Just another day in paradise . . .

Home two weeks now, we are just about back into the swing of our regular routine. We recently purchased a big outdoor gas grill with some our wedding funds and have had no end of fun with it. It is no exaggeration to say that Ian loves it significantly more than me.

Last night we made a Thai curry made with fresh grated coconut wrapped in banana leaf and then cooked on the grill. It tasted awesome and was a great deal of fun.

Now coconuts are not exactly difficult to come by in this part of the world, but getting into the tough little buggers and using them is another story entirely. A few weeks back I noticed that the Indian corner shop near our condo had a little machine outside and that it was littered with coconut husks and shells.

The guy didn't speak much English but he did recognize the word 'coconut' so he dutifully went out back and returned with two massive coconuts and pointed at the machine. I nodded.

He pulled a massive machete from nowhere and walked over to the sewer drain, he tossed the coconut lightly in his hand gave it a swift whack, tossed it again, gave it another swift whack and the coconut split dead even in two, he drained all the water from it and switched on his little machine.

This machine is almost like giant coffee grinder, only not with blades so much as a massive whirling steel bit in the centre and with the whirling steel bit facing out rather than upwards. So he just holds one half of the coconut right up against this very fast-moving, indeed dangerous little contraption. He expertly rotated the coconut so as to get as much flesh as possible and not any of the shell.

It was all over and done in about five minutes, and this guy was a deft hand to be sure, but there were several moments where the whole operation could have gone very, very wrong. This would not have flown in the UK.

Otherwise all is well, despite a tremendous thunderstorm last night, the rapture has at least bypassed this part of the world. We seem to have solved our cockroach woes, we haven't seen a single one since Ian sealed the drains and we gave everything a good spray.

I'm having a hell of a time navigating the cultural quagmire at work. My old boss, now consigliere, made me read a twenty page article on the concept of 'face' and the 'saving' or 'losing' of it from the American Journal of Sociology the other day. I have a lot to learn about work culture in Asia. Sigh.