A fortnight of fun

We’ve been up to a lot and sorry I’ve missed some updates and the day to day stuff.  It’s not that I’ve not wanted to write up and blog on some of those activities, but we’ve been having fun and exploring, so it’s hard to break away from that and give that up to write this.

A quick run down is fun!  It’s all been fun.

We had the tech issues and that slowed things down being without the CPU for a few days, but then we picked up and had HarborLand and SOS Burgers, but we’ve also had a date night for J and myself that included a few beers at Ohm’s Living Room, Decathlon for jumps, rollerblading (for the first time!!!!), a waterpark (another first), Dasa Books and a day in town including a BTS ride, a trip to the dentist so we could all get cleanings, and a playdate with a friend from school.  

That’s just been the last ten or so days… two weeks.  Something like that.  Regardless, busy.

Oh, and I forgot that J went climbing with some new friends as well.  So, add that into the mix.  She also had a night with another friend to just catch up and tomorrow she’ll have a girls night that will including climbing and then Indy Market for some food and laughs.

See the pics and vids for the major highlights and if you want info on more or for me to do a full blog, just ask or comment and I’ll see what I can do.

A lot of what we’ve been doing is just Kiddo stuff and not just sitting around the condo and killing time.  We are trying to get her out and do things and have some fun.  Do some activities.  Expand her horizons a bit.

Not that they need expanding.  Last night, she told J and me and “I’m really craving Pho right now.”  There was also the krapao incident.

I’ve written before about how we will occasionally do Pick It dinners.  Kiddo can pick her dinner and we will make it (within reason) and then J and I can get spicy or local or whatever we are hankerin’ that Kiddo wouldn’t like or eat.  Since Vietnam, J and I have really been wanting Thai food.  So, the other night, we did a Pick It and after tuck ins, I went across the street for some food.  Pork Kra Pao for me and Spicy Garlic Shrimp for J.  We know the folks at the restaurant we went to, so it helped that they are somewhat familiar with us.  I ordered for me and told Max that I wanted Pet.  Not farang pet, real pet.  He looked at me and smiled.  “I make to you like I make to Pu.”  Yup!  I don’t know what that really means, but I know Pu likes spicy, so that’ll work.  Pu and Max are the local owners.  There partner is a former Basis Dad, but that family moved on and are no longer here, so Max and Pu are basically running the place.  They will, for the rest of my life, have the honor of setting the standard for krapao in my memory and on my pallet.  

J and I were JUST sitting down to eat when lil miss got up with whatever invented problem she was having.  We got her settled and gave hugs and then she was heading back off to bed when she just stopped.

Are you having krapao?

Yeah… I am.  How did you know that?

Because, Dada, that’s pork krapao and it looks SPICY!

It is.

Oh… Yuck.  Spicy.

And off to bed she went.

She’s also started requesting a lot more market food at lunch, instead of defaulting to PBJ or waffles.  So, expanding her horizons isn’t a major concern, but it’s a lot more fun getting out and doing things.

As for us; we had a date and will have another tonight.  

We started with Vesper and that was a cool spot.  Good drinks.  Cool atmosphere.  They had a “Guest Bartender/Mixer” that night, so it was a limited menu, so that was a bummer.  I would have liked to see the whole and regular drink menu.  This place is a Top 50 Bar in Asia.  It didn’t get that spot by having guest bartenders, but based on it’s own merit.  I would have liked to see more of that.  Guess we’ll just have to go back. 

Dinner was at Eat Me.  We were excited for that.  It fell flat.  The menu was cool and the food was tasty.  However, the cocktail menu was limited and not inspired at all.  The tables were crowded.  We hardly had space for a small bread plate and oil and vinegar plate with our drinks, but then they brought out the starters and then the table REALLY got crowded.  The staff hovered and we constantly felt like we couldn’t talk since staff was hanging over the table.  Also, it was crowded in the wrong spots.  A table right next to the hallway that lead to the restrooms, but with the staff, that was a choke point.  Maybe it’s not a good idea to have a table where staff would block access to the restrooms.  The stairs as well only had enough space for a person or group to go up or down, not both, but there was staff waiting to greet or goodbye people, so again, we needed to swim thru about a half dozen people to just leave and the place wasn’t even busy that night.  The owner was in house that night.  He stopped by our table twice.  Once when J was at the restrooms and once while I was.  He was HAMMERED!   Leaving, we stopped in an open air seating/waiting/smoking area to order a Grab Car for the next spot.  We were checked on 3 different times by two different people in the span of 5 minutes.

Give your guests and people eating there some space.  Take your smallest table and seat it and serve.  If you have space issues and are crowding the table, you are over plating the table and using dishes too large for the space you created.  The food was good, everything else was unthought or made to look nice without anyone really thinking it through or no one correcting the mistake.

From there, we headed to Ohm’s Living Room.  That was a treat.

Craft beer isn’t here.  It’s a weird issue with the laws.  So, it’s kind of an underground or grassroots kind of thing.  The bar is a craft beer bar.  Ohm, the owner, is also a brewer.  He trades and swaps kegs with other brewers in the area and serves it.  Out of a makeshift bar in the literal living room of his house.  It was AMAZING.  Just an experience.  If and when craft beer is redefined in Thailand and becomes a thing, Ohm will be at the forefront of it.  To say we drank at his place when it was still a living room place is ultra cool. 

So, it’s been a summer of fun and adventuring.  Next stop, China in October.  Shenzhen.  Then, Chaing Mai in February, near Chinese New Year.  Some city, but also a few days outside of that on a coffee and tea plantation.

Let’s go, Kiddo… We have a million adventures yet to have, a million trips yet to take, and a million things to see.  Thanks for being our best adventure kiddo and we love you.

Below are the unorganized pics from everything in the last few weeks, but I know I still owe you all a blog on the Vietnamese shoes that J and I had made.  That’s coming.  Trust me.  Enjoy the pics and vids and hope to see you back soon.