Friday, February 1, 2013
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Posole Soup recipe
Posole Soup Easy
1 - 12 oz package Jimmy Dean Sausage (you can use Turkey or low fat pork)
1/2 cup chopped green Pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
2 - 14 oz cans chicken broth
1 - 15 oz can black beans
1 - 14 oz can hominy rinsed and drained
1 - 14 oz can Mexican - style stewed tomatoes, or chopped tomatoes
1 cup frozen loose pack diced hash browns1 tsp dried oregano, crushed
1/2 tsp chili powder salt and pepper to taste
Brown the sausage, add the onion, green pepper and garlic, cook till tender. Drain off fat. Add the rest of the ingredients. Simple and great.
Just double or triple for a crowd. If you want more of a chili texture, throw hominy in the food processor
Serve with salad and bread
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Thailand Trip 2010
Our Thailand Trip - 2010 17 days March 1 - 19
Bangkok – 4 days - Hot, no too humid, 92 degrees – no rain - Met up with friends Danny and Joanie
Grand Palace / shopping / eating J / Vision & eye test at Bumrungrad Hospital $60/ massages/ Teeth cleaned $18/ Precious stone jewelry store world’s largest, watching them cut stones and make the jewelry/ Nice Airport / Ken Golfed. Did not have time for the floating or weekend market. Stayed at Grand President Hotel, Sukumvit 11
Saturday night market / Massive and cheap Sunday night market / Fish spa/ Tiger Park, Hold baby tigers / Local Wood hand crafter’s Market / Facials / $3 to $6 Massages / Temples / Tuk Tuk Rides - Not enough time to do everything (River rafting, visit Hill tribes, Villages, Elephant parks, Golden Triangle, Chiang Rai, Waterfalls, full day spas, Thai cooking classes) - Stayed at Anoma Hotel inside the walls of the old city :).
Visit Elephant park / Beach / shopping / massage / pool / Ken golf / sunsets / painting done of my sunset picture /dinner with new friends from Tripadvisor and friends Kathy and Craig from Chicago - Cousin Resort Cabanas - Liked our driver, used “Cheaper than Hotel” service with “Boss” :)
Kuraburi area – Jungle lodge – 1 day – Hot humid
Pool/ Jungle Stop over to get to Surin Island the next day and after- Kuraburi Greenwood Resort
Stopped by Khao Sok and Chieow Laan Lake on the way to the airport on Surat Thani.
Surin Island – 2 days – Hot humid - Speed boat to Island - Beautiful Island
Snorkeling / Beach / Long boat rides / Saw a Flying Fox Bat
Loved the people, the culture, and super low prices especially in Chiang Mai. Loved the great cheap massages, shopping the night markets, the jewelry, holding baby tigers, colors of the coral in Surin, Bumrungrad hospital (wow), Mango Sticky Rice fresh mangos, strawberries, watermelons and vegetables. Felt safe walking around. Also liked the food but after 18 days I was ready for a taco.
Did not like the hot humid weather, smog, touristy places, crazy drivers and traffic.
Bangkok - Worth a few days to see the Grand Palace and the Huge Jewelry store. Bumrungrad Hospital was like a 5 star hotel. Should go to the floating market or the massive weekend market.
Chiang Mai - What can I say. Really liked it. The Thai experience. Lot's to to and see! Prices are unbelievable. Don't miss the Sat. and Sun. night markets & Spa's. Heard the other night market is Touristy. Hold baby tigers at the Tiger Kingdom. Stay inside the walls of the old City. People are very very friendly. Make this the last stop on your trip to load up with goodies. Loved our hotel Anoma, perfect location and price.
Khao Lak, Bang Niang Beach area just too something (touristy?) and the beaches were good but not great, just didn’t feel it here. The Beach was one huge long beach, looking out at nothing. When I'm on a beach I like to be able to have access to snorkeling and look out at something. The color of the water was nice and it had a pretty green tint in but the water clarity was not as I expected. Seems like I could have been at a beach in California for that matter, didn’t feel the Thai connection here. Maybe I would have liked the Krabi area better? Maybe better cove type beaches with clearer water elsewhere South? Not really inviting for swimming. Seems I am spoiled when it comes to beaches, the Virgin Island beaches, Caribbean beaches & Hawaii have better beaches than what I saw here.
Not as easy to get around Khao Lak, had to walk to a taxi stand. Cousin resort did have a bike I rode around. Prices at least 30% higher than in Chiang Mai. If you like just laying on a beach I would say go but if just laying around getting sun is not your thing don't. Never saw another American here besides our friends, mostly Germans. If you scuba of course you need to go. Chaing Mai had more options to do other things. After shopping in Chiang Mai I would not even waste my time here shopping.
As far as Chieow Laan Lake, I guess I’m spoiled living near Lake Tahoe and Gold Lakes Basin and have also been to New Zealand. It was nice, but not worth the effort to get there. The air was not clear. So I guess it’s all about what you are comparing things with and what your expectations are.
Surin- Snorkeling in Surin was just ok, the Coral was great but disappointed in water clarity and amount of fish (Virgin islands and Hawaii had more fish). Maybe It was the wrong day or I didn't go to the best place to snorkel? The island itself was beautiful with nice beaches, but not one was laying out or swimming (mostly Thai's here on vacation). When the tide went out it went way out, it's like "is this normal?" (had a moment here lol). 300 tents around taking away from the beauty of the island, too Touristy. Electricity does not come on until 6:00pm so if your hot and tired you can only find a shade tree on the ground somewhere. There were some hard benches around. Bungalows are very simple and hot until you can turn on the fans & air. Glad we did not have the "set" meals, they looked bad. Ordered from the menu. Lot's of tours coming here. We met some people that said they liked Similan islands snorkeling better. Maybe a day trip to Similan would have been better & easier??
Some prices - Hotels $27 to $60 a night with breakfast. Best one was $33 night in Chiang Mai, Anoma. Dinner for 5 one night $12.50 (Chicken, Pad Thai, vegetable Stir Fry, Mango Sticky rice, Beer) $1.50 Tuk Tuk rides anywhere in Chiang Mai. Sandals :) $3, skirts, dresses, purses all under $7. Wood carvings $5 up.
I would go back to Thailand, not do the beach area but to do more in Chiang Mai, go to Chiang Rai and the Golden Triangle. I would also get some dental or medical things done if I needed it at the Bumrungrad Hospital in Bangkok. I would not go back to the South Phukett Area, just because I would save my beach time for other places that are better and less Touristy. To be fair I did not explore all of the Khao Lak beach areas so all of my thoughts are just my opinion based on my travels. Hated the hard beds and hard chairs everywhere in Thailand! They love their eggs.
Bad Jet lag (15 hours difference).