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Bananas Sandwiches

Michael Finn — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 04:45:29 +0000

Bananas.

When I was growing up in Dublin, my father came home for lunch everyday as we did as well from school, where my mum would have a hot meal for all of us, meat, veggies and gravy. For tea in the evening my dad always had a banana with bread and made great sandwiches. Actually our lunch was really our dinner and our evening meal was tea. I did not know anything at all about bananas or how they arrived in our local shop. They were always a golden yellow. My mum would buy a bunch consisting or maybe three or four bananas. Years later I was the radio officer on a “banana boat” sailing on a regular trip from a “banana republic” in Central America to Freeport in Texas. Texas USA that is. It took less than 3 days from Limon in Costa Rica to Freeport. I learned a lot about bananas on that ship. The bananas were picked green, washed, to remove all insects especially the deadly banana spider, packed into the company’s logo boxes and placed into refrigerated containers and loaded on board. The greenness of the unripe bananas was critical as to the length of the voyage and the final destination to the supplier. Every Sunday morning we would arrive in Freeport Texas, the containers were loaded onto trailers with a diesel generator, plugged in and the trucks would hitch up and within moments head into Texas and up into the Mid West of the US of A. The temperature of the bananas had to be kept at 13.3 deg C or 56 deg F. This stopped them from ripening. When they start to ripen they give off a gas, this gas was monitored on board in each container to make sure it did not exist. On arriver at the supplier’s warehouse the bananas were allowed to ripen at a rate depending on the demand of the shops. The bananas in our house would have been picked much greener because of the longer distance to Dublin. I love bananas but living here in Phuket it is to my horror that I cannot just buy a bunch of 3 or 4 bananas. They are so cheap that the smallest bunch contains 10 to 12 bananas and after 3 days most are thrown out. Sad. What would my dad think? When I visit my father-in-law on the Gulf of Siam with my wife and daughter, we return not with a bunch of bananas but half a tree of them. My neighbours love me when I return to Phuket.

Enjoy Bananas in Phuket, they are wonderful.

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Phuket Magha Puja Festival

Michael Finn — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 02:03:43 +0000

Our calendar shows images behind certain dates. It lets you know what that day represents. When the date is in red then it’s an important day.
The 21st February was in red with the image of the Buddha in the background. I knew that Bamboo would have no school and all government offices would be closed along with the banks. Yes, I should have said “A Bank Holiday” but some days have government offices closed with the banks open.
On the 20th, a flyer was delivered to all the houses in our estate. Unable to read Thai , I did notice 6 am 21st.
Driving back from the Bamboo’s favourite restaurant, which we go to every Wednesday after school, my treat to her. I noticed tables being set up around the park area in our estate.
Patitta, my wife, arrived home a little earlier from work and took Bamboo away with her. They returned two hours later loaded down with packages and small plastic bags.
I was told to go to bed early as Patitta and Bamboo began to make up parcels. Each parcel contained: a cup of rice, a tube of toothpaste, a small carton of milk and a tin of fish.
Bamboo told me to call Mama and her at 5.30 am.
21st Feb. I had great delight waking up Bamboo and Patitta at the appointed time. Bamboo jumped out of bed immediately, whereas on school days I have a heck of a time wakening her up and getting her out of bed.
We left the house at 5.45 am. The stars were still shinning and the moon, though full was settings. I could say that it was a cold, crisp February morning with out breathes visible in the chill of dawn but I would be only dreaming.
The stars were still shinning and the full moon was setting but the heat of yesterday still lingered in the warn morning air.
As we made our way towards the park we were joined by others also carrying parcels. We picked an empty table and set out our parcels as did everyone else.
While waiting for the Buddha Monks to arrive, I asked Patitta what was this festival all about.
“Its Magha Puja”. she replied. (Later I had to find out the full meaning on the internet).
The good thing was that I was allowed to return to the house, but still in the dark. In the dark about the festival, not in the dark as in night, even though it was still dark for a few minutes because at 6.30 am we have full sunrise. I love the Tropics and the heat in the “cool of the morning” reinforces the heat of last evening which really maintains the continuous heat of the Tropical Day.
Two pick-up trucks followed the monks and collected all the food parcels.

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Phuket BBQ Fish at Xmas Time

Michael Finn — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 08:55:14 +0000

Are you tried of turkey and ham this festival season?

Problem solved.
Fire up the BBQ. (In Europe the heat will melt the snow of the top of it).
While it is warming up, nip down to the local market and find your favourite fish monger and buy a freshwater fish that is shaped like a red snapper as against the shape of a trout. Have the fish cleaned but have the fish monger leave the head and tail on.
Also at the local market, on the way back buy a stick of lemongrass, some kaffir-lime leaves and a spray of mint.
Back home, stuff the greens inside the fish and sprinkle well both sides of the fish with salt. Otherwise this freshwater fish that is shaped like a red snapper smells badly while cooking.
The BBQ is now well and truly hot. Place the fish on the grill. Turn over when the first side is well burnt.
When both side are chard. Place on a serving dish, scrape away skin and dig in. It is yummie.
Somehow the greens keep the white flesh moist and tender and not at all dried out as you would expect from grilling it, even just under the skin.
My wife does not know the name of this freshwater fish, maybe you can!

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Phuket, Kitchens, Roadside Foodstalls

Michael Finn — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 07:39:04 +0000

A Thai kitchen cannot be described simply. You don’t need one.
For example, take our house and the house across the road that is rented. Both built at the same time.
When you walk into your newly built house, you only know where the kitchen “may be” from the model on show in the “site office”. There are no hints otherwise in the house. An outside water supply is supplied in the form of a tap, in the front garden and outside the rear door. The inside water supply is run to the bathroom only.
To have a kitchen, you employ your own builder.
Instead of having our kitchen built inside the house, my wife had our “backyard” covered in and there she had a “built in kitchen installed”, less the cooker.
My wife was living in the house without a cooker for a number of months before I arrived. Here you can live very well without a kitchen.
We went “cooker buying”. My wife chose a single gas ring cooker. She was not interested in a twin or four ring cooker. The cooker and gas bottle was duly installed.
Rice is cooked throughout Thailand in an electric rice cooker. They are brilliant. Put in the rice and the correct amount of water, give or take a drop, switch on and when the rice is cooked the cooker switches to “keep warm” mode. You have hot rice all day long. Or switch off and a few hours later, add a little bit of water and reheat.
The cooker is used only for the food you have with the rice. A wok is used mostly but a pot gives you stews. So in a way one only needs a single ring. No ovens. I don’t think the Thai’s have ever heard of “a roast”.
The rented house across the road has no kitchen. The owners did not pay for one to be installed. The tenants either brings their own “camping cooker” or buy already cooked food nearby. The “kitchen tap” is out the back.
In Phuket you are always within walking distance, sometime only a few steps away from a food stall, serving a take-away or offering a few tables and chairs for a sit down meal. All food stalls specialize in one or two types of food. A few steps away will be another offering different food. Within a short walk you will find the type of food you want to eat at the time.
There are these little food stalls operating outside their houses in our estate. The cooking area and tables are on the footpath.
Five minutes walk from our house is a food market. This consists of a communal dining area with different food stalls surrounding the tables, all under cover with open sides. Here you can choose from all the Dishes that Thailand can offer plus a few Europeans ones as well.
Cheap? Yes. very cheap. This is not a tourist area. Only the locals use it so the prices reflect this. All the food stalls offer “take-away” at no extra charge.
Phuket is Heaven for food and the accessibility of cooked meals. In away there is no need for a kitchen in a house. Even in the countryside you will see a food stall on the roadside.

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Phuket Coconut Harvest

Michael Finn — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 08:36:57 +0000

From under the sink remove; (a) 20 ft bamboo pole with curved blade attached to top end, (b) machete, (c) hatchet, (d) hammer, (e) 6 inch nail, no rust, (f) coconut scraper.

Holding the bamboo pole in the vertical, proceed to end of the garden, hook the blade around the stem of the coconut and yank down quickly. Just as the coconut is about to hit the ground, jump 10 ft into the air still keeping the pole in the vertical. The reason for this is that the heavy nut hits the ground at a good speed and it will bounce twice and roll in every-which-way then the one you expect. If it hits your legs, serious injury will happen.
Repeat above four to five times.

With the hatchet break into the thick green fibrous skin to reveal the brown hairy shell of the coconut.
With hammer and none rust nail, pierce the nut and collect the juice.
With the machete, in one downward stroke split the nut in two.
Take the coconut scraper, this is a small stool which you sit on, it has a very sharp wide chisel protruding out, holding the half shell and counting fingers continuously scrap the hard flash out. The flakes will fall into a basin.
Now you have coconut milk and coconut meat for cooking.

Fast forward to Phuket. At 6.30 am I enter the local food market, open 7 mornings a week from 6am to noon. I proceed to a stall where the above action has already been carried out. Here they fill a muslin bag with the nut flakes, moisten with a little of the milk and place the bag in a press. The muslin acts as a filter and out comes a good quantity of milk. I pay 20 cent for half a litre. My wife uses it as a stock for curries and stews. Of course you can pop down to the local supermarket and buy either cartons or cans of coconut milk but it’s not the same.

There is another variety of coconut that is smaller. These ones have the milk and flash inside the green shell and it is not fibrous. On the drinks page of any restaurant menu you can have this coconut with the top chopped off and a straw inserted for a refreshing drink. After drinking the milk you can scrap the flesh out with a spoon, it is soft. Or on the other hand you can have a chicken strew served inside the coconut, here as well the milk formed the stock. I have had this dish many times. Yummy.

Fast forward back to the garden and after many collections of the coconuts you are left with a fair heap of the green outer husks. Leave lying about until they turn brown, get the hatchet and chop them into 1 inch cubes. Fill a sack up and sell it to the nearest Garden Centre. A keen gardener will buy it for his potted flowers and plants. You cover the top of the soil in the pots with the cut up husks. After watering the plants this layer slows down the drying out of the soil, this is most important in the tropics.

So there you have it. Drinking, cooking and gardening all in one go.

Oh I forgot one other thing. When the husk is brown, it will smolder slowing giving off a lot of smoke. This is good for keeping the mossies away.

All of the above tools except for the press are at my father-inlaw’s house. The bamboo pole hangs under the house and all the others are in the kitchen.

Coconut trees grow straight up and are very high. Not like the ones you see bent over a tropical beach. Behind my father-inlaw’s house is jungle with many coconut trees. I have jumped out of my skin many times when out of the blue a nut falls, crashing through the foliage to bounce on the ground. It makes a terrible loud noise.

I must park my car well away from the trees.

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