"I'm a Thai cook"


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June 25th 2012
Published: June 25th 2012
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Yes, I am now a Thai cook. And, according to Julia Child, never apologize for your meals when they don't meet one's high standards. So - in the future - I will only apologize when I can't find the right Thai ingredients. Where does one find holy basil in Alaska? Or Thai eggplant?

Pia (a new friend) and I went the Thai Farm Cooking School just outside of Chiang Mai. We were picked up from our hotel and taken, along with five others, to the local fruit/vegetable market where we were shown a variety of local ingredients that make Thai food unique. I was able to wander around a bit, and found some cotton fabric that is unique to the area. I had been looking for it for a number of days and really felt like I scored!



After the market, we rode in our "local limo" - another songteaw - for about 30 minutes out to the organic farm for our class. The farm cooking school is a beautiful set up. There were three full classroom kitchens, with an independent station for about eight people. There were three teachers, but there must have been at least five additional staff for each of the kitchens - they made our day enjoyable and kept us in line. Our teacher was the tiniest woman! She was so adorable and a very good instructor. First was a tour around the farm and then on to cooking!



We first chose our "set menu" from the many choices offered. I asked especially for panang curry. We began by chopping our ingredients and, using mortal and pestle, made our own curry paste. For panang, one begins with a red curry and then works some different magic when cooking. After making the paste, we went on to our soup. I chose Tom Yum - a light but flavorful little soup that was made even better when I could have a taste or two of Pia's smooth and creamy coconut chicken. I made the panang, Tom Yum, 'sweet and sour chicken, pad thai, and bananas in coconut milk. All of it was fabulous, but my pad thai is not the best - I'll have to work on its flavors and how to get the right amount of doneness in my noodles. It was quite charming when the Dutch woman who was in our kitchen remarked with unabashed pride, "I'm a Thai cook!" The rest of our group tended to emulate her self adoration as we each took a bite of our own food. With the instruction we were given and the set of pre-cut veggies, it was hard to go wrong!



After the class, we arrived at our hotel after 4:00 pm, and I was just too exhausted and tired to do anything else. There was a group going to one of the famous temples, but I opted for a shower and a short nap. It was a well deserved respite. Noelle returned from her jaunt up the temple steps - 306 to be exact - and we took off for one more attempt to do our part for the economy. We were only moderately successful.



This morning, however, I excelled! I had a rough go of it trying to work my way through some chocolate chip waffles and an iced coffee. I had to have nourishment, though, as I was off to the local market. It was exactly as I had expected, with mountains of local goods for local people. There were no "ferang" here ("ferang" is Thai for foreigners - at least I think that's right). It was gritty and pulsing with the throng of people going about their daily lives. From Thai ingredients to kitchen wares, fabrics to knock-off watches, temple/monk offerings, and the bestest few things - I found a few pieces of bedding and some aprons for a fraction of the cost of that at the night market and the nicest little sticky rice basket! Another score!



The afternoon found Noelle and I in the company of Jan and Eric - the kindest couple from the UK. Noelle and I had planned to take a local limo to the old part of Chiang Mai, but were easily talked into a relaxing trip on the Ping river for a few hours We rode in a scorpion tailed boat for about an hour and were treated to some fresh fruit and fruit juices at a small farm on the riverside before being brought back to the dock. Our boat driver told us that the farm was where they filmed a boxing scene in Rambo IV. Well, now I have to watch Rambo IV!



We are now on an overnight train bound for Bangkok. It pretty comfy, with enough room and a meal service. I guess the train staff will be around later to "turn down" our beds and quite time is it at 10:00pm. I think there will be no issue with that for many of us. We've been on the go pretty much since the beginning, and a forced rest will be good!

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