July 24—Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School to Learn From the Best

Dear Family and Friends,

Tuesday, July 24, we spent the day at a cooking school called the Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School, which is run by and in the home of a former celebrity chef from Thai TV, Sompon Nabnian. This is the first Thai cooking school created in Northern Thailand, which is now overrun with copycat options. We cannot go into too much detail about the hows and whys of the different dishes (so that you will be enticed to take the class yourself … but our friends and family at home can look forward to a traditional Thai meal when we get home!). But know that it was an amazing day learning the basics of Thai ingredients in a classroom setting.

Each round of instruction was followed by a performance of the preparation and cooking technique of the actual dish, the Thai way, with immediate ‘do it yourself’ practice thereafter. Dani and I did a very good job, we thought, managing not to burn a thing or become sick the next day! Of course, having a team of Thai women walking around to tell you 'now add the vegetables' and 'now, add the curry,' etc, helped. We need some of that at home. Oh, and there was that whole ‘you must eat what you make’ part of the day that left us stuffed and happy before a long night!

The full-day’s class came with a cook book that included information about Thai vegetables, curry pastes, sauces and dips, and what you can use to replace ingredients that you might not be able to get at home, which is clutch when you don’t live in a tropical climate. We learned that the "little, green, pea-shaped items" we'd questioned just days before are in the eggplant family, and the flavor Dani doesn't like is a roasted sticky rice concoction. We paid 990 baht (about 32 USD) for the class, but the effects of the tamarind juice (don’t ask) were free!

Here are photos of our creations from the day, however:






Thai Hot and Sour Prawn Soup (Tom Yam Goong)






Thai Style Fish Cakes (Tord Man Plaa)

Thai Fried Noodles (Phad Thai on left)
and Green Curry With Chicken (Gaeng Kheo Wan Gai on right)

Minced Chicken Salad (Laap Gai)

Water Chestnuts With Sugar Syrup and Coconut Milk (Tab Tim Grob)

We made that! After the class, we had the van drop us off at the bus station, where we got cheaper-than-originally-quoted tickets to Bangkok on the 7:30 PM bus, riding first class with reclining seats, air conditioning, and a supply of water and snacks. During the night, two separate rounds of Police investigation occurred, as coppers came on board the bus to check passports, take a peek in bags, and make sure that no one was trying to reach Bangkok illegally. We had a long night between cities, arriving about 4 AM to the Northern Bus Terminal of Mochit. A quick cab ride took us back home to Bangkok Garden. YAY! HOME AWAY FROM HOME!

Love to all,

Martha and Dani