Grabbed from the Isan life. A sequel (part 3)

What is such an expat doing there in Isaan? No compatriots around, not even European cultures. No cafes, no Western restaurants. No entertainment. Well, The Inquisitor chose this life and is not bored at all. This time stories in non-chronological days, no weekly report, but always just a blog, sometimes current, sometimes from the past.

Cooking

Cooking is one of the things that De Inquisitor has taken on. He had to be able to enjoy the afterglow with a full belly every now and then. Because otherwise there is Isaan food on the menu, he can appreciate a number of things, but even then he is hungry again after two hours, despite the large quantities of sticky rice that he consumes. In his previous life, De Inquisitor never cooked but was interested in it.
That is why it has become a hobby and it entails a lot of pleasant work.

In the beginning, the kitchen was a guaranteed mess with a mountain of dishes afterwards, but now it goes much more smoothly. The laptop is still close by. After almost three years of experience, De Inquisitor ventures into more complicated dishes and still needs guidance for many things. And has he learned to first draw up a kind of menu of the desired dishes so that he knows which ingredients are needed, it used to happen that he, in full boil, came to the conclusion that he was without peppers for the Hungarian goulash … . Real.

So everything starts with preparing the desired dishes, and then De Inquisitor draws up a shopping list. He sets off with that list. Plain potatoes-with-vegetable-meat sauce can often be sourced locally. But they don't have good bacon, for example, which is usually thickly sliced ​​here with a lot of fat and little meat. For good and less fatty minced meat, he has to go to the local Lotus Express, a reduced edition of those large Lotus warehouses, and then it remains to be seen whether they have it in stock. The same also applies to something as simple as potatoes – occasionally offered on the market, but often not when our own stock is exhausted.

Fish is no problem at all, it is offered alive and immediately prepared for cooking by the market trader. He also buys pork on the market, but for beef it remains to be seen whether the illegal butchers have a cow….
Chicken easily touches the farang: just talk to a neighbor and half an hour later a whole chicken arrives, already dead, yes, but still warm and with all the trimmings. Must bring the lady to a ready-to-cook level before The Inquisitor touches it. Nice is not it?

So it is regularly necessary for him to travel to Sakun Nakhon, about ninety kilometers away. There is a Makro, and in the local shopping mall a Tops warehouse, they have quite a bit of import here. Take along the large ISO cool box and a large plastic lockable container on the pick-up, Makro doesn't give bags, you know.

The Inquisitor considers this an excursion. Very occasionally it even goes to Udon Thani, and then it becomes a three-day, because De Inquisitor cannot pass up the restaurants and other fun there.
Usually the lady goes along because Makro is also interesting for the shop now and then because of the offers.
Because departures always take place in the morning, he can already make a first stop before Pang Kon, there is a food stall on the track with delicious , a Thai soup with your choice of pork, beef or duck, with lots of vegetables. Delicious breakfast.

There is even a Home Pro on the same road to Sakun. Large warehouse, mix of Brico and Ikea, many western goods. Always nice to walk around, annoying if you really have to buy something. Because way too many employees. Who come in from you like some kind of undercover agent and walk with you as soon as you stop to take a closer look, they attack you. Who insist on pushing your cart. Who, if you do want to buy something, constantly want to promote a different brand or model than what you have chosen.
Who always need hours to get to the checkout with your desired product. Where The Inquisitor is then eating himself up and is therefore in serious need of a cigarette. But sometimes you have to be there as a farang, they do have some more products that we think are necessary and are not available elsewhere.

The fellow villagers are always amazed at the strange purchases he makes. Like a lawnmower, that was the first ever to come to the village, people had no idea what it was for.

Then Macro. The Inquisitor always finds it cozy and fun there. Shopping in the knowledge that everything is really necessary, no impulse purchases, always stick to the list, especially the spouse - please dear? The Inquisitor always tastes the coffee offered, without any intention to buy.
It is usually nice ladies who recommend that, a nice change between all that food and non-food. And De Inquisitor leaves the checkout to the lady. Way too slow.

Then to the Robinson shopping mall which is a bit further. Where The Inquisitor, it is towards noon, without exception first goes to eat. KFC is a favourite, at MK sometimes, Black Canyon if it's a little hungry because The Inquisitor thinks the portions are too small. And very occasionally, to the native food counter on the top floor where they prepare the strangest dishes, always fun to try.

Going to eat isn't easy. Because the Tops warehouse is the Mecca. You have to go with a full stomach. Because without exception many impulse purchases. Oh, Gruyere cheese. Gouda! Hello, ham! Chocolate!
Real bread. Western, even Belgian, “Julien De Stropere” biscuits. Hoegaarden! Stella Artois!

You then come home with a fully loaded car, the refrigerated products immediately gone, then the goods for the shop, then the rest of the private purchases.
With the prospect of being able to eat western food for days on end, a delicious breakfast without that kind of “Lotus bread”. Ham sandwich. Cheese sandwich. Making hot dogs. Because canned sauerkraut brought along, mustard has not been forgotten either. Making croque monsieur. Delicious real and crispy thin bacon.
Wine, for cooking, but the wife sometimes sip a glass or two of it.

Then a kind of two-day cooking begins. The Inquisitor loves that, because of course, at Isan's pace. With music in the background. The dishes pass him by because he knows that they too can enjoy during the weeks, Western fare goes well with my two ladies in the house. Her daughter in particular loves it. So it's up to them to do the dishes but it's usually not a problem.
And De Inquisitor invested - a long time ago - in a good freezer. That's where the prepared dishes go, a solid stock after two days of fun activity.

De Inquisitor takes for granted that every now and then a dish goes wrong. Better luck next time. Moreover, this is not very wasteful. De Inquisitor now gets just what he wants from all the meat: he cuts away the meat, the fat edges, but not too stingy. And that also goes into the freezer, Isaaners think it's the best: , fat, and , cartilage. And what remains of that later goes to the dogs.
The same ritual for fish and chicken. Also vegetables, because The Inquisitor cuts away everything he finds 'suspicious'. Previously, that went into the trash until the love discovered it. And was angry. 'There's nothing wrong with that!'

So cooking is more than a hobby. It's mouth watering choosing what to eat for the next few days, even weeks. It is immediately a trip, sometimes even a three-day trip if we decide to drive to Udon Thani.
The Inquisitor himself is amazed that anyone who would have told him about fifteen years ago that he would ever prepare his own food would be considered crazy.

To be continued