do not work for me. Neither does Melatonin. Hence you might need a bit more serious stuff which you only can get prescribed by a doctor. Low loud frequency noise is difficult to eliminate exept by method 3 listed above. If this all does not help - move.

The real wasabi (Hon-Wasabi) grows exclusively in fresh water mountain streams in Japan. Thats why it is so so very rare and expensive. There is a variety that can be grown in a pot and in selected countries (the plant needs a certain temperature range throughout its life), but thats second choice and not the real REAL Wasabi. We use as well S&B Wasabi Powder which we make into a paste by adding water. But this is not the real thing. What is available already in paste form should be avoided in my opinion.

I have been driving a Ferrari 328GTS for some years. The car has two really outstanding characteristics: 1. Social Impact 2. Road Grip Not even acceleration makes it to the list above as you might maybe think. The rest is impractical as can be, extremely road surface sensitive, difficult to park (back window size, lacking power steering while having an unusual big diameter of the steering wheels rim - saves you the membership in a fitness club). Spare parts are ridiculously expensive. I remember having broken the rear bumper bar twice (the bumper is made of acryl (!) - it just cracks - great design but a bumper should maybe be a bit flexible. After starting the car up, gear two could not immediately be shifted into. Brought it to the garage and they said: It's a Ferrari. Obviously there was nothing to be fixed here. After 3 Minutes it worked again as it should have been from the beginning. Forget driving on a Thai road with the front spoiler that low, you will scratch or even break it on a bit more steep ramp into a parking. And it is for good weather only. I once accidentally hit a snow storm at the end of the drving season (I lived in Switzerland) on the highway. 1. Could nearly not see anything anymore because the light lightend up the snow flakes that all you saw was "white". 2. The otherwise sensational road grip went down to status "very dangerous". I will never forget that a Citroen 2CV did pass me on the highway - not because I wanted to, but because I simply could not go any faster than I did. But I do not regret having owned it at all. I finally even made a profit by selling it. And one word about "Social Impact": No bragging here. I once parked at a petrol station and the father with his son from the gas pump opposite came over to ask "May he sit in the car one time" ? Cute and absolutely natural. Forgot once my wallet when I bought some drinks in a wholesale market (Italian owned). They told me: " But Mr. moogradod - you do not have to pay NOW ????). That sort of thing. Road grip: Not an ordinary experience - like the tyres were made of chewing gum.

That is exactly the problem. There are hundreds. I have been in dozens of them but so far it was not really exiting. If there were only 3 to choose from then I would have to live with that but since there is a wide choice I'd rather ask. Don't you think this is a sensible approach ?

Sign of the times. Soon we will have war in Ukraine and Taiwan and all the rest. And soon the "Original Lasagna fight" will break loose. Like for Pizza with pineapple and ketchup against what I regard as a real pizza. Ricotta and spinach. Wait....you're kidding do you ? ???? Did you realize we were talking about Lasagna ? This comes with minced meat and OF COURSE with Béchamel. Of course you did know perfectly. Provocations, provocations ???? Where will this world end ?

OK: here is the SOS-Solution: In Foodland Central Road they sell small portions of some sort of "home made" Lasagna at about THB 60.--. But they are not so bad as you might think for a ready made product. Try it before you starve.

"Aroi" is good enough for a start. The pictures on Tripadvisor did not give much hint for a Béchamel Sauce. Have to try although in this area parking lots are rare. But at least I know where it is without having much to think, not far away from my favourite Japanese Ronin.

Merci I will try it. Have found several reviews on tripadvisor. Not the place to make a marriage proposal to your girlfriend, but looks tasty enough to risk a hearty bite. Unfortunately none of the pictures showed a lasagna, but we will see. Now with the new street layout there might even be a chance to get a parking space nearby.

I do not know what you mean but you answer just following my comment so I feel I have to clarify something. We are married 16 years and we did have our 19 year first meet anniversary. I would do anything for my wife. Nevertheless a Will (and Living Will) is a must. Not to limit or control her but - on the contrary - to help her. Procedures are difficult. My wife has any access to anything she wants. And even then I think a Will (and Living Will) is a good thing. Maybe you should familiarize yourself with the Thai family law. And my trust for her extends far beyond everything that the sometime limited minds of some posters (so it seems) can imagine.

Apart from a professionally set up Thai Will and Living Will - which I regard BOTH as mandatory - I have created an encrypted emergency USB stick containing all relevant scans of documents and lists of documents which I update and which she carries with her. She knows how to decrypt it and we actually practise that from time to time. My wife might not read and fully understand all there is in it, but other persons which she would ask for help will. Then there is a selection of original documents as well. Not scattered all over the place but in enveloppes with a description on top. Besides we speak from time to time about the case when I will die.

That's a bit a more easy one than "Pizza" I hope. In fact you could make a nice Lasagna at home - whereas you cannot make an even acceptable Pizza without a real wood fired Pizza oven (=you need to have a house and build an oven in the garden). I am looking for the most original Lasagna possible around here - emphasisis on quality not price (=self made noodle sheets, self made minced meat tomato sauce cooked for hours, imported aged parmesan if they use it - and I am even impudent enough to ask that the restaurant has enough car parking space nearby. Location in and even around Pattaya. Recommendations from anybody who has ever had the real thing would be appreciated very much.

The worst aspect of this system is IMO that there is nobody connecting the loose ends during treatment. Like if you were building a house without a general contractor. After all the health of humans is composed of many factors which are interrelated. And it might well be that only the interrelation of seperate specialist findings leads to the real overall diagnosis - and therefore the appropriate treatment - at all. But at least they connect to your own personal file in the computer which contains quite some info (in my private hospital that is) although you cannot really call that a single point of contact approach like I had in Switzerland where everybody has its own "Family Doctor" which you would approach first and who knows everything about your medical history and will then - if necessary - involve some other specialists. Yes, they like to prescribe medicaments where they can. But at least they care if it is a generic or imported. Price differences may be drastic. At least some of my specialist doctors do. I usually ask at Fascino for alternative prices anyway if this is a more long term medication.