Meth: a Ticking Timebomb Gone Viral

Loving Me to Death

Nada is happiest when she's in the kitchen. Nothing floats her boat more than getting on her scooter and heading to the fresh food markets with recipes for the night's meal in mind. I often go with her, but today, I decided to stay home after the trip to Chon Buri had worn me out.

The good thing about Nada's preoccupation with preparing food is that nothing floats my boat more than watching her ride away on her motorbike when she is heading to the markets. I know that upon her return, she will have several dishes to cook for us over the coming days.

Tonight when she arrived home, she had vegetables and shrimp to make Tom Yum Goong soup. She also had a kilo of squid for tomorrow night's meal, which will use some leftover shrimp combined with squid for a seafood hotpot. And for dessert tonight, we are having coconut sticky rice.

When I arrived in Thailand only seven months ago, I weighed 92kg. My ideal weight should be no more than 80kg, but if I went to a doctor who uses the BMI, I'd be told to lose around a third of my body weight to be in a healthy weight range. I've been steadily putting on weight since my arrival (and having Nada around hasn't helped), and the last time I weighed myself, I was 99kg...or just below 220lbs.

Nada loves me very much (and I her). Going back two posts ago, I spoke of her fear that if I leave the house and don't present well, it will reflect badly on her. Now, I have discovered a new fear she has...if I appear too thin, people (Thai women) will see me and think Nada doesn't take good care of me.

I cannot hold my girlfriend completely accountable for my being overweight. Yes, she does try and feed me continuously, but it should be up to me to say enough. The problem is that Nada has spent a lifetime cooking delicious food for the people she loves (and has worked in restaurants as well), and when the aroma of her cooking hits my nose, my mouth begins to salivate and I'm simply not able to control myself and eat small portions. My excuse is that I don't want to disappoint my beautiful girlfriend, especially after she has spent so much time preparing food for me. I guess I'm just going to have to accept that my girlfriend is loving me to death.