Thai Temple

We have a beautiful temple right behind our house. Well its a short drive with the motorbikes across a field. The place is huge and immaculate! Its a really beautiful place. We lost a package in the mail and it showed up here because the mail carrier couldn't read English. The only thing that was missing was our candy. They added some incense in the box for exchange. I guess the monks were having a chocolate craving or something. haha. Here are some pics of this beautiful architecture and completely amazing place.

 

 

 

 

 

simple vegetarian recipe

Okay, so I'm not a big meat lover so when my family wants veggies for dinner, I silently cheer! While I like a nice steak here and there, veggies are my thing. Here is a simple super easy recipe. This is good if you are like me with kids in a foreign country who are super picky to cultural food.

All you need is:

sesame oil

soy sauce

veggies of choice

 either white, brown, or jasmine rice

 

*cook the rice separate- you can fry it or leave it plain. My kids liked it plain while us adults like it fried

First, cut the veggies and wash them

Second, fry them in a little sesame oil maybe 2 tbsp. more or less depending on how many veggies

Third, when the veggies are soft and cooked through, add the soy sauce-as much as to your liking

Then cook the veggies as long as you like after adding the soy sauce.

Lastly, lay the veggies on a bed of rice

 

*Some people like the veggies a little browned like us adults while the kids like them cooked a minute or so with the soy sauce. It all depends on you.

Enjoy!

Check out my smiley face when I cut my sweet pepper! So cute

 

 



School in Thailand

Last semester, Rose went to school all day 5 days a week at a private Thai school. The school was great and she really loved it. Mostly everyone spoke Thai but thankfully she had a really great Thai teacher. There was also another teacher who was Thai but grew up in Utah so she was completely English speaking. Without them, I don't know what I would've done. They were the most kind women willing to help out and never got frustrated with her even with a language barrier. The school is named Kittaya in Mahasarakham, Thailand and I highly recommend this school rather than one of the local government schools. The picture above is a field trip that the class went on. Also, they are getting an English program next semester.

Field trip

Classroom

bus (field trip)

playground outside of classroom

Field trip

 Rose's Thai teacher



Sandcastle Beach Cake

Recently we made a sandcastle beach cake for the graduating class. I've never worked with gel before so I was a little apprehensive as to how it would turn out. This is how we did it. 

I started out with two layers of sheet cake. I put them together with frosting in the middle. I crumb coated it with white frosting. For the sand, I used the ninja and blended up graham cracker crumbs. I made the castle with a castle shaped pan with regular yellow cake. I sat the castle on the cake and then put the crumbs where I wanted them. I spread more frosting on the area with the water and made a sweeping effect with my spatula to make the wave effect. Then I laid the gel on top of the frosting I just spread. I left a little white frosting showing at the shore of the cake to make it look like sea foaming waves rolling up to shore. For the wet looking sand at the shore, I added some cinnamon and brown sugar to the graham cracker crumbs. I just kept mixing in until I liked the color. It tasted amazing by the way. My mother in law was a great help in making this cake as well as taking a few hours to mold and paint the fondant shells.

One issue we had was that the gel cracked and looked a lot different as we had no choice but to put it in the fridge as we had to make it early as it is to hot here and it could not sit out. Even though it cracked, it still looked like water. If we had used the gel for anything else, it would have turned out bad. Even with the little mishap, everyone loved it and devoured the entire thing! 

Princess Diana Beanie Baby

 Are they really worth a ton of money?

According to Fox 31 Denver 

One couple in Great Britain reportedly hopes their flea market find may turn into a down payment for a house, but a leading collector group is dismissing the possibility, and has in fact issued a fraud alert.

 

 The bear is now listed on eBay for $29,890. The couple is hoping to turn their special find into a down payment for a house.  But there have been no bids yet, and their good fortune might be much ado about nothing.

 

Listing price and value are hardly connected, especially on auction sites such as eBay. While they have the limited edition bear, Tycollector.com has issued a fraud alert warning consumers that their Diana bear isn’t worth much at all, regardless of production run.

 

I guess I am glad they are not. For now at least because my Princess baby is in New Mexico packed away in storage.

 

 

Thailand countryside

Here are some of my shots of the beautiful Thai countryside

Our Thailand Rental Home

 Our Home

 Before I moved to Thailand, I searched other blogs to see what their homes looked like. I was so curious but I never came across any posts about their home or the prices of the rentals. So here is a little info about my house for the curious ones like me. 

My house is 10,000 Thai Baht a month. That is about 300 American Dollars.  It is in a newer neighborhood which they are still building. I believe the house I am in is one of the first homes that was built in the neighborhood. It has 3 bedrooms and two full bathrooms. They do not have bathtubs, just showers with a water heater on the wall. The kitchen is separate with its own door. Its not much of a kitchen though. It has a small fridge, a sink and a small counter, and a few cupboards. The dining area and the living room is connected in an open floor plan, this is the main living area right when you walk in. We purchased a washer which is outside in the back off the kitchen and we hang our clothes on the line in the backyard. At first, I really didn't like it but I really got used to it and its not so bad. I really love the gate and walls around the outside of the house. It keeps the stray animals out.

 

 

 This is the living room/dining room. Behind me is the couch and the TV with entertainment center.

Our bedrooms. The third bedroom is used for storage and our suitcases. 

 My kitchen. This is the door to the outside where the washing machine is.

 I hope you enjoyed the post and found it informational. Message me if you have any questions as I would love to answer them.