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Oven Baked Paella Ok - the title alone has any true paella lover gritting his teeth and muttering venomous obscenities. This is an imitation paella that works well with the more limited condo kitchens one finds in Pattaya. It has one saving grace -> it tastes pretty damn good. There are two recipes that bring this together. The first is for making a seafood (shrimp in this case) broth. This is detailed near the beginning of Alton Brown's Shrimp Gumbo recipe. The recipe is quite simple -> take all the shrimp heads and shells, put them in 2 quarts of water, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer for one hour. This should yield about a quart of shrimp broth. https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/shrimp-gumbo-recipe-1946875 Actually, this Gumbo recipe is pretty good as well. I have not made it in a while and should get it into the schedule. The following link is the one I used as a base for the baked paella. https://paellarecipes.top/oven-paella-with-chicken-shrimp-and-chorizo/ I had a different link that I had used for years, but it went 404 at some point. This recipe is similar, but (well) a little sloppily written in places. I altered the recipe some. I used Arborio rice instead of Bamba. This was a matter of convenience on my part. The important thing is use a short grain rice. I used Mexican Chorizo. Spanish or Portuguese would be better, but I did not see those anywhere. I upped the freshly ground black pepper to 1 tsp. I upped the saffron to 1 tsp. Saffron is a key to this dish. I chose to accent it more heavily than the author did. Yes, saffron is expensive, but it brings great flavor. Also, I did not toast the saffron and see no reason why anyone would. Instead I bloomed it in the hot shrimp broth. The author's grated tomatoes did not make much sense to me (read like more effort than it would be worth), so I went with one 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes. Worked well I thought. The author does not say if the baking phase is covered or uncovered. I chose to cover for 15 minutes and then do 10 minutes uncovered, followed by another 10 minutes uncovered after the seafood is added. Oh as a side note I bought the shrimp and mussels at a market on Boon Kachana about half way between Jomtien 2nd Road and Sukhumvit. It is on the left side of the street coming from Jomtien 2nd Road. The shrimp, as always, was very good. The mussels (hard to find in Banglamung) were ok. A few pics (hmm - the new iPhone 14 camera is impressive compared to the old XS) Ready to serve Plated

I contacted the ticket vendor (viagogo). They got back pretty quickly and said that the concert will indeed be at Thunder Dome and that my remaining ticket should be released to me in a few days. Hope so on the ticket.

I have been watching "Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story". It has an IMDB of 8.0. I think that it is very well done. Evan Peters (American Horror Story fame) is great as Dahmer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahmer_–_Monster:_The_Jeffrey_Dahmer_Story

hmmm - this is a little disconcerting. I printed off my tickets tonight to get things ready for the trip up to Bangkok. I was able to get the first 2 downloaded, but the third one (for the GF's sister) was not ready for download just yet. More disconcerting is that the tickets that I was able to download indicated that the venue had been moved from Thunder Dome Stadium to another location, but did not say what that other location is. I did a bunch of net searches to try and find out and got nothing. Anybody heard more?

We went out of and back into Suvarnabuhmi this week traveling with Vietnam Airlines. No problems. I was traveling with the GF, who is a Thai National, so I get to use the Thai immigration line.

This was my first trip to Vietnam and it was a short trip indeed for Thai border run purposes. We got rained out one day, so I did not see a lot. With regard to the "SYT massage girls at the local hotel "shops"", do tell more. 🙂

Next step completed today. I re entered Thailand on a 45 day visa exempt, which is a tourist visa IMO. Seeing an agent next week to start the 90 day Non-IM O and the subsequent one year extension to the Permission to Stay. Will get my situation to January 2024. Hope I am here to enjoy it. btw - Da Nang is a city that I like. Oh - the check-in agent at the Da Nang airport asked to see my throw away exiting Thailand ticket. I paid about $60 USD for it. Immigration at Bangkok did not ask to see it. I suspect that the Da Nang agent was trying to sell me a ticket. The Vietnam currency (the Dong) is a bit of a pain in the ass to deal with. It is currently about 22,500 to 1 vs. the USD. They have no problem with converting THB. I suspect that I was getting a series of small ripoffs. One needs to carry a calculator just to buy lunch and figure out what to tip. A few pics. Views from the hotel balcony (22nd floor) Lady Buddha Dragon Bridge

A Sydney Australia concert that is incredible with regard to the Slash guitar solo. It rivals anything, like the results of many others.

Speaking of Slash with Myles Kennedy (and the Conspirators in this case). I came across this video for the first time that I remember ever seeing it. -> Slash feat. Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators - HELLFEST 2015 [1080P] Decent quality on the vid, which is close to one hour long. I only had time to watch/listen to the first song. Will check out the rest when I have a little more time. Voting absentee tonight for the US midterms while listening to the vid. With regard to the first song -> that is most definitely Rock and Roll.

Alice in Chains - "Rooster" Respect the soldier, not the war.

Toad the Wet Sprocket -> "Something is Always Wrong"

More Roses - "I Wanna be Adored"

The Stone Roses -> "Fools Gold".

About 50 years ago I was in a car crash that caused my head to go into the windshield. A lot of dental damage was done. This resulted in multiple bridges and crowns. About 10 years ago those items started to wear out and had to be replaced. I have done some of the replacements with implants here in Thailand. With age some of my caps and filings have needed to be replaced as well. A large percentage of my teeth are artificial at this point and the need for additional work seems to have slowed, for now.

Always liked this song by Michael Kiwanuka. It was picked up as the intro to "Big Little Lies", which was a more than watchable TV series.

Agreed depending upon the complexity of the estate. That is why I have limited both my Thai and US estates to only financial resources. This simplifies probate, especially in the US. My mother passed due to dementia. Nothing was in order. It took me two years of work to straighten things out. I ended up receiving 4,000 US for my efforts. I vowed that I would do my best not to revisit this indignity on my heirs.

I spoke about this with both a Thai lawyer and an Aussie lawyer. The later is well known as a speaker at ex-pat groups. Both confirmed that the Thai probate process is indeed involved and slow. Both estimated best case to be about 3 months and 6 months was possible. These estimates are with someone knowledgeable riding herd on the process. Were they trying to scare me a little? Probably. Still, this is a main reason for not having a non-Thai estate executor with regard to Thai assets. One needs someone who will be on the ground for these extended periods of time. Another item of concern here is the release of the death certificate and who it can be released to. My understanding is that an autopsy is required for any non-Thai National who passes before the age of 80. Geez, I wonder why. First we shake his money tree and then we can charge him for an autopsy. I really do not care about the autopsy, other than it further slows down the process and further erodes the estate. I imagine that the release of the death certificate will likely slow down the resolution of my US will as well. OK - I am going for 80. IMO, probably the item that is the most difficult to prepare for is if I stroke and go into a vegetative state. I would like to be released. Does not work well with Buhhdist driven law. I have asked the GF to pillow me, or hire someone who can, if this were to happen. She said ok. 🙂 Maybe I should not ask for that too loudly.

Thanks for posting this. As fate would have it we are eating out a little more often this week, as we are going out of town next week. We decided to give the Rain Forest Cafe a first try. Been a while since we tried a new restaurant. https://www.facebook.com/RainForestCafePattaya The overall ambience of the place is quite impressive as shown in the @CampariO pics. We were there on a rainy night, so my pics do not look nearly as impressive. I like the place. The atmosphere is fun. The overall menu is extremely broad with both Thai and Western food. My take on it is the Thai food is probably the better way to go. The food is affordable. We spent about 1000 on two higher end dinners, two beers, and a sugar free coke. They do not sell wine by the glass, but have bottles available. I did not want to go this route, so I did not ask more. I did notice that the wine bottle shelf had one brand of wine. I would guess that it is rather pedestrian and also over priced. I thought the food was decent. I was not wow'd. Still they have a huge menu, so we are likely to go again and try a few other things. A few pics The outside area The al fresca inside area (I can not make up my mind, if I like or hate the lighting) The fully inside area (we chose this one as it was a muggy night) The GF ordered a spicy pork dish I went with Sweet and Sour Grouper (it was decent, but no pineapple <- 😞)

Just as as a well intended fyi "Oye Como Va" translates to English as "Hear how you go". I have always really liked Santana's "Borbolleta" album. Borbolleta literally means "Bubble" in Spanish, but is also used to refer to a butterfly coming out of it's cocoon or the emergence of Spring flowers. Santana chose this name at the time that he was becoming fully recovered from a heroin addiction. The reference is obvious I think. This album (Borbolleta) registered with me as I was also coming out of a cocoon at that time. Not the same one as Santana, but a cocoon all the same. The lead in cut to the album is very short at a little over a minute and intriguing and beautiful IMO. ->"Spring Manifestations". A much more well known Santana song from this same album is "Give and Take".

An oldie, but a goodie that all will recognize.

I said something wrong in this post. When only financial assets are involved, said assets are exempt from probate, not inheritance tax. I have been advised that any inheritance tax should be small. I think in the US that the probate rules vary by state. See a lawyer. I am not an attorney.

Something I started to wonder about a bit, is that as many of you well know Bangkok is called "Krung Thep" by many Thai people. The French colonists renamed it Bangkok. "Krung Thep" translates best to "City of Angels" -> Los Angeles. I will try and send a message to Slash's web site so that the GnR handlers are aware of this. https://www.facebook.com/Slash/

I am leaving only financial assets to my US heirs. Those are exempt from inheritance taxes unless one is at a Michael Jordan level. I covered all of this with the experienced attorney who wrote the will as well as the financial institute that holds said financial resources. There is a potential significant hit in the US. That is at this time a large percentage of said financial resources are held in a self-managed IRA. At the time of my death, the IRA will have to be fully liquidated into my other account. At that time the entire amount will be fully taxable on my final IRS filing. My estate executor (my older son) has been informed of all of this and I suggested that he hires the same lawyer to take care of this. That fee can be charged to the estate rather than himself. To my knowledge, there is no Thai inheritance tax. And in general, no I am not near death (as far as I know anyway). 🙄

Szechuan Shrimp Ready for some heat? This post is a combination of two recipes. When I saw the recipe for the Szechuan Shrimp, I did not like at all the way the author had dumbed down the Szechuan Sauce. In all fairness she said that was her objective. Me I like the heat and IMO it is a main thing that is part of any Szechuan recipe. I decided to make my own Szechuan Sauce and then go back to the stir fry recipe to finish things. Some general notes: I think that both recipes call for Sherry. This is an often used substitute for Chinese Shao Xing Rice Wine (in the US where the rice wine used to be a little difficult to find). Shao Zing is the preferred way to go and not at all difficult to find in Thailand. I bought mine from Lazada. At this time I think it has become easier to find in the US as well. I used this recipe for the Szechuan Sauce https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/recipes/szechuan-sauce/ Notes on the sauce. I pretty much followed the full recipe including the Chinese 5 Spice and the szechuan peppercorns. I also added the corn starch slurry to thicken the sauce at the end of preparing the sauce. I used the 1 TBSP amount because more corn starch is called for in the stir fry. I also added 1 TBSP of Sambal Olek (Red Chili Paste). I did not add the garlic or ginger because they were called for in the stir fry as well. I really prefer using fresh Garlic and Ginger as opposed to the bottled powders versions that the sauce recipe author suggested. I cut back the Red Pepper Flakes to 1/2 tsp again because these are also called for in the stir fry. The sauce recipe can be made ahead of time. I made mine in the early afternoon for use that night. Personally, I thought that the sauce turned out fantastic. The GF agreed. Here is the recipe for the stir fry. As usual with a stir fry have everything prepared to go into the pot before you start cooking. Stir fries are usually done at a very high heat. Ain't no time available for prep work once one begins cooking. https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/szechuan-shrimp This was my first try at this recipe. It turned out really well. The GF loved it. A few pics Ready to serve Plated

There is an earlier thread in this forum that speaks to this topic, but I thought that I had a significant enough different process in mind to warrant a breakout thread. Earlier thread I am not legally married to my Thai wife. I would legally marry her, except that could produce serious problems with the execution of my US will. I have grandchildren and I would like to target my US assets that I do not piss away to them so that they can have some assistance to attend good colleges, if they want to. I am not really all that close to my family, but I am grateful for the efforts of the bloodline that gave me a chance at a better life than my predecessors. Their efforts, a lot of dumb luck, the assistance of many good people, and me working my ass off -> got this former street kid from Chicago out of the hood and into a suit and tie, which I later got rid of. Anyway what I set off to accomplish US-Thai will wise. I have a US will that leaves all of my US assets (about 90% of my value) to my two sons. I have discussed this at length with my older son (who is my estate executor). We have included the younger son on all communications and he is ok with things. Basically, they are aware of the existence of my Thai will and Thai wife, which leaves all Thai financial assets to the Thai Wife. This is not a trivial amount. My sons have no problems with that. They are probably grateful that she rather than they is dealing with me at this stage in my dotage. 🙂 I have already put all physical Thai assets (car, motor bike, houses) in the Thai wife's name. Hope she doesn't get mad at me about some silly indiscretion. 🙂 In order to address Thai financial assets I had a Thai will written by a Thai lawyer. That lawyer was recommended to me by a friend who had a similar situation. Basically the main item is my bank account. I like the @forcebwithu idea of giving her signature authority on my accounts, but I am not quite ready to do that. Ok, I am a little anal retentive at times. 🙂 What I understand to be the most difficult part of this process on the Thai side is the probate process, which can be very lengthy and expensive. This is the reason that I went with a Thai law firm, so that the Thai wife had legal expertise to follow up with if she wanted to. I recommended that she do this, but I guess that I will not have much to say when the time occurs. 🙂