ChiFlyer

I use Charles Schwab as my US bank and they tend to be on the stick. I have cancelled my US credit cards with Citibank and Chase as they became useless due to their notifications for approval processes. I use Skype for my US phone number and both banks are unable to communicate via Skype. I instead moved to AMEX for a US credit card and they have been a pleasure to deal with, other than their slightly high annual rate. Mine is $150 for a green card. Worth it to me due to the no hassle processes. I have a Bangkok Bank Account and I have been pleased for the most part with their online services. They occasionally forget to update the laptop online service when they do an upgrade, but the mobile service still works when this happens. I prefer to access via the iBanking laptop method as I like the bigger screen and like to extract data to feed various xls files on my laptop. I have a Bangkok Bank credit card to use when someone does not accept AMEX. I let my Bangkok Bank ATM card lapse as it served no purpose. I use my Schwab debit card for ATM withdrawals, as all fees are refunded anywhere in the world. The US Big Name Banks tanked on Friday in the US stock markets. A less than expected earnings report from JPM accompanied by words of warning from no less than Jamie Dimon were part of the reason for the downturn. Geopolitical angst and the Fed cooling toward lowering rates also caused a negative drag. JPM is a significant holding within my overall US equities. It was at 15%. Hmmm - 14% now. I have held JPM for many years and some bumps in the road have occurred in the past. I actually worked for a Jamie Dimon Bank (as an IT consultant) for 5 years. Jamie and I were not close friends, but I was in the same room with a few of his immediate reports at times. In case anyone is interested I use a site to get a quick market recap on a daily basis. They offer other services, but I use only the free market recap. https://www.briefing.com/stock-market-update

We kicked off Songkran by having the Mrs family over for a pool afternoon and supper to follow. The crew had a seafood lunch to get things started and then the younger people jumped into the pool armed with water guns. A good time was had by all. I made a casual supper that consisted of Sloppy Jane Sandwiches (a version of Sloppy Joes but with ground chicken instead of beef). Sides were some frozen waffle fries and a seasoned corn dish (my creation on the corn dish). Here is a link for the Sloppy Janes. This is written for ground turkey, but I have never seen that in the Pattaya area. This recipe is quite tasty IMO. I usually make a fair sized batch and freeze the leftovers for later use. I used a frozen leftover batch today. https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sloppy-jane-sliders-1961874#communityReviews Given the use of reheated components, supper was on the table in under an hour. The spread. The hit of the day was the Hagen Daz Ice Cream for dessert. The 7 year old guest gave me some big repeated thumbs up gestures for the Hagen Daz. Leftovers were one sandwich.

Chicken Cordon Bleu - 2nd Attempt I made Chicken Cordon Bleu tonight. The result was much better presentation wise than my first attempt. The Mrs really liked it. Here are some items that I think led to the improvement. I butterflied the chicken breast before pounding it out. A butterfly cut of this nature needs to be done carefully. One wants to cut to within about 1/2 inch of the other side, but not all the way though. The breast should open up like a book. What works for me is to cut slowly and stop and check progress along the way. Pound the butterflied breast a little gently with the mallet. Really the point is do not smash it hard or else you may tear the breast and it will not roll well. Pounded out breasts will vary some in size. If you find that the ham and chees are crowding the edge, cut off some of the ham and cheese. Roll slowly and get the ends tucked in. Have your toothpicks at the ready.

The duplicitous self-absorbed bastard deserves all of the "Rot in Hell" comments that he will get.

I am watching a couple of TV series that have held my interest. The first is (S01-S03) of "The Fall" starring Gillian Anderson (Xfiles etc.). IMDB 8.1 (2013 thru 2016 or so). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fall_(TV_series) This is a well done serial killer detective show based in Belfast. The second show that is holding my interest as well is "Bodies". IMDB 7.3 (2023). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodies_(2023_TV_series) This is a Sci-fi detective thriller with time travel elements. It is a little confusing to get started with, but comes together well IMO, if you give it a little time. It has 4 time segments with multiple characters and it would be a good show to read the recaps after viewing the first few episodes. I downloaded both of these from IPT, but both are Netflix produced series.

Seared Scallop Pasta - Revisited Some of the younger family members of the Mrs are in town as they are on their Songkran school breaks. We had them over today and I made a large batch of Seared Scallops Pasta accompanied by a large Salad, and some garlic bread. It was a nice time between pool time and the dinner that I prepared being well received. One of the taller younger guys used some black putty to try to address the damage to a few tiles on the reflection wall by my pool. Worked out pretty well. Looks much better. I still have to have a guy run a new line across the top to feed the water more evenly. That contractor is busy with another job, so that will most likely be after Songkran. I am posting this mainly to show the food pics. A couple of points about the recipe: I have discovered that the Little Walk Villa Market has frozen scallops that are not bad. I usually buy them a few weeks before I am planning on using them because they may be unavailable on any given day. These can be found in the frozen section directly in front of the butcher area. In the previous post I said I went a little past Alton Brown's 90 second per side rule for the scallops and they were a bit over cooked. This time I did exactly the 90 seconds and they were a tad under cooked. I left myself a note to do 2 minutes next time. Raising the heat would also address this, but risks burning the fat. I also went a little Plain Jane this time as I was unsure as to how my guests would like this dish. I used pasta water as the thinner instead of wine. I also did not finish with ground black peppercorns. It went well. The crew bagged up the leftover pasta and salad and took it back to their condo. Oh, I made a homemade vinaigrette for the salad. The link below lists 8 ways of making vinaigrette. Better than store bought IMO and can be done in minutes. https://www.food.com/recipe/basic-vinaigrette-dressing-with-8-variations-213989 Pics Pasta Salad - I cut everything up in the Morning, covered with plastic wrap, kept in the fridge, made the vinaigrette in the Morning as well, but did not dress the salad until meal time. The salad was made up of Cos lettuce, Sliced Red Onion that was soaked in water for 15 minutes, a diced Red Bell Pepper, Sliced Mushrooms, a few sliced radishes, and some crumpled Feta Cheese. Some packaged Garlic Bread from VM. I went about 30 seconds too long on the broiling step. 2 minutes and 30 seconds for next time. Still zero leftovers. Plated

It is a great mini-series IMO. Powerful performances by Riz Ahmed, John Turturro, and the late Michael Kenneth Williams. I watched it on HBO when it first aired in 2016. Dialed into in kind of a Pavlovian response as it took over the "Game of Thrones" time slot.

The Mrs is getting over (slowly) some kind of bronchial infection, so we are spending most of our time at home. Due to this I am watching even more video entertainment than usual. I watched "The Insider" this afternoon 1999 IMDB 7.8. A little long at 2:37. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Insider_(film) This is a somewhat fictionalized account of a true story. Some big name cast members (Pacino and Crowe). Crowe was nominated for an Oscar. I looked for a link that would explain what is fictionalized in the movie, but could not readily find one. There are various links on the net where both Lowell Bergman (60 Minutes producer) and Mike Wallace take exception with what has been reported about what is the true story. IMO the true story is pretty damn complicated for many obvious reasons. This is not a linear series of events that occurred in a vacuum. The real life Lowell Bergman (60 Minutes Producer) is also listed as an influential person in the evolution of the TV show "Frontline". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowell_Bergman Oh, I liked the movie, but it was a 2 sandwiches watch, meaning how many breaks did I take. I downloaded the movie from IPT.

I began watching S04 of "True Detective" the other day. Interesting watch thru the first few episodes. The main star is Jodie Foster. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_Detective_season_4 The IMDB of 8.9 is an overall series rating, which is pumped up by S01, which starred Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. Still after a few episodes I am enjoying this show.

Speaking about coming out of a Chicago Winter reminded me of this Low Rawls song.

The acetic was applied with a paint roller. Evidently a little too vigorously at times.

The damage was caused by the way the acetic acid was applied. A few tiles were pushed in a little causing the water flow to look like the wall is pissing into the pool in a couple of places. Additionally, the water flow is no longer being released as before. There are places where there is no flow. This is probably caused by a few top tiles impeding the flow and additionally the pipe having been clogged a little by the dust from the re-grouting. The new guy is going to replace the water pipe and realign the few tiles causing the problem. Unfortunately for me, he currently has a big job down the street so it will be a while and Songkran will likely affect the schedule as well. Oh, how I suffer. 🙂 Really the dummy is me. I should not have paid the final installment until I did a more rigorous check of the final product.

I need to add a followup note on this. If anyone has picked up on the phone numbers and company names on the worker's shirts, I do not recommend this company. That has to do with the owner/manager. The work crews were great. The re-grouting of the pool tile was a first rate job. The acetic cleaning of my reflection wall caused damage to the water flow over said wall. This was not obvious until a few days after work had been completed and the bill had been paid. We contacted the owner/manager about this. He came out, looked at the problem, and lied saying he had not caused the damage. He then went Thai A-hole (not much different than Farang A-hole) saying that he was a busy man. I replied in kind (maybe not so kind). Anyway, I really do not have much in the way of options for chasing the guy for the damages. I have had another guy out to look at what it would take to correct things and it will likely come to about 3000. Paying a lawyer to go after the guy would cost much more than that and it is unlikely that a Thai Judge would rule in favor of a Farang over a Thai National.

Back at ya EP. I always have enjoyed Easter. Growing up mainly in the Chicago area, Easter tended to represent the rebirth of Spring. I am not a religious person. Hell far from it. Still I think maintaining some degree of spirituality in one's life is a component to having some degree of self-worth. And the babes in the picture are stirring my spirituality.

Geez - more health food options. When will it end? 🙂

I watched "Poor Things" this afternoon IMDB 8.0 (2023) - length 2:21:36 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_Things_(film) "Poor Things" was generally regarded as the # 3 movie in the running for this year's Oscar. It is critically acclaimed. I would describe it as an "artsy" Frankenstein-esque movie. It is interesting. The camera work is very well done. The movie moves between B&W and Color with some stunning effects at times. Did I like it? Pretty much, but I thought that it moved a little slowly at times. Available via IPT.

We disagree on the quality of the movie and that is fine. I was spellbound by it and yes it is long,

I am downloading Shogun through IPT. I have not started to watch it as of yet. I am probably a month away from that. It has an IMDB of 9.3, which is unusually high. The offer stands for an IPT invite.

Hi Tommy, I will be a good soldier and not politicize this thread. On the other hand, this is becoming a highly politicized topic. I will likely open a separate thread (or add to an existing one) over in US Politics.

Oppenheimer might be the best movie of the last 50 years. It won 13 Oscars. And yes it is a downer in many ways. Cillian Murphy (Peaky Blinders) who won the best actor Oscar award was magnificent in the title role. The supporting cast (Robert Downey Jr. (Oscar Winner), Matt Damon, Gary Oldman (in a brief role as Harry Truman), and many others were excellent as well. Christopher Nolan (Oscar Winner for best director) did an incredible job of bringing this complex and societal changing story to the screen. I liked the flick. 🙂

Excellent flick IMO. If it had not been for Oppenheimer (a fantastic movie), "Killers of the Flower Moon" might have taken home some significant Oscars. I still have not watched "Poor Things" which was the 3rd highly rated movie of the year. I have it queued up to watch sometime this weekend. I thought that DiCaprio should have been nominated for an Oscar. He was great in "Killers of the Flower Moon". I suspect that his lack of a nomination was in part due to his playing an unlikable villainous character.

John Mayal - California

This is indeed a tragic event and my heart goes out to the affected families. On the other side of the coin, Jordan Klepper goes after the news reporting.

I got an unsolicited email ad from an Italian Restaurant called "Sicily". https://www.sicily.restaurant/?_gl=1*pegndu*_up*MQ..&gclid=CjwKCAjwh4-wBhB3EiwAeJsppIMSRB0uaEmNTVdShEY-D5xc0QcYQaeT6MI8dG9k8rqXOgnTNHicHRoCe14QAvD_BwE It is out on Maphrachan Lake. They have a huge menu and many of the pics look very inviting, Looks to be a little expensive for an Italian restaurant, probably close to Gian's for price comparison purposes. Anyone been out here? I am thinking about giving it a try.

The Mrs and I had not been to Rain Forest since my last post on 10/22/2022. We went the other night. I feel that they have gone downhill some and that their business looks to be a little off. Just saying.