Tuesday, October 08, 2013

Epic Adventure day 3: Just Yum!!

On October 3rd, I woke up and got ready for a day of cooking. After
cuddling with tigers, you'd think a cooking class might not be a super
exciting stop on the itinerary, but I LOVE Thai food and could not
have been more excited to learn to make it authentically.

After a slight delay and passing my phone to the woman at the front
desk of the condo office so she could give proper "Thai" directions, a
van arrived to pick me up. I piled in with 6 or so people already
inside and we chit-chatted as we drove to the city office for Asia
Scenic (the cooking school). There we were separated into two
predetermined groups and served coffee/tea/water while they collected
our money (1000 baht for the farm course) and sorted everything out.

As we sat at the table sipping our coffee, I struck up a conversation
with the other two people who were from the US, two sisters traveling
in Thailand for a couple weeks. Of all the tourist attractions in all
of Thailand, what are the chances that 3 Indiana girls end up at the
same cooking class?!? Even funnier, they're from Noblesville!! We
quickly bonded over our joint need to get out of Indiana as fast as
humanly possible, and for that matter, the Midwest in general. One
sister is currently living in NY and the other is just about to finish
her masters in Michigan and is headed for Seattle.

Next it was back in the van to head the local market. There our
instructor, A, (yeah that's the name he goes by, just the letter A...
And I know I usually give nicknames on this blog, but since he's a one
day character here and technically A is a nickname... We're just gonna
roll with it) walked us around the market giving us a quick little
lesson on things like the various types of rice and peppers. We also
had a little time to wonder the market on our own, which gave me time
to have a delicious mango smoothie. Score!

Back in the van we made the journey out of town and to the farm. It
was beautiful!! A couple buildings, including the one that housed all
the stoves and would be the center for our cooking class, and a huge
variety to plants - lemongrass, multiple types of basil, rice, a
variety of chili peppers, fruits, bizarrely shaped "pumpkins."  It was
awesome.

A gave us tour of the property having us smell many of the different
spices, then it was off to the kitchen to start the good stuff. We sat
at a large table where there were two plates like you see in the
picture below.



A explained that it's good luck to give guest this welcome snack when
they come to your house. I looked warily at the contents of the plate
thinking "wouldn't some Chex mix or Tostidos and guac work?"

A walked us through making a little "pocket" out of the leaf and then
filling it with the contents of the plate. Once we had everything
assembled we were to eat it whole. I cautiously popped it in my mouth
and BAM - flavor explosion!!! Delicious!!! I guess by now I should
know that while the Thai's do some things really weird... Food?
They've got that down.



After enjoying the delicious snack, it was time to get down to
business. First on the slate was "Thai fast food." We had three
options: Pad Thai ("the boring one" according to A), Pad See Uw (I've
also seen this spelled Pad See Ew -
Spelling is a bit.... Flexible in Thailand) and something else.

Having recently discovered a deep love for Pad See Uw, I opted for
that. A explained that the technique for all three dishes was the same
and the ingredients were the only real difference. We prepped all the
ingredients and watched him cook up a quick Pad Thai explaining the
steps in the process. Once he finished we headed to the woks to give
it a try ourselves. A walked us through all the steps until we had
made our own personal "Thai fast food" dish. Not that I could possibly
be biased... But mine was definitely better than the stuff I buy on
the street.



Next it was time to tackle the appetizers and I couldn't wait to make
my own spring rolls. Since you never make one spring roll, one person
cooked up all the ingredients that go into the spring roll and then A
gave us step by step instructions on rolling two of our own. Before we
fried them, he inspected our work informing us all that we had "ugly
spring roll babies."



After enjoying our appetizers we had about a 30 minute break to relax
in the hammocks before we started "non-stop cooking."

We started by working in groups to make 3 different types of curry
paste. We ground fresh ingredients together with a mortar and pestle
to the sounds of A saying "harder, faster, don't stop... You make good
curry paste you be good wife." He was quite the character.



Next we chopped ingredients for our soups and curries. We whipped up
dessert rather quickly followed by the curries and finally our soups.
Finally we sat down I enjoy the fruits of our labor. YUM!!!



After we ate, we loaded back onto the van and were dropped of at our
respective accommodations. Having been fighting a cold or something
for a few days, I headed to a pharmacy to see what they could do to
help. 570 baht later, I left with a bag full of drugs and a plan for a
nap. I got back to the condo and since I had a nice full belly from
the day's activities, I popped the first round of various meds I'd
been given and laid down. When I woke up around midnight, I decided
perhaps it was okay to skip dinner and just call it night. Epic
adventure day 3, definitely a win.

Total for the day 1601 baht. That includes the drugs which I highly
recommend travelers budget for. If you're traveling in SE Asia it's
almost guaranteed you'll need to stop at a pharmacy for some ailment
along the way.