A Week in My Life: Friday

Friday

My "weekend" continues today, although I will teach one class in the evening. Normally I keep my Thursdays and Fridays free (everyone needs some time off, after all!), but I've agreed to teach one student on Monday and Friday this week and next in preparation for her upcoming final exams.

I walked to my local 7-Eleven (there's one on every corner in Bangkok), but today instead of getting a can of my Nescafe Black Ice coffee which I usually like, I decided to start my day by ordering a drink from All Cafe.

All Cafe at my local 7-Eleven

All Cafe is 7-Eleven's coffee chain here in Thailand. A few months ago they did some construction work at the local shop to add the cafe in behind the counter. I don't order from All Cafe too often, but when I have a little extra time I like to get a real coffee drink rather than a canned one. This morning I felt like a mocha. It was good, but a little too sweet for me.

I think I'll cook for dinner today. I got a slow cooker about a year ago, and I love it so much. It makes my life so easy! I can throw all of the ingredients together in the morning, set it on low, and have a delicious hot meal ready for me at dinnertime. My favorite dishes to make in my slow cooker are chicken stew, Japanese curry, and various pot roasts.

I decided to take a walk (about one mile) to the nearby MRT (subway) station. They recently opened a branch of the Gourmet Market supermarket inside the station. It's small and a bit more expensive than other supermarkets, but I always like Gourmet for their excellent produce and good selection of imported foods.

MRT subway station - the supermarket is located underground inside the station 

Today I think I'll make a pot roast. 

In Thailand, the street food is so cheap (and so tasty) that it's actually more expensive to cook for yourself. Still, I enjoy cooking, and I try to cook several times each week.

I was really excited when a Gourmet Market supermarket opened inside my local subway station! 

I picked up some Boston butt, a sachet of roasted tomato and garlic pork rub, purple onions, potatoes, celery, and garlic. Unfortunately I forgot to get carrots! I cooked all of the ingredients on low along with a little bit of red wine vinegar and soy sauce which will form the base of a gravy after the roast is finished.

Gourmet Market - one of Thailand's great supermarket chains

I've got a mission today! A Japanese friend of ours wants a figure of the Hindu god Ganesha (the elephant-headed god of learning, wealth, and success), so after she got of of work, my girlfriend and I headed out to JJ Mall at Chatuchak Park to hunt down the sacred MacGuffin.

Before shopping for the Ganesha, we needed to have some lunch. We stopped at the food court inside JJ Mall, where I ordered one of my very favorite Thai dishes. It's called hoy tot, a dish made of eggs and oysters fried together and topped with bean sprouts and sweet chili sauce. So good!

lunch!

Then it was time to search for the statue. We had definitely come to the right place! JJ Mall is the indoor (air-conditioned!) extension of the adjacent Chatuchak Market. It's full of cheap stuff that tourists love, including silk scarves and Thai religious objects.

A shop selling religious figures, incense, beads, prayer cards, and more.

It wasn't hard to find shops selling what we were looking for. The only hard part was trying to decide what sort of Ganesha figure our friend wanted. Eventually we settled on one that looked simple and elegant, carved from a rich, dark wood. It was a beautiful statue, and not too expensive, either!

In the late afternoon I headed out once again to Amarin Plaza. I've been there nearly every day this week. Usually I teach online, but the in-person tutoring offers I've had this week have been too good to pass up!

Back downtown! Here's the view out the window as I was teaching today.

Dinner was excellent! I was very proud of my pot roast.