Rush and Me

Yeah, another stolen pic. This is the cover of Grace under Pressure, copyright no doubt owned by either Rush or their record label.

This is so embarrassing. 

Until today, I had 10 Rush songs in my iTunes library. It’s not that I don’t like Rush. Quite the contrary, as evidenced by my 19 Rush CDs. But about 7 years ago Jim ripped our CD library to mp3, choosing the songs he liked. He liked every song on every Black Sabbath CD, but only 10 Rush songs. 

In his defense, let me explain that Jim was not familiar with Rush, and chose songs by listening to the first 15 seconds or so of them. He missed a lot of good tunes that he would have otherwise selected, I’m sure. He’s attended a concert, and even learned to recognize Rush when he hears them on the radio since then. He’s a convert.

So after years of procrastination I finally began to rip our CD library the way I prefer, which is full albums. I started with Rush. There is a great satisfaction in having almost all the Rush tunes finally available to me. I made a Rush playlist, and am enjoying hearing songs I’ve not heard in, literally, years.

If I just had Snakes and Arrows and Feedback…

 

Changes

 

I’ve been in Thailand for 18 months now. A lot has changed, particularly things that affect me in my daily life. It’s almost entirely changes for the better.

On December 5th, His Majesty the King’s birthday, a Starbucks opened at The Mall here. While Starbucks is not the best coffee in the USA, it quite definitely is the best coffee here. It’s expensive, too; I paid over $3 for a grande Mocha Frappuccino. (That’s a medium for those who are not savvy to the wholly inscrutable naming of Starbucks beverage sizes) It will never replace the Thai vendor where I am able to get my iced coffee with no sugar for $1. Starbucks will remain an occasional treat, while the Thai vendor will remain a standard part of a trip to The Mall.

After a year of avoiding the Pizza Company, Jim and I tried it again the same day the Starbucks opened. Jim thought he discerned a difference in the picture of the double pepperoni pizza since our last visit. So we ordered an onion and pepperoni pizza. Were we ever in for a surprise! It had three things the pepperoni pizza there had previously lacked: real pepperoni, real pizza sauce, and real mozzarella cheese. We are trying to limit ourselves to one per week so we don’t get burned out on it. It’s not just “good for Thailand,” it’s just plain good.

This is the thin crust. The pan pizza is really good, too. Why is there no good medium crust, my preferred style? All the medium crust pizzas have weird stuffed edges. Photo stolen from the Pizza Company website.

Taking trips to Bangkok, something I really dislike doing, is becoming ever less necessary. I can buy Kraft barbeque sauce locally, with which I make my own special (and fast) BBQ ribs. Heinz cocktail sauce is available locally, too, so that Jim can fully enjoy his scampi fritti (battered fried shrimp). He brings it with him to the local restaurant/bar with the best shrimp. I found a chili seasoning mix that is an effective replacement for the chili beans I use to make chili. Once Jim even found Doritos at Freshmart, so there is hope they will return. Not that there isn’t a huge variety of chip-like snack food here without having Doritos!

I can’t get Bisquick locally, but if I get a food processor I may try making it. I have a recipe, but I don’t see myself being able to blend the shortening into the flour without a food processor. Plus I then need to keep it refrigerated so it won’t get rancid. Maybe in my new freezer? (Merry Christmas, Cathy, a stove and a freezer from your sweetie!)