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Published: February 2nd 2007
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Cooking Like a Thai
Morning Conversations When I woke up this morning I had the chance to call our best friends in Richmond. It’s always a joy to get a chance to speak to people back home even if it is at a half a second delay. It reminded me of how much changes yet stays the same while you are away on a trip like this. In many cases Kel and I have felt like we are the same people we were when we left almost 3 months ago, but talking with our favorite Richmonders (family excluded) really pointed out to me that we have changed.
Kel and I are both less scared of the world around us. By traveling and meeting new people/experiencing new things we have both grown considerably. If we had continued to live our lives as we were doing in Richmond we would have been happy but we also would have been boxed into our self-created view of the world around us. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing but, much like Eve’s taste of the forbidden fruit, we find ourselves changed and unable to go back to the place
we started, at least mentally.
It is tough to describe how simple everyday experiences abroad can make you into a stronger, more independent, and happier human being. When I left, I was very scared of what the world had in store for me; now I find myself exhilarated by the opportunity to adventure and see the world. By taking myself out of my “comfort zone” (total cliché but a good phrase anyway) I have been able to discover what I really can accomplish.
This completely sounds like a motivational speech to you I’m sure, but this blog is not only my way of sharing experiences with you, it also acts as a cathartic type of self discovery. Thanks for taking a moment to read and humor me. My dear friends back home, you know who you are, thank you for helping me and supporting me through your friendship. I love you both and am a happier person because I get to have you in my life.
Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School Today was spent almost totally at the Chiang Mai Cookery School which is located behind a local restaurant aptly called The Wok. From
10am to 4pm we learned to make six Thai dishes, experiment with our personal cooking style and enjoy the fruits of our labors.
Our day started with a trip to the local food market. Here we were introduced to the items we would be cooking with that day. Our instructor, named Han, walked us through the market and showed us fruits, vegetables, types of rice and other items that would be involved in the day’s session.
While traveling to and from the market, we were given the chance to meet some of our fellow cooking students. In our Song Tao there was a lady from Oregon, a couple from D.C., two women from Sweden and a guy from Finland. The class had mostly Europeans but there were a few Americans and one guy from Malaysia and a guy from China. It was an amazingly eclectic group.
Our day’s lesson included six dishes: Chicken in Coconut Milk Soup, Red Curry with Fish, Fried Mixed Mushrooms with Baby Corn, Fried Big Noodles with Thick Sauce and Pork, Papaya Salad and Steamed Banana Cake. Each lesson started with us watching an instructor make a dish followed immediately by us cooking
the dish individually. Then we stopped and ate our own food.
Our first dish was taught to us by Mee the assistant instructor who was pretty new at teaching. She was a little flustered and was therefore not as good at teaching us what to do and when to do it. In some cases she did things out of order which confused a large number of the class participants. She meant well and was learning so I chose to give her the benefit of the doubt but she definitely needs some improvement on her delivery.
The Coconut Soup was delicious but a little on the spicy side. Mee was pretty specific on how she thought the dish should be cooked, later I found out we could manipulate the recipes however we liked which reduced the amount of flaming mouth syndrome for me.
While eating the soup I managed to get some of the spicy chili pepper oil on my face which caused me a bit of burning agony for the next thirty minutes or so. It pretty much felt like a raging case of razor burn and caused me to perspire nonstop throughout the next course. Thankfully
the burning subsided and didn’t cause me too many problems. Mark it up to one more stupid Mikey move…oops!
The next three classes were more difficult because they involved cooking in a Wok which most of you know means cooking fast. Whenever you cook fast there is little room for mistakes, if you screw up your food is pretty much going to be burnt to a crisp and very foul tasting. Thankfully, Han taught these classes. His effortless teaching style and mastery of the English language made the classes more informative and much funnier. While he was a bit on the effeminate side, he was very funny and an incredible cook.
Kel and I managed to get our dishes done correctly; Kel’s were better than mine but she has much more extensive experience cooking than I do. I strayed away from the spiciness for these dishes and therefore didn’t suffer anymore sweating bouts. In some cases, such as the Red Curry dish, I may have strayed too much into the realm of sweetness but that’s better than drop dead spicy. Kel’s dishes all turned out fabulous which is not the least bit surprising.
Mee taught us how
to make the Papaya salad and the Banana Cake which meant that we were not as informed. Despite the setback Kel and I both managed to get our dishes done. The Papaya Salad was ridiculously spicy to me but Kel really enjoyed it.
We now both feel more confident with Thai cooking and have resolved to bring some of the dishes back home with us. Maybe if you’re lucky and daring we will cook for some of you back home. Whether it will be spicy or not, we’ll keep that one a mystery until you taste . . . hahaha.
Thai Footie Massage After we left the cooking school we were on a mission to find an ATM because our cash had almost completely run out. Yesterday we had to pay for our plane tickets in cash so we burnt through our money rather quickly. If you subtract out the cost of the plane tickets, our time thus far in Thailand has cost us about a third of a similar amount of time in Europe. Our whole day’s cooking class including the food and instruction was less than $30 each. Sweet!
As we returned
for our successful ATM hunt Kel talked me into getting our feet massaged at a roadside Thai massage place. Thailand has massage places everywhere and we had been told by many that the Tha’s do massage very well.
We each sat in a chair by the roadway an had our feet and legs massaged for an hour. The blissful hour went by in a flash. We spent most of the time staring at the roadside scene in front of us and dozing a bit. When all was said and done we were both incredibly relaxed and only 8 dollars shorter on cash. Eight dollars, most massage places in the US wouldn’t let you in the door for 8 dollars!
Kel came back and immediately decided that nap time was in order. I figured that it was blog time, so here I am.
Tomorrow we are off to Luang Prabang, Laos. I’m not sure how good our internet connection will be, if one exists at all, so it may be a while before we post again. Don’t freak out if it’s awhile!
Miss you all! Hope you are all not freezing too much in the ice storms
we heard were coming your way!
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Schiller
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spicy
Hola - Glad the travels continue to go well. Your encounter with the chili oil is funny as I did the same things yesterday. The lady at the hawker center and I were not on the same page so when she gave me a choice between hot minced meat soup noodles and "chill" mince meat soup noodles I thought the latter was the good choice. Chill = chili (oil) so I spent the rest of the meal shaking as much of the oil off the noodles as I could. I don't know what "hot" would have entailed. I noted an appreciation for zoos in your earlier post. Count on hitting the Night Safari when you are here in Singapore then. One of their big tourist activities but a good time.