Wednesday, November 26

This morning we have scheduled a cooking class with Tom Yum Cooking School, which we found on Trip Advisor.  Oun, the owner, picked us up at 9AM and we went directly to a market where he explained many of the spices, vegetables and fruits and purchased ingredients for our dishes. Among other things we learned about galanga (a type of ginger) and lemon grass, and kaffir lime leaves which are used for flavoring but are not usually eaten (that's why some of those soups had "odd" ingredients!)  Some of the ingredients were familiar (garlic, cilantro, onion) and some very different. He explained several types of peppers, some which are hot immediately and some that gradually get hotter, some mild and some sweet.

Banana Flower

Eggs, papaya and other fruits

There were 6 other students, a very personable and well-spoken couple from Singapore and four girls from Taiwan.  The school is part of Oun's home but is very clean and airy, with a room for dining, a room for prep and an outdoor room where everyone had a wok.  Very well organized, and Oun spoke English well enough to make jokes and kid people.

We each could choose from a limited menu of dishes which we wanted to learn to prepare; one stir-fry, one curry, one salad, one soup.

Beth with chicken with cashews

Greg made Pad Thai, Chicken in Coconut Milk Soup, Cucumber Salad, Green Curry and Sticky rice with Mango.  Beth made Cashew Nut with Chicken, Hot & Sour Prawn Soup (Pretty hot), Mixed Fruit salad with tamarind sauce, Khao Soi - a northern Thai noodle curry - and the sticky rice with Mango.   We ate what we cooked, so were VERY full by the end of class - I couldn't finish most things.

Sweet and sour prawn soup

Khao Soi, a northern Thailand noodle specialty

Oun took us back to the hotel about 2:30 and we rested and re-grouped.  Greg did a little spinning and water exercises at the gym on the roof.

We met Jim and Cheron at 6:00 and took a taxi to a Vietnamese restaurant they recommended.  Nice garden setting, with a few long-haired rabbits hopping around.  We ate lightly, since we were still full from cooking class, but enjoyed  fresh spring rolls in rice paper, fermented pork, salads.  No rice. Total about $20 for all 6 of us, which included beers and soda!

We decided to walk to the Silver Temple again since someone told us it was lit beautifully at night, but it was not lit tonight. Maybe on the weekend...