A Look Back

Coldstone Creamery has an ice cream concoction called the Crispy Churro Caramel Sundae. For $4.45, you are presented with a plate containing a heap of vanilla ice cream topped with about an inch of whipped cream that's drizzled with caramel sauce and surrounded by four churros. The churros -- laced with enough brown sugar to wipe out the entire Adam Morrison lineage -- are warmed up and act as perfect scoopers for the ice cream. How do I know this? Because that was one of the first foods I ate when I came back home. You're damn right I made up for four weeks of eating noodles and fish with one order of diabetes on a plate.
As a side note, while extremely delicious, this endeavor in ice cream should be shared and not taken alone. Any attempts at a solo Crispy Churrco Caramel mission will result in pain and suffering akin to having to watch the Miley Cyrus movie The Last Song on a 12.5 hr transcontinental flight because you're wide awake full with airplane pasta in a seat that was made for the comfort of someone paralyzed from the neck down as the sleeping woman next to you slides her head onto your shoulder.
Otherwise, it's good.
Churros, ice cream, caramel. The pleasures of America.


Looking back at these last four weeks, I think the best way to commemorate them is through Top Four Lists. Without further ado...

4 Things I'll Miss About Thailand:
1. The food
It's not just that the food was good, but also the importance of it. My days seemed to revolve around food. It's part of the culture, the overall identity. Not since my freshman year of college has so much of my time been devoted to eating. During the homestays, the families would bring out bowls and bowls of food containing various curries, fish, vegetables, and fruits. Definitely discovered some new favorite foods along the way, such as the Thai omelet. Now a Thai omelet isn't a traditional omelet, or one that you and I would imagine. For one thing, you can have a Thai omelet any time during the day. Usually it's more of a lunch or dinner food. Also, a Thai omelet doesn't have an excessive amount of things in it. Actually, it's just the egg...and usually some bits of meat inside, such as chicken. Chicken, egg. Nothing complicated, rather stupid simple. But it's absolutely amazing. Put some chili paste over that thing along with some rice, and it's complete heaven. That's another thing about Thai culture that will probably be a running theme in this post -- everything's simple. The ingredients in the dishes are kept to the bare minimum, it seems. For most meals at the homestay, the foods were collected from the garden or freshly caught at the sea.
Couple of sidenotes:
-Because of this innate ability for a Thai person to cook up a fantastic meal with only a handful of ingredients, if a Thai were to ever be a contestant on Hell's Kitchen, I'd put it at 2:1 odds that he or she would win if they aren't required to know a handful of Eureopean dishes. Those challenges where the cooks have to make a meal by only using ingredients they find in a half-stocked fridge would be no contest.
-You eat with a spoon and fork by using the fork to help scoop food onto the spoon. Kinda takes a meal or two to get used to, but it's a highly efficient way of eating. Very easy to clean up your plate, because you can destroy every grain of rice with the spoon-dominated method.
-Mangosteen is quickly climbing my favorite fruits pyramid. It looks like something that Link from Zelda would eat. Purple ball with a cartoon-ish green leaves at the top. Open it and there's white flesh. Really good.
1b. Bua loy
My absolute favorite dessert. Sticky rice balls in coconut milk. I need to figure out this recipe. Ok, I need to stop thinking about this or else I'm going to pass out.

2.Having fantastic beaches everywhere
Not fair.

3. Being able to walk down the street and smile and talk with people
Try doing this in LA, and people will think you're crazy.

4. Not having to follow the LeBron James fiasco.
With limited internet access and no TV, I'm glad that I didn't have to be bombarded with LeBron James news or "The Decision."

But...

4 NBA off-season storylines I wish had happened
1. The Warriors trade Monta Ellis and cash considerations for an actual point guard or low-post player, because Nellie-ball needs to go away and I never understood what the hell "cash considerations" ever meant anyway. So the teams agree to the trade, with one of the teams still considering whether they want to throw in some more money or not? If only that could work in real life.
Yeah, that was a great steak and all, but instead of paying for the bill...lemme still think about it once or twice over. Better yet, how about I just write down here that I'll give you guys $50 worth of cash considerations.
Another thing, who is the "player to be named later" in trades? Isn't that a bit disheartening for that player? Like, you're not relevant enough to be involved in the actual trade...we're just gonna tack you on there because we have nothing better to do. And how later are we talking about? And can we have that player be someone really good...please? For once I really want to see the following appear on the ESPN ticker:
The Los Angeles Clippers have agreed to trade their first round pick and a player to be named later to the Washington Wizards for their first.

Then later...
The Los Angeles Clippers have agreed to trade their first round pick and Blake Griffin to the Washington Wizards.

2. Ron Artest's single goes to the top of the Billboard 100

3. Chris Bosh stays on the Raptors to solidify his standing as the only player who looks like his team's mascot.

4. Kobe Bryant demands a trade to Cleveland, eventually leading the Cavs to a championship.
Heard this idea on a Bill Simmons' podcast. If only, if only.

Top 4 World Cup teams to root for, according to a Thai
1. Argentina
2. Spain
3. South Korea
4. USA
32. Germany

4 English games to use with Burmese students:
1. Face drawings
Draw a giant circle on a piece of paper and hand each one to a student. Have them draw one part of the face (ie. the eyes, ear, mouth, nose, etc) and then pass the page to student next to them. Draw another part of the face and continue passing it on.
2. Hangman
3. Match game
Flip cards so that the picture matches the word.
4. Find it
Say the name of an object and have the students find it.