JJ Market

There is no more question why my life is rather food-centric. When I am back in Thailand, I am reminded of the fact that the Thai culture itself is all about food. Everywhere you go, or look, there is food. Someone is either preparing food, selling food, eating food -- seriously, at any time of day! The variety of food here is mind-blowing. I think I can eat different things, for different meals and snacks, for three weeks, and not repeat once.

We visited the JJ Market yesterday, in the heat of the tropics. The kids were melting, physically and psychologically. I saved them by asking some vendors for small blocks of ice for the kids to hold. Surely, the solid blocks quickly became liquid water...no matter, it gave them a bit of relief, and gave me a little sanity.

We are heading out to the river for a few days. Christmas will be celebrated there...Thai style.

Post Pool Rest

The Beast

This prehistoric, cold-blooded beast showed up by our house yesterday. He had a few friends with him frolicking about as well. Can you imagine our son's excitement upon seeing their little heads floating through the water? Oh, it was better than a bag of Halloween candy!



These monitor lizards are considered "lucky" by the locals. Well, I think it may be more of a Chinese superstition, but it's been part of our culture for so long that their nickname in Thai is : Tua Ngen Tua Tong (translated to be Silver and Gold).

They are common residents at ponds and parks and waterways around here. People seem to co-exist with them without much trouble...except if you have a yappy little dog who start provoking the beast... soon enough that little dog may become history...

Happy Solstice!

The Thai Elephants

The kids were in awe of these sweet Thai elephants who could do everything from giving us rides, dancing to music, walking on two feet, and...painting a self-portrait!

I think these animals have been the highlight of their trip, so far.

Tropical life

Thailand was forecasting to have the "coldest winter in 30 years", before we arrived. Well, so far, it's as balmy as ever, with the day time temperatures hovering 80s and 90s. This is a quite a (nice) shock to our system that was trying to survive in frigid, below zero degrees days in the mid-west.

Everywhere I walk in the garden, I am hit with a new wave of perfume from several blooming flowers. Life keeps on living here in the tropics; no need for hibernation.

The kids enjoy living the coat-free, flip-flop life for now. And ice? Here, ice only goes from the freezer to a glass of water, thank you very much. None of that stuff on the wind shield of a car, or the front steps of the house! Can you tell I am not missing winter...at all?

From Temperate to Tropical

Thanks to Case and Maude, we had a wonderful lay-over in Los Angeles on our long journey from Ohio, to Thailand.



We left Columbus in the middle of another winter storm, after being de-iced.



And to get to spend a few hours in the California warm sunshine, with
a visit to the horse, and a few hours of frolicking in the sun. It was heavenly!



And then...we hoppped on our last, long leg of the trip. I gulped when
I heard the captain announce that we were in for a 17.5 hour direct flight.
Thinking about that still makes me gulp!





But we made it...all in one piece, and quite uneventful, actually.
Seventeen hours seemed to stretch out like a never-ending tale.
After three airplane meals, multiple movies, several hours of sleep,
games, stories, and back scratches, we landed in what Claire declared as...



Paradise.



She's right. How lucky we are to be in paradise for a few weeks...bathing in warm sunshine.

Before we go

Before I go thaw my feet that I have not felt in the last few days, I will leave you with these bright winter pictures.



What a difference the sun makes. Who cares if it was 11 degrees outside, and my fingers froze as I hit the shutter?



I think I might have even started humming a holiday tune, with all that sun and that brilliant blue sky above me!



What I won't tell you, though, is that it didn't last very long... (oh, I just told you). The grey clouds replaced my blue sky later that morning... But it really was beautiful and brought up my spirits while it lasted.

I will be back with warmer looking pictures soon, I promise!

Cold in Warm out

Soon, I tell myself, we will be warm soon!

Meanwhile, we will keep the house warm, and the kitchen even warmer!

Snow!

A finch, seen from our office window

As I write, our children are enjoying the snow outside. They have been out there about an hour now, and I don't think we will see them until their stomachs grumble with hunger for mid-day food needs.



It was raining when we woke up, and as the morning grew, and the sun lit up more of the cloudy sky, the rain slowly turned into snow. And just like that, we are now having our first real winter snowfall.



Just in time for us to have a little fun before heading to the tropics! Thank goodness for the magic of international flights!



I can't say I will miss this white stuff, but the kids might! Or maybe they will be so happy to be living in their swimsuits for three weeks they will forget about it for a while...

Outdoor Tree

If you know me, you would know that I am not much of a holiday person, especially when it comes to decorating, especially the outdoors.

But I am liking these 'outdoor christmas trees', decorated with large, festive ornaments. When the season is over, all you need to do is take down the ornaments...and voila, you have your regular tree back!

We are planning a festive weekend starting tomorrow, so stay tuned for more festive-ness.

Bierberg Bakery

You can see this same post here.

I might have found another favorite spot in the city.



It's been such a cold stretch, and I have had a sick child home with me the last few days. Now that he is back in school, I had a bunch of errands I needed to do out and about.



Before I headed out the door, I made a note to myself that a stop at this (infamous) little hidden gem had to be on my itinerary.



The secret about this tiny German bakery is no longer, especially if you have seen the article in the new Winter issue of Edible Columbus. Surprisingly, however, many people still don't know about it. Take the two people I asked for directions at Katzinger's who looked at me like I had three heads.

No matter, I put in the address into my GPS and a few minutes later, I was parked in front of a well signed and decorated, yet unassuming, store front: Bierberg Bakery.

An older German lady greeted me. She had a thick accent still, even though she and her husband moved here since the 60s. As I entered and regained my senses from the freezing cold temperatures (really Columbus, why so cold?!), I started to take in all the scents and smells of all the cookies that laid before me.

I did not count, but there must have been a few dozen different kinds of cookies. These special German cookies are only made here, in this tiny house, 3 months out of every year. Johanna, owner and baker, told me how busy they had been and will continue to be until the end of the year when she will again close up shop and retreat to her much deserved rest.

After I purchased some good-looking cookies, as well as a stollen, I asked if I could slip into the kitchen and watched them work a little.

Another lady in the kitchen, Cathy, is a family-friend. She helps out each year at the bakery. While Johanna and Cathy cut up more cookies to be baked, they recited to me their stories of how they ended up in Columbus (because you know, as a transplant myself, I am always interested!).

As it turns out, they were both sponsored to move to the States from Europe, Johanna from Germany and Cathy from Hungary. I listened with curiosity as Cathy told me the story about her family living in a castle in Germany where several other immigrant families took refuge.  Their hands never stopped working, but they seemed to enjoy reliving their past with me as their audience.

As I turned around to say goodbye, they wished me well in discovering my new home city. I told them that I was happy to have met people like them because that is what matters the most. Johanna agreed with me, and then she added: It's also what you give back, too. That's also very important. Don't forget to give back."

She is absolutely right.

Bierberg Bakery
729 S 5th St.
Columbus, OH

They will be open until the end of the year.

Sick or Snow Day

This little man is staying home with me today, due to...snow...no, actually, he is not feeling his best. But you would not know looking at him here, loving the new dusting on the ground.

Not to worry, I will keep him inside, warm and snug for the rest of the day.

Red Gold

A few weeks ago, I got an unusual email in my inbox.

A lady was offering me some tomatoes. A tomato kit, she said, for me to try. Apparently, she found this blog (or maybe another one?), and thought that her products suit my interests (and maybe my readers) very well.

I was not sure what to think, so I emailed her back, thinking I was going to get a kit to plant tomatoes with. If that was the case, I was all over it. She asked for a shipping address, which I gave to her after a few correspondents.

And I forgot about it.

So guess what showed up at my door today? A kit! A tomato kit! It's not at all what I expected, but wow, how sweet is it to get 4 cans of diced tomatoes, a big thing of ketchup, a recipe book, a shopping bag...and a few other tomato-related things.

I thank Red Gold for their products and I promise to try them out soon. It's a day like today that I marvel at the power of cyber space. I know there are people out there who do read and enjoy my photographs and prose. I didn't quite expect to get anything back really, except for the space it fills in my creative sphere. So to get tomatoes out of it! Pretty awesome, I'd say!

First Snow

Isn't it amazing? The calendar turned to December, and boom!, just like that, it started snowing.

The kids were ecstatic, jumping around, sticking out their tongues to taste the first flakes.

Who needs Christmas when this white stuff makes them this happy?!

Holly Season

We actually have a holly bush in the front of our house. When we first arrived, the berries had just developed, still green and young. The kids noticed them, but did not think too much about them. After all, those prickly leaves will keep anybody away!



But now, oh boy, they are among the few green leaves left alive. To celebrate the beginning of the new season, we brought some of the branches inside for the holiday spirit that these holly berries bring.

Happy December to all!

The winning Chocolate Cake Recipe

Before the cake bake-off, I tried a few recipes for chocolate cake. I am not a natural baker, partly because I have a hard time following a recipe! I have a tendency to tweak it, substituting ingredients if I don't have exactly what the recipe asks for.

For this particular event, I wanted to make a flourless chocolate cake at first, which I tried to make, but it did not quite turn out as planned (I don't have an electric mixer, which may be part of the problem). So I started playing around with the three recipes, ending up with this one!

In all honestly, my husband's cake was really quite good. I can see if he can share his secrets (I think he made up his as well). For now, here goes:

Preheat oven 350F, and set out a 9" spring form baking pan.


Cake Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

4 eggs, separated

3/4 cup sifted self-rising flour (with salt already added)

8 oz semi-sweet dark chocolate, broken into small pieces

1 stick butter (1/2 cup)

½ cup coffee

Melt chocolate  and butter in a double boiler until all melted together.

Beat egg whites until firm, set aside.

Combine egg yolks, sugar and coffee. Mix well. Add the chocolate mixture, and then the flour.

Slowly and gently mix in the egg whites. Fold this into the batter until all mixed.

Line a 9" springform pan with parchment paper, and butter the pan well. Pour the cake batter into the pan. 

Bake at 350 F about 30 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Lather with chocolate frosting and decorate with fresh raspberries. Serve with homemade whipped cream or a little vanilla ice cream.

Ginny's Chocolate Frosting

2 Tablespoons cocoa powder

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter

2 Tablespoons sugar

2 Tablespoons coca cola or pepsi

1 cup confectioners sugar

Melt the butter with the cocoa powder, add sugar and coca cola. Bring to boil, and take it off the heat. Add confectioners sugar and whisk until smooth. Poor and spread over your chocolate cake,