Food

As I sit Indian style on my bed, I’m enjoying the breeze as it gently blows through my windows and wafts across my bare shoulders. I have both my windows open on either side of my bed as well as my slider and have just realized that none of them have screens. How could I have missed that? There are no mosquitoes trying to get in and only the occasional fly that I swat with my hand as I continue typing. The air feels good.

Each day is getting progressively cooler as we enter the monsoon season. Although I still sweat profusely when I leave the house, I don’t have the overwhelming sense to peel my clothes off or enter a 7 Eleven just for the air conditioning. I do however, always feel thirsty and hungry and find myself drinking copious amounts of water and eating several small meals per day. It’s not for lack of trying because I love to snack. In fact, many of my family members and I could win competitions. It is that I just don’t like the snacks here in Asia.

The potato chips are oddly sweet with a hint of salt or sour cream and the pretzels are also sweet and the candy is sugary and you guessed it, sweet. The candy bars are the same however, but I don’t have a craving for chocolate today. I did however stock up on small Lindt bars and placed them in my freezer for that special time of month.

Instead, I have been gorging myself on fresh fruit. I picked up freshly sliced pineapple, durian, dragon fruit, Asian pears, grapes and a fruit I don’t know the name of in English. When I want something of substance I have a bowl of Special K with chocolate milk. I’d buy plain ordinary milk but I have not yet found a brand that I like. The process is different so many of the milks taste a little too fresh for me. That’s going to take some time. Aside from milk however, that’s about the only dairy I get. I don’t care for their sugary yogurt, and cheese, butter or sour cream. Surprisingly, cutting out most of my dairy hasn't been that difficult.

I am also hoping that my stomach adjusts to the smaller meals. I was never one for overeating but I am also not used to eating a continuous stream of spicy meals. In fact, I often just point and then try to pronounce it in Thai. When I eat the meals, the spice is often so strong that my nose begins to run, my tongue and lips start to tingle and I break out into a sweat. It was like cleaning out my sinuses with every bite until I finally had to stop because I couldn’t handle it anymore.

As for the desserts, pies and cakes, they are too fluffy, light and strangely tasteless for me, which is funny as so many other things are sweet. Cream as we know it in America is not cream in Asia unless purchased in an international store or restaurant. It’s cream-like but very often tastes like a person just bit into a stick of butter. Custard and pudding have the consistency of Jello and are also quite sweet. The only safe dessert I care for is ice cream. I adore green tea, vanilla and each of the unique flavors like jasmine and cherry blossom.

Funnily enough, I know this is only going to aid me in losing more weight, which I can afford. Thankfully I’m no longer obese, but dropping fifty pounds wouldn't kill me. In fact, it would put me at a solid and healthy weight for the first time in my life.

Having always struggled with my weight and not having been able to squeeze into anything less than a size 20 in more than ten years, this would be a dream come true; a dream I’ve worked hard to achieve. And yet, ironically, I’d still be considered too big to fit into clothes here in Thailand. 

Ah, but there are expert tailors who will happily design the latest fashions for an affordable price so all is not lost.

Details to come as the weight melts off (as it has already begun).