9.18.2012

Making Thai Food in Thailand - booyah

One of the days in Chiang Mai, we decided to take a cooking class.  First, we stopped at a local market to purchase the ingredients and learn more about the ingredients that go into Thai food.  Then, it was off to a secluded location where both Katrina and I prepared 5 amazing dishes.  First was a pork salad accompanied with pork spring rolls.  Next, we followed it up with fish curry and prawn stir fry.  We finished with a black sticky rice and some new fruits for desert.  They were very accommodating and Katrina was able to make all vegetarian dishes.  The school was called cooking@home and I would recommend it for those not on a strict budget who want to learn how to make some Thai dishes.  We were also given a cookbook so hopefully Katrina and I will be able to prepare a few of these dishes in the States.  Also, there are a few pictures from diner one evening. 


 Cooking at Home Culinary School




Our first stop was a market - here you can see some different curry pastes.  We actually made our own, homemade curry paste which is something I've never done.


I believe this is a curry starter set.  You have your turmeric, a garlic/ginger like root, and some lemon grass I believe.  It's kind of cool how they sell them all together as a curry starter set.


Blood - not sure what it is used for...


Meat anyone?  This part made me a little sick but Katrina didn't mind it all - go figure...


Some sort of new fruit...


Dragon fruit - quite possibly one of my favorite new fruits


View as we ate our meals - a little bit of heaven on Earth, almost doesn't seem real


Our stations for the day


First dish was a pork salad - tofu and mushroom for Katrina


Chef Katrina whipping up a master piece, frying her spring rolls


Not sure what I'm doing in the picture but my spring rolls were a little brown...


Spring rolls and pork salad - Thai Style


It is actually a family run business and this is one of the sisters.  As a group, we all pitched in and made the sticky rice for desert.  Here, I added the rice.  There was a Canadian couple on their honeymoon who was also at the school with us.


This is another sister showing us how to make a dish.  First, one of the sisters would prepare a dish, we would taste test, and then go back to our stations and make it.


Chef Katrina making her curry paste.  It was quite the workout using the mortar and pestle, a utensil I've never used before. 


Bam - Fish Curry


The Chef and her dishes


Prawn or Shrimp Stir Fry


Katrina tasting some fruits at the end of our day


Dinner with Libby...  This was the day before, since we were stuffed from all the food we ate at the cooking school.  This was a Northern Thailand restaurant.  Yeah, I didn't know there were different Thai dishes either.  


Entrance to the restaurant


Inside were lots of cool nick knacks


Green Curry with Shrimp


Katrina mistakenly ended up with the pork fried rice


Pomelo Salad with baby eggplant.  It was a cross between pineapple and grapefruit.


Katrina and I after dinner


We went to a night market afterwards to get some desert - here's a fruit stand


Here's a food stand - I was a bit concerned about how long the food's been sitting out.  There didn't seem to be many takers and as you can see, some of the pans were quite full.  It just made me wonder a bit, that's all...


Rotee Time - It was like a fried dough, drenched in oil and butter, with bananas inside and drizzled with chocolate on top...


The ladies watching as she made

Chiang Mai - Ice Cream and Temples

We made it Thailand, safe and sound.  Fortunately, we were lucky enough to stay with a friend of a friend, Libby, and she was a fantastic host.  She also had an amazing house so we had all the comforts of home and it didn't really feel like we were backpacking.  Chiang Mai is a very laid back town, but with plenty to do.  We stayed for 5 or 6 days, I don't remember, and I felt like I could have stayed for a few weeks.  We were able to check out a few of the temples, eat some great food, even vegetarian options for Katrina, rent scooters, see a few of the markets, and we did a Thai cooking class as well.  Here are the first batch of photos from Chiang Mai.




 Libby's house had these sweet trees which roots or branches came down.


 Pond in front of her house


 
House Decoration

 
 Katrina the first night when we went to the market


 Just a big pile of glasses/sunglasses for 30 cents each I believe - as you can imagine, not the best quality


Libby, our host, on the left, with her friend Hally as we ordered sushi

 
 Restaurant where we ate our first dinner in Chiang Mai, actually at the market


 Sushi for four ended up setting us back 400 baht or a little over $13


 Frozen ice cream...  the woman actually pours a liquid onto a cold metal surface and scrapes it up occasionally until it forms a cold, solid substance.


 Libby in the background watching


Katrina deciding what to order

 
Happy with her choice

 
Putting her helmet on for the ride home

 
 Statue outside of a temple


 Front of the temple


Inside the temple with a few people praying - pretty big Buddha statue

 
So, these guys were fake but looked real - kinda creepy...

 
Not quite sure what this is - perhaps a Buddha relic?

 
 Place for the monks to sit during ceremonies


Lots of dragons at the entrances to temples and usually, one dragon eating another one


There was, what I can only assume, was a meditation garden with these signs posted on the trees

 
Some more words of wisdom

 
Dragon Time

 
Another Temple - there were a ton inside the old city walls and on bicycle, it was very easy to stop and see quite a few of them.  There were probably 3 or 4 temples I didn't even take pictures at...

 
 Monks


 Inside one of the temples, some artwork


As I am sure you noticed, the design is usually quite similar


Yet another temple - some you could go in, some you couldn't

 
Perhaps the coolest of all was this one - however, you couldn't walk up the steps or get inside... bummer.  Great to see in the evening though.

 
Another temple in the same complex

 
5 Headed Dragon that protected the entrance to the temple

 
 A different angle - the camera doesn't really do justice to how big it actually was