Love it or hate it, there is no grey area when you're talking about durians, an exotic Southeast Asian fruit with an outstanding spiky rind and pungent fragrance.
IN THE LIMELIGHT
The luxury 24-hour concierge service from the UK, Quintessentially (Q), pulled out all the stops for its elegant and flamboyant party to celebrate its first anniversary at The Oriental's Royal Ballroom. Flying in to take part in the event was Q co-founder Ben Elliot. Guests were thrilled by an exclusive appearance by British pop vocalist Martina Topley Bird in a mini-concert that drew attention to her latest album, The Blue God.
GREEN FINGERS
Don Rigby sent me an email saying that he has a plant called "wassana", which is now very tall. "I need to chop the top off. Please could you tell me how much I can chop off and if it is possible to re-grow the chopped off portion," he writes.
PHOTO BREAK
After a week's lapse in our "Photo Break" column, we suffered from a few gremlins in the system, resulting in the wrong photograph being used last week. I apologise for the mix-up, and this week we will attempt to put things right.
THE PET FILES
Her Royal Highness Princess Siribha Chudhabhorn presided over the opening ceremony of an art exhibition entitled "My Friends" on June 11 at CentralWorld and also gave two paintings and a stained-glass piece for a charity auction, work that will be displayed along with 56 other artistic works.
PET PROJECTS
Kannika Jansuwan's life has revolved around dogs for some time, including temple dogs and abandoned dogs. While some choose to ignore these dogs, Kannika does the opposite. She sees them, feels them and even paints them. But she didn't paint them alone, she also invited 23 friends and nine professional artists to share their feelings for these poor dogs.
PET PROJECTS
Ping Ping is a two-month-old kitten who was rescued from a sewer pipe. She is healthy and lively.
PAGE TURNERS
Some 30,000 to 40,000 years ago, prehistoric man discovered that by manipulating plant stems, he was able to make long, sturdy string, and those cords were used to create aprons and hats - the earliest recognisable forms of fibre-based clothing. Since then, people all over the world have been using plant fibres and animal materials - from bark, cotton and silk to wool, fur and feathers - to create beautiful garments and accessories.
GADGET GUY
Gadget Guy recently spent some time with a couple of new phones as well as a Bluetooth headset for hands-free driving. It was a timely reminder that drivers in Bangkok have been asked to turn off their phones while driving - or at least use a hands-free kit. Driving along with the steering wheel in one hand and your mobile phone in the other is now a big no-no. The police have even been handing out fines for it. But more on that in a bit.
THE PLEASURE OF EATING
It's impolite for a food column called "Pleasure of Eating" to dwell too much on food scandals that cause death and misery, but to be able to eat with pleasure, one should be aware of the quality of the food, and that means knowing something about where it comes from and how it has been treated on the way to our kitchens. In my own small way I am fighting public indifference and point out, whenever appropriate, the food frauds committed with full legality and with great potential to insidiously undermine our health. Books like Swindled: From Poison Sweets to Counterfeit Coffees - The Dark History Of Food Cheats, by Bee Wilson, will get my money every time. She digs deep into the history of additives, substitutes and manipulations of food from 1800 to the present.
POSTSCRIPT
Every now and again in Thailand you get a story that prompts raised eyebrows, usually followed by a deep sigh as it tends to confirm your worst fears. Falling into this category is the case of the pastry lunchbox apparently destined for a judge presiding over an important case. Nothing extraordinary in that of course, except it happened to have two million baht stuffed into it, plus possibly a couple of stale pastries. There was the predictable initial confusion about who had actually delivered the box, which wasn't helped by sudden attack of amnesia by assorted eyewitnesses. For a while it looked as though it could even have been the work of the Invisible Man. Assorted red herrings were floated including a suggestion the whole thing was simply a "joke", although it seemed a rather expensive way to raise a laugh.
