Wow, is really all I can say. However, I'll give you more details than that.
The day started at 8:30, Sarah, Carina and I got picked up at Good View (a restaurant). The driver proceeded to pick up two other women (we were a class of five, how nice!) What was even cooler is that they were from Montreal, Canada! It was really cool to meet more fellow canadians.
The class started with a tour of the market. There are grocery stores in Chiang Mai but they are much more expensive and there are very few. It was interesting to see all of the crazy things that are sold there. Like pink eggs, what are they you ask? Well a pink egg has horse urine on them and are left out in the sun, as the teacher explained. They are called century eggs. Essentially, they are rotten eggs. I found that to be very odd and a little gross, but to those who like them, good for you! There were fruits, veggies, meats, everything you could possibly need. They have a lot of fruit and vegetables that we don't have in Canada; if we do have them they are a different colour by the time we get them. They also have Thai ginger, which is much different from regular ginger but I thought they smelt the same.
After our tour we headed to the cooking classroom. It was set outside under a hut. We each had an individual burner, utensils, pots and wok, etc. It was a very efficient set up.
Next came the cooking, which felt more like eating for 6 hours because you are constantly trying the food to make sure it has the appropriate sweetness or spiciness. We made 11 dishes in total. (I won't be able to tell you everything that was in each dish but I do have a cook book I can make photocopies of)
We made:
The day started at 8:30, Sarah, Carina and I got picked up at Good View (a restaurant). The driver proceeded to pick up two other women (we were a class of five, how nice!) What was even cooler is that they were from Montreal, Canada! It was really cool to meet more fellow canadians.
The class started with a tour of the market. There are grocery stores in Chiang Mai but they are much more expensive and there are very few. It was interesting to see all of the crazy things that are sold there. Like pink eggs, what are they you ask? Well a pink egg has horse urine on them and are left out in the sun, as the teacher explained. They are called century eggs. Essentially, they are rotten eggs. I found that to be very odd and a little gross, but to those who like them, good for you! There were fruits, veggies, meats, everything you could possibly need. They have a lot of fruit and vegetables that we don't have in Canada; if we do have them they are a different colour by the time we get them. They also have Thai ginger, which is much different from regular ginger but I thought they smelt the same.
After our tour we headed to the cooking classroom. It was set outside under a hut. We each had an individual burner, utensils, pots and wok, etc. It was a very efficient set up.
Next came the cooking, which felt more like eating for 6 hours because you are constantly trying the food to make sure it has the appropriate sweetness or spiciness. We made 11 dishes in total. (I won't be able to tell you everything that was in each dish but I do have a cook book I can make photocopies of)
We made:
- Papaya salad: ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS! If I was a salad person I would eat this everyday.
- Spring Rolls (deep fried): This is probably my favourite food I ate the entire trip and now I know how to make them. IT WAS ALSO DELICIOUS!
- A yummy Akha salad and soup.
- Thai Massaman curry
- Pumplin in Coconut milk: sounds weird to some but it was delectable.
- Hot and Sour Prong Soup
- Mango sticky rice: again two things that sound weird together but it is so sweet and tasty!
- Pad Thai (definitely going to be making this all the time!
- Curry Paste
- And for whatever reason I forget the last one...