• LIFE

  Exploring the world garden

  B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 05/06/2016

  » During my visit to the Philippines two months ago, a good friend of mine gave me a bag of pistachio nuts which her sister, Pin, had sent her from the US. Pin and her family live in Delano, California, and she regularly sends food packages that includes pistachio nuts, almonds, dates and raisins to her sister in the Philippines.

• LIFE

  Passing the smell test

  B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 17/04/2016

  » Ten years ago, Kriepob Limkangwalmongkol wrote to say that Phuket, where he lived, had many Chinese Taoist temples and they burned quite a lot of mai juang, or theptaro wood, to cleanse the atmosphere during their numerous ceremonies, especially during the annual vegetarian festival.

• LIFE

  Turn over a fresh leaf

  B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 08/05/2016

  » If you have tasted the Thai traditional snack mieng kham, then you know how Piper sarmentosum, or cha phlu in Thai, is eaten. Mieng kham is a concoction of one or two pieces of diced ginger, shallots and lime, a slice or two of chilli, one or two pieces of dried shrimp and roasted peanut, and a pinch of toasted shredded coconut. All of that is topped with a sauce made from palm sugar, fish sauce, galangal, lemongrass and ginger, and wrapped together with a cha phlu leaf. Eaten in one bite, the different flavours blend perfectly, like different musical instruments played harmoniously together to create a beautiful melody.

• LIFE

  I heard it through the grapevine

  B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 13/12/2015

  » When I was in grade school, my father tried to germinate seeds of grapes imported from California at our home in the rice growing region of Central Luzon in the Philippines. He did not expect the seeds to germinate, as he knew the fruit was grown in a climate so different from ours.

• LIFE

  Space invaders

  B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 02/08/2015

  » What’s in a name? It may not sound funny to you, but I find it amusing how American lawmakers could waste so much time and energy, not to mention taxpayers’ money, deliberating over what to call a fish. Last year, Senator Bill Hoffman of Minnesota was concerned that the name “Asian carp” was “hurtful” and “offensive” to some people so he sought to change the name to “invasive carp”. And guess what, the Minnesota Senate approved the bill.

• LIFE

  The mother of all blooms

  B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 09/08/2015

  » I used to give my mum a white rose on Mother’s Day, which is celebrated on the second Sunday of May in the Philippines, where I grew up. Now that I am a mother and grandmother, I get jasmine instead.

• LIFE

  Standing in the shadows of giants

  B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 30/08/2015

  » Small is beautiful, but giants are far more awe-inspiring. That I found out during a trip to northern Thailand recently.

• LIFE

  Hot in the city

  B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 19/04/2015

  » From his home in Soi On Nut, David Swartzentruber wrote to say that he had been trying to grow Spartan junipers in a planting box outside his building. “I must have gone through 15 now deceased junipers. Spartan, they were not,” he wrote.

• LIFE

  Bringing orchids out of the woods

  B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 01/02/2015

  » The road behind Government House is usually closed to the general public, with no less than three guards keeping a close watch on who passes through its entrance. Two weeks ago the thoroughfare was thrown open to people from all walks of life and transformed into a marketplace for orchids, with the prime minister himself presiding over the opening ceremony on Jan 19.

• LIFE

  Living art in miniature

  B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 01/06/2014

  » During a trip to Japan years ago, I visited a village in Omiya, in Saitama prefecture outside Tokyo, where more than a dozen families grew and sold bonsai. “We get visitors from all over the world all the time,” Saburo Katoh, owner of Mansei-en nursery and founder of the Omiya bonsai village, told me at the time. “But the bonsai season is in October and November, when seasoned bonsai enthusiasts come to buy plants.

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