KOJO

Very nice aerial shots.

The pink images are 2 crabs, they need to be darkened in a bit, I guess. took 4 days JUST to draw all the freakin bricks !! Did you notice the dog's, they are stuck together, but if you look closely, you'll see the gray dog on the right has a dick too, so that tell's you the brown one butt bumped his buddy in the butt !! HA! HA! HA!

OK, Here's a drawing I just finished, started it last month, finally, got around to finishing it toady. For the conceptually challenged, YES, coconuts ARE green while still in the tree, but to capture the essence of how I used them in the drawing, they are brown in my tree's. I felt I needed to point this out to some of you, so I don't get the "armchair artist" critic of my realism . HA! HA! HA!

Last nite was taco night, do it every other Tuesday, I know, they aren't REAL corn , soft taco shell's,but it's the best you can get here. they taste better than Taco Bell's though ! HA! HA! HA!

I season the pork, then flour it and fry it till browned on both side's, then saute them for 2 hrs' in water, until they are soooo soft, they can be cut with a fork, then reduce the water to make the gravy, totally awesome !! Wasn't crazy with the peas this time, bought at Big-C, peas didn't match the picture on the can, was looking for smaller, sweeter peas, but oh well, T. I. T. ! HA! HA! HA!

The wifey, we have a deal I cook the food, she cleans up after me. HA! HA! HA!

I ate there once 8-9 years ago, was shit food AND service, but is a great place to "people watch", which I love to do ! Although I have to say your picture's are very good quality, almost makes the food LOOK edible ! HA! HA! HA!

Funny you should say that, this time I steamed it, but have always broiled it under the grill with a splash of olive oil and sea salt on top in the past, but at the last minute decided not to this time, don't know why, but it was good. I assume if you use Parmesan under the broiler, it gets black, like a bread crumb topping, I'll have to experiment with that the next time, thankx !

Beer battered fish with asparagus and hollandaise sauce, corn on the cob n tomato tonite, was very, very good! Used a bottle of Heineken, instead of the water in the batter mix, was a very crispy, light coating, not greasy or thick n doughy, the fish flavor was the star!! If you wanted the 4 food groups, Wheat, Barley, Malts, and Hops, you have a balanced meal !! HA! HA! HA!

Sorry, store bought tomato HA! HA! HA!

Made beef n broccoli with shrimp spring rolls for dinner. Used a can of cream of broccoli, in the mix tonite, for the first time for more broccoli flavor, which was good, but didn't made the picture look as appetizing, BUT it was GREAT !! How can ya go wrong with shrimp spring rolls ? also made a homemade sweet honey mustard sauce and a store bought sweet n spicy Thai sauce, everything was great ! HA! HA! HA!

Last nite's effort Was quite tasty, used mozzarella , parmesan and cheddar cheese in the potato's.

DAMMMN, that title was a mouthful , but it sounded fancier than Shrimp over pasta with bread and escargot ! HA! HA! HA! Last nite's effort.

Just jokin, maybe we can hook up when you get here.

OK, cooked it last nite, so here you go ! You need to prep ALL the ingredient's ahead of time,before you start, once you start, time can be a killer, especially with the roux !! Start with a kilo of fresh shrimp, 20-25 count, break off the heads and tail shells, and put in a lg. pan of with 10 cups of water, boil down to half, strain out the shells and save the liquid, this is going to be the base of the gumbo. Pour the water in another pan/bowl and save. BEER BREAK Using the same pan on low heat melt down 1/4 cup of butter , then add 1/4 cup of flour, a little at a time, stirring constantly, to keep from sticking to the pot or burning. This is the ROUX, "THE MOST" important part of the recipe !! I use a flat ended wooden spoon, to make sure I scrape the entire bottom clean, a regular spoon won't work. Keep stirring, you want it to turn a chocolate brown, BUT DONT BURN IT, you'll know if it's burnt, you will smell it, everyone knows when they smell something burnt, think of toast burnt smell, if it happens, scrap it and start over, with lower heat. You will taste the burnt flavor at the end, so don't cut a corner here, trust me. This takes appox. 10-15 minutes of constant stirring, low and slow. I should of taken a couple more pictures of the final result, as it got darker by the minute, but you get the idea. Add a can of chicken stock or one bullion cube in a cup of hot water, dissolved, and slowly stir it together, until the flour mixture has dissolved BEER BREAK Add 5 stalks of sliced celery, 1 onion diced, 2 cups of sliced okra, 6 cloves of chopped garlic, 1 lb. of sliced andouille sausage, which they don't sell here, however Foodland has a Paprika sausage, that I have used before that is as close as you can get, it's a good substitute for pepperoni too, if your makin a pizza. Peel off the cloth casing, that taste like crap !! HA! HA! Now add the water you saved from the shrimp boil, and stir all of it together, on med. low heat, and let simmer until the celery and okra are semi soft, you don't want them to be crunchy, this takes appox. 15-20 minutes stirring occasionally. BEER BREAK Add 1 lg can of chopped whole peeled tomato's I had a can of clams sittin on the shelf , so I threw them in the pool too. Add the juice of 1 lime, no seeds Let simmer for 10 minutes BEER BREAK Then add the spice's, 2 tblsp. parsley, if you don't have fresh, use 3 tblsp. of dried, 2 tblsp. of ground basil leaves, 2 tblsp. of cayenne powder, some Tobasco sauce, to taste, 1/4 cup Worestershire sauce, 2 tblsp. of Old Bay seasoning, and salt n pepper to taste as it cooks. You don't want to add these earlier, and the flavor will die, from being overcooked, Same with the shrimp, it takes 5 minutes to cook the shrimp, and if you add it early, it will be hard, (not soft and succulent, like my wifey) HA! HA! Let it simmer for another 5-10 minutes, so all the flavors marry together. BEER BREAK Cut the shrimp in half,bite size piece's Let cook for 4-5 minutes, until shrimp is pink, it will continue cooking in the hot broth, after you turn off the stove, til you spoon it out to eat, so not long, just gettin pink. BEER BREAK I suppose I should of said to start your rice and fire up the oven to cook the french bread earlier, but the BEER BREAKS add up !! Anyway, split the loaf and butter it, add garlic salt, and broil til golden brown, about 5 minutes. Next add a scope of rice in your bowl Then add the gumbo over it. DONE !! Start dippin the bread in and chow down !! Many BEER'S !!! DAMMMMMN, not sure why the last 2 picture's ended up out of sequence at the end ? HA! HA! HA!

My wife has jars of ???? brown, greenish looking stuff she use's, some have been sitting on my porch for over a year, at least, and when any family come down from the jungle to visit, it's MANDATORY, they bring more stinky stuff AND they have to take back 3-4 kilo of shrimp for MAMA !! I also tell her " Tonite , I not kiss you ! " Sometimes you can smell her breathe while she sleep's , don't have any mosquito's buzzin around the bedroom those nites !! HA! HA! HA!

When the wife cook's some of her " stinky food ", I make her cook it outside !! I found an old oven at a second hand shop for 3K baht, was a steal !! Everything works great except the broiler, but she doesn't know how to use that anyway . Been a lot of gas tanks stolen in the news lately, so she made me lock it up too ! HA! HA! HA!

It isn't gumbo, sorry, the wifey wanted to eat bar-b-que yesterday, so we cooked some shrimp and octopus and steamed a few crabs and had it with a sweet n spicy sauce !! It was good, sauce was hotter than I like, my ass is still on fire, but well worth it, (gumbo still to come) HA! HA! HA!

I will do that, it's ALL ABOUT THE ROUX !! I make it as dark as I can, for the most flavor.

I've done that, flatten it out a bit with your hand, and pop in the toaster, or put it in the oven with some butter and garlic salt on it, and broil it for 3-4 minutes, WA-LA, garlic toast ! That's one of the advantages of buying the plastic loaf of bread, it can be a few days old, and turning it into garlic toast, doesn't lose or taste any difference because it had gotten a little harder, also, it is good for making bread crumbs, to roll chicken or pork in, before you fry it, or on top of macaroni n cheese or a green bean casserole, adds a crunchy texture to the meal. So when a recipe calls for Italian bread crumbs, you add some garlic powder, parsley, and some oregano, basil, marjoram, and butter, and cover what your cooking, and it taste great !!

One of the best things about being retired is, there is no such thing as a diet. You eat, drink and enjoy life, and don't worry about the waistline, although I did make a BLT sandwich last week for breakfast, and used a whole package/ pound of bacon on it, AND I did think about the cholesterol - heart attack, I might have after eatin it !! but DAMMMMMMMMN it was good !! HA! HA! HA! I'm sorry if my picture's bring tears to your eye's, and a growl in the belly, because you are on a diet, I have eatin at a ton of restaurants since I've been here, and I always thought the food/portion's/seasoning's to be on the skimpy/bland side, so I thought I'd show people how I make hearty, robust meals everyday in Thailand. I wasn't trying to show off or make the Thai's food seem inedible, some of it is quite tasty, but they just aren't the same as some "western " meals, we all grew up eating as kids and adults, and I thought I'd remind people of they're past happy eating memories from home here. GOD BLESS OUR MOM'S !!

I love the smell and taste of fresh baked bread !!! I'm not a serious baker, you have to ACTUALLY measure every thing you use, I'm more of a throw in some of this, then some of that, taste, throw in some more of that, etc., etc., etc.., I do make my own banana bread and every once in a while, I'll do some raspberry cookies, or a cake for the wifey, but when I do a cake, I'll buy the box cake mix at Friendship and icing. Just lazy I guess, reminds me of an old joke........ A bull and his son were standing on a hill, looking down over a herd of cattle, and the son asked his dad, " Why don't we run down there and fuck some of the cow's ?", and the father said," Why don't we WALK down there and FUCK'M ALL ???" HA! HA! HA!

Moving in 4 months HA! HA! HA!

Who knew rooster's had such big COCKS !! HA! HA! HA!

I use regular toast, because I don't have to fire up the oven, broiler and heat up the kitchen, and it's just quicker to throw some in the toaster and 3 minutes later, butter and garlic salt, and it's ready. The little loafs of regular bread are good for BLT's too. I'm also not a big fan of chewing a thicker bread like a panini, or a french loaf, unless I'm using it to dip, like in a stew, or a gumbo........DAMMMMMN, that sounds like dinner tonite GUMBO !! haven't made that in awhile. HA! HA! HA!