Chiang Mai Cooking

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Good Hell! Cook, Eat, Lie Down, Cook, Eat, Lie Down, Cook, Eat, Lie Down. What a class!!

We read that in the comment book just into our first day of cooking class from a Kiwi who had completed the course earlier. Disgusting, I ate everything from my first day, of course it was the best Thai food I've had since I've been here, I cooked it! A wonderful two days, all the little things I've missed trying to cook Asian food at home were shown and explained. These ladies were on their marks too, if you emptied a small bowl with ingredients they would grab it before you set it down, cooking without the mess or dishes, love it. We started each day with trips to the market, (I failed miserably trying to remember the exotic fruits and vegetables I learned from the first day,) a round with the mortar and pestle for a pure, from-scratch, curry paste, two to three courses cooked in the morning, eat all of it, then nap, then cook 2-3 more courses and yes, nap again. Even our sweet teacher couldn't help it, she napped on the bench on the second day.

Here is the menu

Sweet and Sour chicken and veggies - Not the scary orange stuff we get back home.

Green curry soup with chicken and veggies- Coconut milk is the base for this dish.

Pad Thai - The backpackers staple in Thailand, rice noodles, shrimp, peanuts, bean sprouts, chicken, garlic, egg

Butter reduced cooked bananas with sugar and coconut ice cream. This dish could cause type II diabetes on its own.

Sam Tom - Unripe papaya salad with shrimp, chilies and lime
Winner 1b

Tom Yum Soup - Spicy Sour Soup - Lemon grass gives the sour taste, chilies for the spice.

Day Two

Red Curry with Pork

Sticky Rice with Mango

Chicken coconut soup

Beef with Oyster Sauce - The big loser of the group

Masaman Curry - A Muslim style curry that is both spicy and a bit sweet. - Winner 1a

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Photos

Making Curry Paste
Jamie and Lara from NZ, sean and jon. I swear Jamie is pounding curry paste. swear.

Matsaman Curry
We made Matsaman curry w/ chicken. I think this was the best dish i had on the entire trip.

sooo much food
Even our cooking leader was tired.