Ready Steady Cook

On the Tuesday we were signed up to do a Thai cooking course at the Thai Farm Cooking School. We were picked up at the guest-house by the school’s vehicle. It was one of the those little truck things, where you sit on side seats in the back, and can watch the traffic coming up behind you…don’t know the Thai name for them...but it’s the same kind of truck/van thing as the taxis, and I love them! We picked up the other members of our cooking class along the way, and then drove out of central Chiang Mai, and into the beautiful surrounding countryside where the school was located. We spent the journey chatting to our new class-mates, and exchanging Thai travel stories (our common love for Koh Chang for example). Our group consisted of one Brit (me!), 3 Australians (Ellen, and a really nice couple who had many a travel story), 1 French guy (who lives in London), 1 Dutch guy (very chilled out and an interesting chap, as we discovered other Dutch people to be too), an American guy (Jethro…the name amused me!), and his Brazilian wife (super super excited about everything all day!) They were a really nice group, and very easy to talk and laugh with.

The location of the cooking school was beautiful ; wide open fields, blue sky, bright flowers, and warm sun. After a tour of the farm, where we were introduced to some of the key ingredients of the dishes we would make that day, we settled ourselves at our cooking stations. I was already excited after smelling the amazing lemongrass, and the fresh lime…mmmmm…I can still smell it now! Our first dish of the day was Thai red curry, and first off was making the red curry paste itself. A lot of elbow work and pounding ensued as we all tackled our pestle and mortar with a hungry enthusiasm. I have never made anything like that…nothing that requires that amount of physical energy, and nothing that gives you such a great sense of achievement when you see your nice smooth, spicy paste. After finishing the curry, we moved on to chicken with cashewnuts, which was so quick and easy, that I will definitely be making it again when I’m back in England. And finally, papaya salad, which we cheated a little on, as the papaya etc was already cut for us!! Still…we assembled it!! Then it was time for the eating! Yey! We all sat together, eating the dishes we had just prepared and complimenting ourselves on our culinary excellence!!! Haha! My curry was yummy, but not quite spicy enough. I was a little afraid when adding the chillies to my paste, and so erred on the side of caution! Next time I’ll add a couple more! My chicken and cashwewnuts was sooooo yummy, and the papaya salad, fresh, but soooo spicy! After lunch we had time just to relax, wander around the farm, or lie down for a nap…I did all 3!

In the afternoon we made Pad Thai (thai noodles), which I happily (but to the dismay of our teacher) left the egg out of, and a Thai dessert. Oh my god, the dessert was so good! Mango with sticky coconut rice. Beautiful! Again, I will definitely make that in the future…it was so yum! And then it was all over! The day had gone so quickly, and I felt so relaxed. I thought I was going to feel knackered after all that cooking, and standing in the heat etc…but no, I felt energised, content, and my stomach was very happy! We clambered back into the van, and enjoyed the refreshing breeze whipping through, as we drove back to Chiang Mai. What a satisfying and beautiful day!

p.s I completely forgot to mention that we also stopped at a food market on the way to the school. We saw lots of gross stuff, like pigs heads, and mulit-coloured dessert sandwiches, as well as fabulous fruit and veg (mmmmm…oranges!), lethal-looking chillies, and buckets of jasmine rice. It was great to explore, compare and wonder,