Gong Jun And His Cute Habit Of

Gong Jun and his cute habit of 🤷🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️

(Found in nightskyshizun's Twitter)

Thai Food You Should Eat Because of BL

Firstly most of these dishes have multiple spellings in English (and also often many different names within Thailand). I just picked one spelling, that will be enough to do a search, if you want to find a recipe for yourself. 

Som Tum in What’s Zabb Man

AKA Green Papaya Salad 

I think this is the one most people will know on this list. Unlike overseas, in Thailand there are many varieties of som tum (I’ve had an ocean-side version served with little blue crabs, raw and in the shell, AMAZING). It’s often a street food, and it’s usually quite spicy. You order by either asking the vendor (it’s traditionally served from market stalls just as we saw at the beginning of this show) for a heat level or number of chilis. The ingredients are then pounded together with a massive mortar & pestle. The order and amounts of the different ingredients are chef-specific, so the variety and uniqueness is immense with this dish. There are fans of it who make a point of trying as many different versions in each city they visit. Like being a wine taster.

Som Tum highlights what I think is best about Thai food - it’s bright forward freshness and deep complexity of flavors. Som Tum is the firework-in-your-mouth of salads: sour, sweet, salty, spicy, umami, herbaceous. It’s a spectacular dish (which has been ill served by it’s ubiquitousness outside of Thailand). It should be made fresh, (this is NOT a slaw), because if it sits at all the elements become soggy and the flavor muddled. 

What’s Zabb Man emphasized the important aspects of this dish. Its spiciness and its freshness, the uniqueness of its flavor, not to mention how each chef makes it his own. 

After all when Poon goes missing, Athip finds him again because, after one taste of his Som Tum, he knows who is in the kitchen. 

Kao Soi in Bite Me

AKA Northern Thai Curry Noodle AKA Chiang Mai Curry Noodles 

Did I do this post because I want to talk about this dish? Probubly. Here in the states it’s a rare to find on offer but it’s one of my absolute favorites. 

I’m obsessed with diaspora foods in general - AKA fusion foods that highlight immigrant, colonial occupation, and/or blended communities. Lamb Vindaloo and Banh Mi are some famous examples of this. There was one banh mi place I found in Nor Cal run by a Chinese/Vietnamese couple that made a char siu pork + pâté banh mi, it was WILD and wicked good! Sorry, I digress.  

This is a Northern Thai dish, common in Chang Mai, influenced by both Burmese (Myanmar) cuisine and local Chinese communities. It’s wildly variable by family and by region. This is also possibly one of my favorite foods. It’s notable in that it is one of the few traditional Thai dishes you will find served with chopsticks. (When I order it here in the states that’s one of the things I look for.) 

It is a noodle soup/stew. Can be rice, egg, or flour noodles, usually ramen style (but sometimes fettuccine), topped with a thick coconut forward curry broth, stewed dark meat chicken (usually on the bone) and raw onion. It has fried crispy flour noodles on top and is served with pickled vegetables, extra spices, fresh herbs, lime wedges, and raw shallots (or some combination thereof) - either on the top or on the side (banchan style). The curry element usually has more in common with Chinese or Japanese yellow curry powers (like those used for Singapore noodles) than red or green Thai curries. It combines what we would think of as traditional Thai flavor profiles with Chinese, and can also uses some Indian spices. It is a very layered dish, with more depth and earthiness and slightly less brightness than a lot of other Thai food. It tends to have a rounded heat to it (hitting all of the mouth, like Indian cuisine). I am a particular fan of the pickled greens element. 

Bite Me is not a great BL but Aek sharing his Chiang Mai roots with Chef Aue, most specifically around this dish, is key to the plot (what little there is). But this is not a dish that is served in Chef Aue’s restaurant. 

Khai Palo in Enchanté 

AKA 5 Spice Pork & Egg Stew

This is the dish Theo remembers from his childhood that Akk’s family cooks for him. It’s a fascinating dish because it’s retains a very strong Chinese influence and is noted for using soy sauce as its salt element (rather than the more ubiquitous fish sauce) and for NOT being spicy, also it involves 5 spice.

It’s also often associated with children or childishness and comfort food. It’s most commonly found as a street food or homemade, and is relatively rare in restaurants outside of Thailand. It has a similar flavor profile to Moo Gratiem which is one of my favorite dishes. (It’s that white peppercorn and garlic thing = NOM.) It’s also very easy to make, I recommend it. There is a Mama ramen noodle version you can sometimes find and buy, but I always need to add more five spice. 

In Enchanté this dish is a plot point and is interesting because it highlights both the time when Theo was last in Thailand (as a child), Akk’s interest in courting and caring for him, and Theo’s somewhat childish nature/behavior.  

Gaeng Tai Pla in Close Friend 2

AKA pickled fish sour soup 

A famous dish developed in the fishing communities of Southern Thailand. Traditionally it involves pickled fish bladder (Tai Pla) + large chunks of dried fish meat, Thai eggplant, bamboo shoots, and/or seasonal greens, with a spice profile similar to tom (lemongrass, lime, shrimp paste, red chili). 

I’ve never been lucky enough to eat this, but it’s on my hit list. I think I could make something like it, but I can’t get hold of the the Tai Pla for love nor money.

Luk Choup in La Cuisine (& Until We Meet Again) 

AKA no other name, really, but this is also the main characters name in La Cuisine, ลูกชุบ (translation, coated pieces) but the meaning of this dessert is “loved by all, or adored.” This aspect of the name is a plot point in the series. Choup’s older brother, aunt, and grandmother all refer to him as the family’s beloved one, or special one, or most loved. 

Luk Choup are tiny imitation fruits/vegetables (or occasionally star shapes) these are made of mung beans cooked with coconut milk and sugar. Once formed, they are dipped in gelatin and painted with food coloring to resemble other food. Recipe here.

This one appeared multiple times in Until We Meet Again, on the bus, at the fair, and at the very end during Dean and Pharm’s separation.

I’ve eaten these.

Consistency wise the exterior is like a gummy but much tougher, and with a bite to it. So like if you made jello into sheets but with too much gelatin. I’ve actually never had anything else to compare to this texture, perhaps like some of the bits in bubble teas? The interior is like very thick humus meets the inside of a peanut butter cup. 

As for taste, the gel outside has no flavor and the inside tastes a lot like red bean paste. They are not very sweet.

Chor Muang in Until We Meet Again 

AKA Blue Flower Dumpling

Chor Muang is a purple or blue flower-shaped dumpling that is savory, stuffed with a spiced minced chicken. These days it is a popular appetizer but it was once served as a dessert. The coloring is done with butterfly pea flour. Recipe here. 

Chor Muang is a major catalyst food for the plot of Until We Meet Again. It is featured in a play starring Del and Manaow and is the reason Pharm meets and befriends Del. This allows him to start helping fix Dean’s strained family dynamic.

Later he feeds this dumpling to Team, Win, and Dean in front of witnesses. This is the first time he feeds Dean (it will not be the last.)

I did a post all about the sweets in this show. 

Nom Yen in SOTUS (also 2 Moons, 2 Moons 2) 

AKA Pink Milk 

Pink milk is pretty ubiquitous in most Thai BL series. Technically, its origin for association with BL is the original y-novel of 2 Moons. However, most international watchers are familiar with it from SOTUS (more recently it has shown up associated with side characters in Nitman and Love Area). 

After watching SOTUS and both 2 Moons installments I got curious. Here’s the full post I did on pink milk, how it’s made and my experience attempting to recreate it. I can see why it might be thought of as a childish drink, it reminded me a bit of birthday cake flavoring, ice cream bean, or cotton candy. It’s very sweet and not a whole lot else. 

THAI LANGUAGE CORNER 

I haven’t learned the minutia yet but around ordering food in Thai but the Thai bestie always complains the monikers (also verbs?) for dishes have to do with what the dish is usually served inside. So some dishes have names/consumption verbs that have to do with bowls and others with plates. 

Much as in English we would use the verb “drink” for broth but “eat” for soup. (And also argue about which one is appropriate under which circumstances.) 

To train your ear for BL food:

gin = to eat or to have a meal (also under certain circumstances/sentence structures is slang for to sexually consume or fuck). See Pharm misuse this one in UWMA when Dean first visits his condo. 

khao or kao = food but also actually rice, also a name and also third person he pronoun

talay = the ocean and also mixed seafood and a name 

pad = usually means a stir fried (dryer) dish 

pak = veggies! 

kai (sounds like gai) = chicken ไก่ but also egg ไข่ (yes they are different in intonation and spelling, but really I find it darn near impossible to hear the difference) 

A list of some common dishes is here. 

Please leave a comment if any other dish has shown up you want to talk about, because this is basically my favorite topic EVER. I love to eat and cook Thai food so, yeah. Also the oft mentioned Thai bestie is an AMAZING cook. I often act the part of her kitchen goblin. 

(source) 

Meeting someone with the same music taste is seriously the best thing ever.

behind every hot girl there is a deep history of obsessing over a particular time period or historical figure

BL Streaming - Which Service is Worth Your Money?

I’m bored and I have a little extra time this morning so it’s time for ABL to play with the spreadsheet of doom. Occasionally I get the question: 

If I were to subscribe to only one platform for BL which should I pick? 

First things first. I am going to be (somewhat) objective about this and not judge on quality of content. Because if KinnPorsche is all you love in life, obvs you need iQIYI, but if you are a HIStory franchise stan, than it’s all about Viki. Those are your life choices, I’m just here to play numbers games, okay? 

Secondly, some shows air on multiple platforms, particularly Viki & Gaga, but sometimes it’s Gaga & YouTube, occasionally it’s iQIYI + others. This has only started happening in the last few years. Bed Friend was on 3 different platforms (GaGa, iQIYI, YT - even though it was originally announced for Viki)! I honestly don’t know how to track this, so I tend to log the spreadsheet with my preferred watching platform, this will throw the numbers off for those platforms. 

Since I join everything my platform preference choice is based on:  

the quality of the subs/captions   

the quality of the user experience  

My subs experience tends to be: 

YT = best for Thai

Viki = best for Korean and sometimes Japanese, okay for Thai

Gaga = best for Chinese and sometimes Japanese but weak Thai subs

My user experience preference is: 

YT, Viki, Gaga in that order then everyone else with iQIYI at the bottom. This is because I watch on mobile devices. 

ASplay, WeTV, former Line, Amarin TV, Netflix and the other smaller suppliers will all be grouped together for this assessment. Since they have so few offerings, by default I would not recommend subbing those platforms unless you are a hard stan of all BL with disposable income. 

Super bad BLs that I watched back in the day on grey sites or YT (pre 2020 crack down) because there were no other options and I am a completest are still listed as grey. I would never suggest anyone watch these so I don’t care if they have now shown up on legitimate sites. If they are somewhere, it’s likely Gaga. Which means Gaga’s percentage of the market share is probably UNDER reported by my numbers. 

Movies and cinema-only releases that never got international distribution fall into the “grey” category. If I got it off an indie subber, since that too is technically illegal, it falls into the grey category as well. 

Final note: This is from a USA based IP, I don’t use a VPN, so platforms assessments are from that perspective.

Mid 2023, current state of the spreadsheet. AKA 

Our BL Data Set 

Total # of BLs = 564

# of BLs ongoing (so finished runtime is best guess) = 18 

Just Answer the Damn Question 

Round Number of Actual BLs - % of market share

YouTube = 218 - 38.6%

Gaga = 148 - 26.2% 

Viki = 77 - 13.7% 

Grey = 53 - 9.4% 

BLs I’ve never been able to find on any platform (including grey): 36 - 6.4% 

iQIYI = 14 - 2.5% 

Other platforms = 12 - 2.2% 

Margin of error: +- 1% (look I’m just not driven to be that accurate here)

Subscription Platforms Breakdown  - % of market share

Eliminating YouTube, Grey, and missing BLs. Viki is included because I do not know which of theirs are behind the paywall and which are not. 

Total subscribe-only BLs: 257 

Gaga = 59%

Viki = 30%

iQIYI = 6%

Sml sites = 5%

(rounded) 

Okay but how about actual runtime? 

Gaga = 360 hrs - 44% 

Viki = 311 hrs - 38% 

iQIYI = 98 hrs - 12% 

Sml sites = 50 hrs - 6%

Anyway you cut it… on pure BL standards…

GAGAOOLALA WINS 

Other consideration? In most places Gaga is ALSO the cheapest per month option. 

Final Thoughts

YouTube (America’s Alphabet) 

YT has the most pieces of content and biggest watch time because of all the Thai stuff. ALSO bootlegs show up there, especially the early Chinese and Japanese stuff. They will often get taken down and you have to hunt for it again. YT takedowns come in waves, every 6 months or so.

However, GMMTV, some Star Hunter, some Studio Wabi Sabi, all the Vietnamese & Pinoy stuff (until now), and a few choice bits of Strongberry are YT content.

YT’s app is the best of a poor set (for me), but the web based YT at Premium level doesn’t work with Firefox. I use YT for work A LOT, so the fee for Premium ($11.99) and lack of ads + downloads (travel) is worth it for me, but I think it probubly isn’t if you’re on a budget. 

GaGaOOLaLa (Taiwan’s Portico Media) 

Of the pay to play platforms, GaGa dominates with the most BLs by all metrics. If you’re intersted in darker BL, GL and other queer content, very high heat, the history of the genre, or Japanese stuff - most of that is on GaGa. Also all of Strongberry and some of the newer queerer series (like My Ride).  

At $6.99 a month it’s ALSO the cheapest option. 

Gaga is based out of Taiwan the only Asian country with marriage equality AND it specializes in exclusively queer content so they need our support. If you can afford them, you should support them. GaGa is the only platform that will always have more BL, guaranteed (so long as Taiwan is autonomous). Ironically, you can follow their YT channel for previews and teasers to their latest series and acquisitions. 

Their app isn’t great, but their web-based interface is fine. That said: there’s no categories (way to organize), the way they roll out new episodes is unintuitive. Their mobile app ALWAYS pauses not mater what you actually want it to do. 

Viki (Japan’s Rakutan)

Viki specializes in longer series, mostly Thai, Taiwanese, and a few of the Chinese bromances. It also now has a lot of KBLs. But in general only more recent stuff (2018 is as far back as they go).

At $11.99 with another pay point for Plus (you don’t need it for BL) it’s pretty average cost. But most of my favorite new shows tend to air on Viki, and I like Rakutan as a parent company, so I don’t mind supporting them. 

They happen to have 5 of my top ten BLs, which is A LOT (since I hand out 10/10 so rarely). So for me they host the best BL content. 

They have the second best app (after YT, it’s kinda a combo of YT + Netflix) but the lack of a speed-up option is frustrating for many of us. Also the desktop version is super buggy. But they DO have categories you can name and control, which I love.

Other Platforms 

iQIYI - is Mainland China based (hello Baidu, you ugly fucker), so the platform getting/pimping BL for an international audience is… how do I put this?… oh yeah: shitty. It clearly wants to break the market, but… do we want it in the market? How long will they be allowed? When will they be shut down and censored? I would say it’s only worth it if you really also like Chinese dramas. And even so, Viki also has A LOT of those. Unfortunately for us Wabi Sabi seems to have cut a deal with them. And of course the is the KinnPorsche situation. The interface is a nightmare. They have the WORST app, even when you pay it serves ads, some of which alpha crash the platform, AND it opens vertical (which is INSANE). 

Netflix - here in the states it almost never has new BL content. Sometimes some old stuff. They tested the waters with SOTUS and Love Sick. I have a feeling they aren’t particularly intersted. So if BL is what you watch, don’t bother. At last check they still had Gameboys and Your Name Engraved Herein and Wish You. 

WeTV - acts like LineTV used to, has Manner of Death and We Best Love and a few of the more obscure Thai pulps. But probably not worth is for anyone but a completest. 

Grey - Unknown or No Distributor 

Indie subbers: there’s some BLs that you can watch by supporting indie subbers who supply private links to their personal versions. This is not legal, but it is a slightly nicer way to get stuff you can’t find anywhere else. I’ve done this for some Thai and Japanese stuff.

I find the leads for these here on Tumblr. If someone is giffing and talking about a show and I don’t know how they are getting hold of it, I simply ask.

DramaCool (USA) & Dailymotion (France) & Bilibili (China) - AKA the grey space. You SHOULD feel guilty using these sites, you’re stealing, but it’s where many of us go for BL we can’t find anywhere else (in defiance of what few morals we have left). These are BLs that originally sold to very odd platforms or never got international distribution. Unfortunately, some of my favorites are in this category like Great Men Academy or Seven Days. It’s a nightmare. The ads are terrible and the virus/bug risk is high. They get taken down all the time. Or the leads are faked. I use an old computer to access.

P’ABL SOAP BOX TIME

Look I work tangential to the entertainment industry, so if you thought I wasn’t going to learn you a little on this subject, you got another think coming. 

HERE’S THE THING: 

You watch a show on one of the grey platforms, ESPECIALLY if it actually has distribution on Gaga or Viki - you better review that shit. You spread the word and advocate for that content here, on MDL, on social media, with fan art, I don’t care. If you steal it, but you can find a way to pay back in your time and/or creativity. I get it if you’re poor, but don’t be a goddamn scab. Find a way to reward content creators with non-monetary support. If you had the time to watch the thing you stole, you have time to pay it forward in some substantial way. Do this even if you didn’t steal it but got it for free. Do this if you read fanfic. Do this with articles, blogs, books. Do this with podcasts. 

It isn’t hard to be a decent human. Don’t you dare just TAKE. If you’re that kind of person stop reading this blog immediately. I don’t want anything to do with you and you don’t deserve my words or my spreadsheet. 

/rant 

MORE ON THIS TOPIC WITH FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS

Original post on this subject that I adapted for this post. 

(source)