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Pene Pesto Salad From time to time I browse recipes on the web. If I find a new one that sounds interesting, I file it away and reserve a slot for it on the upcoming recipes lineup. I tried Pene Pesto Salad for the first time tonight. https://www.keepingthepeas.com/pesto-veggie-pasta/#🥣-ingredients-and-notes There is a lot to be said in favor of this recipe and I have added it to my ongoing rotation. Easy to make. It's on the table in under an hour. Very flavorful. I really liked it and the Mrs thought it was good, even though she is not that big of a fan of pasta dishes. I was going to say relatively healthy, but given all the carbs from the pasta, lets go with not insanely unhealthy. The author of the recipe makes a bunch of suggestions on how to make the meal healthier. I prefer tastier. Some thoughts on the preparation: The pesto sauce is the key to the meal. I used a blender and it took some work. I had substituted Rocket Lettuce for the Arugula. I also substituted Walnuts for the Cashews. Just a matter of what I had on hand and I used to use Walnuts and/or Pine Nuts when I made my own homemade Pesto back in the US. I doubled the garlic. I added 1/3 cup of pasta water to smooth out the pesto. The pesto turned out great. All in all I recommend making your own pesto as opposed to buying a bottle at the store. The freshness of the ingredients in the homemade version makes a world of difference. Since I used a blender for the pesto preparation, I should have done a finer chop on the walnuts and garlic. I have never seen Yellow Squash at the store here in Bang Lamung, so I went with two zucchinis. All in all the meal was very tasty. A couple of pics.

When I was an occasional visitor to Thailand, I avoided Songkran like the plague. My ex-pat friends had nothing good to say about it. Since I have lived here in Thailand for most of the last 7 years, Songkran has become unavoidable (well maybe not). The first year (2017 ?) it was ok, but just not my cup of tea and I was in Jomtien not Central Pats. The next year the then GF and I went to Samui after the first few days. The celebration in Samui was much shorter and much more reserved as well. We have also gone up North to the rural Khon Kean area just to get out of Dodge. The celebrations up that way were no where as ridiculous as in Pattaya. Actually, I think that when it comes to Songkran, Pattaya is the worst place to be. From what I hear Bangkok ranks a close second. The few years that we have remained in Pattaya we stayed at home most of the time for two weeks. Gets old.

Some like Songkran and some don't. Put me in the don't column. A whole month? If this comes to pass, since I live in Thailand, I am going to lay in plenty of provisions and barricade the doors.

A little more Leonard Cohen -> "Bird on a Wire" There used to be, maybe still is, a famous guitar play in Key West named Mike McCloud. I used to like Key West for the music and also eco scenes and would get down there several times a year. I appreciated Mike's music and we got to a "hi how are you doing" point. Mike once said "I quit drinking and driving because I do not look good in orange". 🙂 On one of my last trips to Key West I was talking a bit with Mike, and I asked him why he did not play Leonard Cohen's "Bird on the Wire". Mike played me, as he was good at, and said "I don't know that song". As I walked to my car he did an excellent version of Cohen's "Bird on the Wire". Michael McCloud's signature song. -> Conch Republic Song In the 1980s the Regan Administration blocked US1 (the highway from MIA to Key West). Key West attempted to form the Conch Republic in protest to this. Another great McCloud song "Chasing the Wind".

Actually, there is a small gym available in our complex. Being a home owner, I have a pass key. I think I will start with Morning walks and then checkout the gym. I need to get the body over there. I hear the mind shows up after a while. 🙂

I just finished it the other day and I agree. It gets a little disjointed in the early episodes IMO. With regard to the early episodes one might benefit from reading the episode recaps. There are a lot of characters and several different timelines with the same characters being played by different actors due to the age differences. This can be a bit confusing to start with, well it did me anyway. They do bring it nicely together. Maybe nicely is not the right word, effectively is probably better.

I enjoyed Ted Lasso. It sounded a little lame to me to start with, but I ended up being glad that I gave it a try.

I have found on my previous attempts to get a little healthier that walking (I am older at 74) is a good exercise. Last time that I was back living in the States (7 years ago ?), I used to walk 4 kms every Morning. Need to get back to that here in Thailand. Problem is that the best walking temps are before my preferred times. Guess it is once again time to adjust my schedule. 😞

Enjoy, it is a pretty decent show IMO. It has an 8.1 IMDB, which is not shabby at all. As the following link shows it was nominated for and also received many awards. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_Eve

Leonard Cohen - Lady Midnight

I can't speak for Galenkia, but I have watched the entire series and found it to be pretty decent. Sandra Oh, as usual, was very good. Not too sure what you meant by 4 series.

Same here. Thanks for spotting this fix.

On one of my first trips to Thailand (2004 or so?) Loy Krathong and American Thanksgiving occurred on the same day. I remain a fan of both holidays. The Mrs. and I have spent Loy Krathong together since we met. We went out to a better Thai Seafood restaurant (Sinuan in Na Jomtien) tonight and launched a krathong after eating too much. The krathong did not appear to be doing too well as it was repeatedly being bounced back to shore. I am thinking it is the hope that counts with regard to this one.

Just did the same. Fingers crossed as well.

I'll give it a go and report back. Going to try the @Stillearly method first.

I seldom buy additional Line Stickers. About 10 days ago I noticed one that I thought the Mrs. would like. It cost 100, which was how much I had sitting in my Line Coins, so I went ahead and bought it. A few days later I started receiving ad messages via Chat from an account named "LINE STICKERS". These jerks are sending me at least 6 messages a day. I turned off notifications for the chat, so at least my phone is not constantly beeping with regard to unwanted nonsense. I am unable to block the chat member. I have done numerous Google searches looking for a way to eliminate this unwanted spam. I get answers, but when I try to step through them they reference Line buttons that no longer exist, such as the "Message Room". My current approach is to just let these intrusions pile up and delete them en mass once a week. I would like to get to something better. Anyone else who may have successfully eliminated this nuisance?

In another thread discussing the reasons for Marilyn Monroe's death I posted the following Sir Elton John video where he rewrote "Candle in the Wind" to honor the passing of Princess Di. With what I think is a nod toward the feelings of our UK friends:

Sir Elton rewrote "Candle in the Wind" to honor the passing of Princess Di, who I am pretty sure he was friends with.

Sorry to nitpick at you a little, but she had many of those: Joe Dimagio Arthur Miller JFK (probably) RFK (maybe) whoever she wanted I am sure

And then there is this

Sorry, but they had very effective drugs (from the studio's standpoint). Stars were fed daily dosages of uppers and downers to keep them working. This applied to Marilyn and also Judy Garland and many others. I have read that JFKs handlers also had him in this mode. Rumor mill gossip? I do not think so. This was the time of "The Valley of the Dolls". Abuse of these medicines combined with star level depression and isolation were probably the cause of Marilyn's death, which was most likely an unintended suicide.

In re-watching some of Rory's videos, I noticed that he had Slash like footwork. I did a few Google searches to find out if there was a relationship (musically speaking) between the two. It turns out that Slash (according to Slash) was influenced by Rory early in his career. Slash on Rory They played together one night in LA, when Rory recognized Slash in the audience and invited Slash onto the stage. I can not find a video of that performance. Rory was a blue collar entertainer as is Slash. They were both deeply influenced by the early American Blues performers such as (Robert Johnson, Lead Belly, Muddy Waters, and others). Include the Rolling Stones in that influenced list for sure. More on Rory. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rory_Gallagher

Joe Walsh - Life's Been Good

Royal Cliff Grill Room update. A friend of mine who enjoys a good steak is coming to town in a few weeks. I made a reservation for December 7th at the Royal Cliff Grill Room over the phone. As the connection had some background noise and the person on the other end spoke less than perfect English, I also sent an email asking for confirmation. I got a reply a few hours later from the manager apologizing and explaining that they were closing the Grill Room effective that date. He tried to steer me over to their Caprice restaurant. I asked for some clarifications and got the following feedback. I had some additional correspondence with the manager of The Grill Room. A few excerpts. - Is The Grill Room closing for good or is this a temporary closing for remodeling or something like that? Please note that our Royal Grill Room will be temporarily closed for this season and is scheduled to reopen next year, however the dates are not defined. - With regard to the Caprice, is this a new opening? Is it in the same location as The Grill Room? Kindly be informed that Caprice is our fine dining restaurant which offers a stylish Western and Mediterranean inspired creative menu prepared only with the finest ingredients available. The Restaurant is situated at the Royal Wing Suites & Spa while the Royal Grill Room & Wine Cellar is located at the Royal Cliff Beach hotel. Please find more information regarding the Caprice Restaurant at the following link: https://www.royalwingsuites.com/dining/caprice/. Also, kindly find attached the menu for your review. Caprice Menu 2023-2024.pdf Caprice - Dry-Aged Beef - December 2023.pdf

One more Rory song from "Irish Tour" (a great album) -> Tattoo'd Lady".