Grubbs n Critters

July 30, 2015

Now in Season: Hairy Fruits

Category: Food

This has got to be my favourite time of the year in Thailand when these hairy fruits come into season:

These hairy, weird-looking fruits, commonly known as Rambutans is such a delight! This fruit is native to the tropical regions in South East Asia with Thailand being known as the largest producer of Rambutan and they are usually sold fresh.

I used to be greeted by carts after carts of fruits on wheels on a daily basis as I made my way to the office every morning. A lovely sight I have missed since I moved into a new office building 2 years ago. In fact, I hardly ever passed up on an opportunity to buy at least 2 kg of rambutans and/or lychees (when they were in season) on an almost daily basis when I walked by these mobile carts.Hey! For 20 baht per kg(SGD 80 cents) of rambutans, these babies were definitely worth it!

While hairy on the outside, they are succulent, juicy and sweet on the inside. The fruit flesh is often translucent white with an inedible brown-coloured seed. Sometimes, the juices just spurt out and dribble all over you when you sink your teeth into the fruit to break it open. Of course, you can always use a knife to cut off the hairy skins, but I just prefer to use my teeth!

These days, we just buy them from the supermarket as I hardly ever see them;anymore on the streets in the vicinity of my office. They do tend to be cheaper if bought from the streets.They have just come into season a couple of weeks back and usually the prices get cheaper towards the end of the season.

One of the great pleasures of living in Thailand is the abundance of cheap, fresh, tropical fruits within an arm’s reach.One can’t help but lust for such exotic beings in the name of gastronomical pleasures.

And, dare I say it: only in Thailand! (This time, in a good way)

That “BAD” Word

Category: Critter Stories

Squirt was just standing next to us when we discovered that the on/off and speed button of Squirt’s fan is no longer responding when we were about to put him to bed. We moved the fan around, we pressed some other buttons and we gave it a gentle shake. Still the damn thing refused to work.

It had only been few short weeks since the last fan replacement in our home, and that last replacement was the 3^rd in 2 months. Feeling extremely frustrated at the situation as well as how electrical appliances in this country now don’t last for more than a year, we rolled our eyeballs and gestured in exasperation as we tried to get the thing to work. We broke out in massive perspiration in a 38 degrees Celsius room and muttered soft, inaudible curses under our breath as we meddled with the buttons.

Still, the fan refused to work and we were losing our patience. We cannot believe that we need to get yet.another.fan.replaced so soon. Squirt, who has been watching us working each and every buttons, suddenly let out a word.

A very adult-sounding, “SHIT!”. It was said at the right tone, at the right context and even complemented with the right facial expression.

It took every single nerves on our face to remain stoic as both Silver Bullet and me looked at each other the moment he said “Shit”. To laugh would be sending the wrong signal. It was a big oops, face-palm moment for us.

With a very low and stern voice, we told Squirt that SHIT is a bad word and in under no circumstances is he allowed to use it.

Spud, who happened to be in her own room, heard the small commotion when Squirt started crying; upset because he thought that we were extremely upset with him for using a bad word.

She was quick to ask what happened and when we told her that it was because Squirt had used a bad word without telling her what it was, Spud egged us on for at least 10 minutes; wanting to know what that word was. She was relentless and it was annoying! She finally gave up after a firm, “Stop asking or we’ll take your teddy away!”

We haven’t heard SHIT being uttered for a long while…until a few days ago when he could not locate his bouncy ball and I heard him going “Shit!Shit!Shit!”. I had to pull him aside to reprimand him for it and explained to him again, sternly why he should not be saying “SHIT”.

No, we don’t cuss and swear in front of the kids when we are home with them and as foul-mouthed as I can sometimes be, I am very conscious and mindful of what comes out of my mouth when they are around me. But, every once in a while, “shit”, “dammit”, “oh.my.freaking.god” and the f-word slipped past our mouths or being muttered under our breaths. It was those unconscious moments and yes, judging from what happened, the kids have somehow picked up on that!

Yep. The kids were listening alright. Another reminder for us to filter and *banish* all unsavoury words in our home, because if you think the kids don’t notice or weren’t listening, you can bet all your dimes on this, that in fact, they do.

And they pounce on you at the most unexpected moments possible.

Basic Bow Tie Ballerinas

Category: Footwear

Remember this Basket-Weaved Raffia Flats:

Well…when I wrote the review from my recent collaboration with Zalora Thailand here, I was still waiting for the exchange of the right size to happen. As luck would have it and with plenty of thanks to my big feet, Jin informed me that they did not have my size in stock. Oh bummer! Especially so because I really could not wait to slip my feet into those neat-looking shoes.

I chose another design, a basic satin ballerina; one which was much simpler and I thought that surely they must have something this simple in my size.

Simple and pretty right? The colour’s great too!

It turned out that Thailand and big feet don’t usually go hand in hand as they did not have my size in stock either. It’s not only shoes I have a problem finding in this country when it comes to my size, but this goes also for bras (and I don’t even have big boobs!) and clothing which I usually have to go for an L or an XL. Of course, they don’t always have them in my size, too. Almost all the time. Dammit.

I was losing all hope of ever finding one I like and that fits me. I have to say though that Jin was patient and kind enough to sort for those available in my size and send me another link for me to choose from. Yay! There is hope for this puny woman with big feet!

It didn’t take me long to decide at all, and apart from pondering on the colour between the blue and black, I opted for these cute-looking Basic Bow Tie Ballerinas which was delivered to me last week in exchange for the one that I had:

This would be my very first navy blue shoes and I kind of like the bow that comes with it. Even Spud thought that it was, her words, beautiful. It wasn’t long after I took the pair out of the box that Spud asked for my permission if she could try it; asking if there is one in her size. I had to, unfortunately, disappoint her with a no (although I have yet to check for kids’ shoes on their site), but I let her strut around for a bit.

I have trotted around with it over the weekend for almost the whole day when we were out and about with the kids. The insides are lightly cushioned and I have had no blisters walking in them. No blisters is always a winner for me ! This pair is light-weight and easily one of the most comfy flats I have in my collection. And no, I am not just saying it.

My verdict?

I absolutely love, love, love this Bow Tie Ballerinas for its design and comfort. It’s a great pair for travels especially for when I have to get on a plane with easy slip-on-slip-off. It is also decent enough to be worn for work or for business travels.

I’m going to have a hard time now choosing this Bow Tie flats to my favourite Jelly shoes!

Pretty feet I have not, but they really are so comfy and I can walk around in them for the whole day. Oh yeah ♫ ♫ ♫ these shoes are made for walkin’ and that’s just what they’ll do. One day all these shoes are gonna walk all over you ♫ ♫ ♫