Guest Post: Carol Ann Taylor

~ beetleypete

I am very pleased to feature British blogger and cookery writer Carol Taylor, who now lives in Thailand. This is her story of how she came to live there.
Carol is a great member of our blogging community, and is always fully engaged with blog posts.

This is her own bio.

My Bio
Born in the Fifties which makes me?.mmm I will let you do the math. I was the eldest of three girls and the tomboy….my sisters loved dolls and pushing other peoples babies up and down the street…I still ask myself why?? I much preferred climbing trees, camping out and spending all my school holidays on my granddad’s farm…My grandmother taught me how to cook on her aga and I suppose that was where my love of cooking started…Singing in the church choir was also a passion of mine as is playing the piano.

I was an avid reader and writer even then, my school teachers must have really cringed as I used to write pages and pages…I sometimes wish I still had my school books but I think they must have just got thrown away at some point …As I grew older my aunt suggested I keep a diary and I still do to this day …Leaving school for college but I never really settled or found anything that I really wanted to do except write and my father did not consider that to be a job. He really just thought girls got married and had babies so I did.

In between bringing up our children my husband passed away and also some close family members and I lost two very dear friends who I still miss terribly, I completed a marathon all 26.2 miles with two of my daughters. Learning beckoned again and back to college I went to do Law…I just love learning and researching and of course, writing. I also met my second husband who humours me …He has always been very supportive of anything I have done and is a great dad to my kids. The children grew up and took their own very successful paths in life and now have families of their own…Life has a habit of just carrying on, doesn’t it?

Retirement then beckoned for my hubby and of course, I was getting pretty disillusioned with the rat race so decided I would take early retirement.
That was when we decided to not only think outside the box but throw it away and now we are enjoying life in the Land Of Smiles.

I am having so much fun researching, finding new, authentic recipes both Thai and International to share with you. New recipes gleaned from those who I have met on my travels or are just passing through and stopped for a while. I hope you enjoy them. I love shopping at the local markets, finding fresh, natural ingredients, new strange fruits and vegetables ones I have never seen or cooked with. I am generally the only European person and attract much attention and I love to try what I am offered and when I smile and say Aroy or Saab as it is here in the north I am met with much smiling.

Some of my recipes may not be in line with traditional ingredients and methods of cooking but are recipes I know and have become to love and maybe if you dare to try you will too. You will always get more than just a recipe from me as I love to research and find out what other properties the ingredients I am using have which may improve our health and well-being.

I am also very much into the environment and am concerned about our Oceans and fisheries and about all the preservatives and processed foods and am an advocate about cooking from scratch and growing our own food where or when we can even a few pots or a window box for herbs is a start.
Exciting for me hence the title of my blog, Retired No One Told Me! I am having a wonderful ride and don’t want to get off, so if you wish to follow me on my adventures, then welcome! I hope you enjoy the ride also and if it encourages you to take a step into the unknown or untried, you know you want to…….Then, I will be happy!

Link to my Blog https://carolcooks2.com

And here is her unedited guest post.

Retired In Sunny Thailand.

How did I end up In sunny Thailand?…all my life I lived mainly in the same house in the same town and did what was expected of me working in a bank and then for local government…I was good at what I did we holidayed in some lovely places for quite a few years it was Spain until sadly my best friend passed away…we then spread our wings a little and travelled to a few far away climes all very nice but not home… We thought about retirement on and off but never made any great plans… Maybe a nice little cottage with roses around the door… My youngest son then announced he was off to Thailand…why Thailand it was all to do with the world cup…Football… He came back full of his trip and announced he would be returning as he had met a young lady… The photos he showed us were of beautiful beaches and golden Buddhas…It looked exotic and very beautiful.

The relationship progressed and visas sorted and out he went again with the aim of returning to England with his lady and to get married the next year…The Thai Embassy had other ideas and advised them it would be much easier to get a visa if they married…Which is exactly what they did …The visa followed… They returned to the UK and settled down it was then that I got my first taste of authentic Thai food and discovered how many Thai girls also lived locally …I was also taught how to cook Thai food and became very good at it…I also loved it!

It was that year we travelled to Thailand with our son and his wife, two of our young grandsons to meet the Thai family…It was love from the minute I landed on Thai soil…

We loved every minute …that holiday was followed by a few more and then Aston arrived…That changed everything as my son and his wife decided they were going to make their home in Thailand so that Aston could both learn the language and all of his heritage… It was then that we decided we would up sticks and also follow them…Hubby had just retired and I took early retirement… I went from being …well I can never say I was the quiet retiring type …haha…but a whole new world opened up and we have moved more times within Thailand than I have ever moved in my whole life and I daresay we will move again at some point.

I joined a writers group quite by chance…I have always been an avid reader and loved to write mainly letters and in my diaries…but blog and write …no…In the words of one of my new friends in the group “Oh my Buddha what have we released”

I started my blog as a way of recording our travels for family and friends and the writing followed on with some short stories in two anthologies…
Initially we lived in Phuket for 5 years and ran a restaurant and bar with my son…we met people from all over the world and made some friends for life…Phuket is beautiful we lived in three different houses around the island but it is a holiday destination. People come and go it is very transient and apart from immediate neighbours you are always treated like a tourist.

This was one of reasons why we decided to relocate to the North of Thailand also it is where our Thai family live…Of course I miss the beaches but we can pop on a plane and be on the beach in just over an hour… Here there are mountains and waterfalls lots of tradition and we are accepted as part of the community. The local tuk tuk drivers know where I live and know where I stop on my way back from the shops to get my fresh coconut juice and SomTam(papaya salad)…I feel safe and at home…

We all share the produce which we grow… it is a real community…They give me mangoes I make the mango jam …They love my bread pudding hot from the oven…They bring me food to try much of which I have never seen or heard of before…I make them Christmas cake we share our different food and culture it is lovely to see and feel the welcome.

I have always cooked from scratch taught by my mother and grandmother and now because of necessity, I also have more time and the fact I object to eating a cocktail of chemicals with every mouthful of food… I have been introduced to food I never dreamed I would eat or had never heard of it is definitely nose to tail eating here nothing is wasted…some even I do not have the stomach for …

I love the fierce tropical storms which blow out very quickly and then the sun shines but everything grows so quickly and is lush and green…Thais forage every day and I am amazed at how much they eat picked from the trees and the jungle…

Every time even after 8 years of living here I invariably find something I haven’t seen before at the local markets and the market traders are happy to let me try…so friendly just adorable people always smiling.

Down on the farm we have chooks and turkeys , grow rice and vegetables we have Durian, banana and other trees…I have learnt how to make charcoal, coconut cream, many of the houses have wooden looms underneath where the art of weaving is passed down through the generations. Family is strong here and many families live together in the same house or the same area…old people are cherished and looked after and willingly the families stay together.

If I had been asked when I was 30 to write about how I thought my life would be when we retired I would have been way off base…I never ever thought I would be lucky enough to live here…I doubt that I would be blogging and writing, I wouldn’t have friends from all the corners of the world and I most certainly wouldn’t have all the lovely recipes I have been taught and gifted with…Living the dream…

I cannot envisage living anywhere else , Thailand is my home…
Thank you, Pete for letting me tell my story of how I found myself here in Thailand.

Please visit Carol’s site to see photos of her new life, and some mouth-watering recipes too.
You will be glad that you connected with such a warm and friendly lady, living life her way in a new land.

139 thoughts on “Guest Post: Carol Ann Taylor”

  1. Pingback: Carol Ann Taylor is beetleypete’s guest | Sue Vincent's Daily Echo
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  8. What a wonderful post! I love reading your posts about cooking and nutrition, Carol, and it’s so lovely to learn more about your life in Thailand. It sounds idyllic.

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  9. What a wonderful guest post. Thank you very much, i leared a lot more about Carol. She has a wonderful blog, with so many useful and important themes. Her recipes are fantastic. I think now yo got wanderlust Pete. 😉 Will you be soon in Thailand too? :-)) Better weather and much more distraction like in Norfolk. Dont forget your past exciting meeting with the bikini girl .There are a lot more of them in Thailand. Lol Best wishes, Michael

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    1. I think my days of travel to exotic lands are behind me now. I did have a week away planned for September, if the virus allows that to go ahead. But it is only to Pembrokeshire, in Wales! 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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    2. Thank you, Michael I am blessed to have your constant suport on my blog… Pete lives in a beautiful part of the world and one I know quite well… Its just much colder and I like to be warm… 🙏Xxx

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  11. Reblogged this on Smorgasbord Blog Magazine and commented:
    Thanks Pete for sharin..Regulars to the blog will know what a wonderful array of foods and dishes Carol Taylor creates and shares from her Thai Kitchen and it has been lovely three years working with her… Carol is a guest of Beetley Pete and shares her life with some wondeful moments and also some very sad times, but through it all it is clear to see that she has an amazing spirit that shines through.. and a sense of adventure. Please head over to Pete and find out more about this lovely person who is so generous to all of us.. #recommended

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  13. Such a wonderful story. I was always curious about how you ended up in Thailand; like you said, it was something you never would have predicted but it has worked out quite well for you and your family. Food seems to be a universal language, and it seems to have enabled you to connect with and be part of the local community. I wish you and your family many more happy years in the Land of Smiles. By the way – I didn’t see any mention of sundowners… 🙂

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    1. A girl has to have some secrets… Haha..Thank you, Jim.. I will be over today to check your latest post out… You always surprise me… which is good because it keeps me coming back… 😏🙏X

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  14. Thank you for a lovely interview Pete and Carol. It was good to learn more about your life journey Carol, and your time in Thailand. I have only visited once with my sister, but it is indeed a beautiful place with lovely people.

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  15. I follow Carol’s blog regularly. While I may not have much to offer on her cooking and recipe posts, she is equally passionate about the environment and taking care of the planet. I also look forward to her Whimsical Wednesdays because she never fails to entertain there. I also appreciate her sense of humor and spicy but fun personality.

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  16. I love Carol’s blog (and she’s a big supporter of mine) and her recipes and her passion for cooking and food and the environment. I’ve always wanted to know the story behind her move to Thailand – well done for getting her on here to share it with us, Pete.

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  22. This is a great post, Pete. Super to find Carol here and learn so much more about her. I didn’t know she had been married before or who her son met his Thai wife. One of my cousins is also married to a Thai lady but they live in England.

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  23. So this is how Carol came to Thailand. I have read and enjoyed Carol’s blog posts and recipes but didn’t know the background till this time. Loved it and it is great writing.
    Susie

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    1. Ahhhhh… Jeanne.. I don’t see myself as adventurous I just do and follow my heart I suppose.. Thank you dropping by and joining the conversation I am meeting so many lovely people here whose blogs I will be visiting.. 😊

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  26. Thank you, Pete it is very kind of you to feature me here on your blog…I love reading about you and Ollie…I do get homesick sometimes and I love the part of the country where you live we have spent some happy times in your neck of the woods…Be well and stay safe 🙂 x

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  27. I am familiar with Carol’s wonderful recipes from Sally Cronin’s blog, where they are a regular feature, but didn’t know the details of her experience. Fascinating and it’s wonderful to live in a place that can keep surprising us every single day. Thanks for sharing, Pete. What joy!

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    2. Thank you, Olga…I am very lucky to live here but I also think I really see the world I live in now if that makes sense…I enjoy the simplest of things and its often those which give you the most joy. 🙂 Be well and stay safe 🙂

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  28. I follow Carol’s blog, but I think this is the first time I read the whole story of how they came to live in Thailand and in a part where real life is going on. I love the sound of her recipes.

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        1. I love Bangers for just a few days so vibrant and bustling.. Koh Samui was the very first place we visited here and finally next year we are going back for my 70th birthday.. Partee time.. X

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