Forget the river trip, have a banana cupcake instead

Maiyuu's banana cupcakes

As the rain belted down this afternoon, Maiyuu occupied himself by baking a batch of banana cupcakes.

Just a couple of hours before, I was thinking of taking a day trip on a ferry down the river. I am pleased I let Maiyuu talk me out of that.

I am not really a go-places type. Neither of us are; we’d rather muck around at home.

At his request, I test-tasted one cupcake, breaking a self-imposed fast which I observe every day from lunch until 6pm.

I have not stopped eating particular types of food – I just don’t eat for six hours a day. Or if I must eat during those hours, I steal a tiny bit – mainly just fruit.

So far it appears to have made no difference at all to my weight, but I don’t care. I feel virtuous, so it’s good for my state of mind, if not for my stomach line.

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Maiyuu spent most of yesterday in town, looking for baking ingredients. He visited Sampeng market, and a supermarket which stocks imported ingredients for baking.

Later, he asked me to look up corn syrup and glucose syrup on the internet, to see how they differ.

Contrary to what I posted here earlier (this is amended text), he is able to find corn syrup and glucose syrup in town, even though they are not common. However, citric acid was a trickier find. Pectin powder, a citrus-based stabilising agent used in jellies and jams, he couldn't find at all.

'Staff at a couple of places told me that Thais don’t use them, so they don’t bother keeping them in stock,’ said Maiyuu.

‘Most Thais don’t know what these things are.’