Cooking Class

Dear Mom and Dad,

Today we took a cooking class that cost $25 a person, and that included the taxi to and from class, three meals, food market tour, and a cook book. It was soooo much fun! The first two pictures are of the classroom.

This was the local market where we learned about all the ingredients that we would be using.

The meat section was Andy's favorite.  Charlie and I both agreed that it did not smell as bad as Mexico or south America's market because it wasn't directly in the sun.

The two studious students listening intently to our instructor.

Gathering our necessary ingredients.

We are ready to go.

Charlie made spicy chicken soup, while Andy and I made Thai herb soup. Andy and Charlie  made theirs super spicy, and the locals were giggling at how many peppers they used. They kept saying "you will cry." They never actually cried though but sweated the entire time.

Thai herb soup

Our next project that we made was a paste for our second dish. Charlie and I made a massaman curry dish that had chicken, potatoes, and onions. Andy made panang curry dish that had chicken, leaves, and small eggplant. We have a cookbook with the actual ingredients and correct proportions, so we can cook for you all when we return. Before we could start cooking, we had to make the curry paste.

Here is the final paste product that took forever grinding in the mortar and pestle.

Having fun.

Andy's final dish.

Our final dishes.

We also all made pad Thai. This was probably the easiest dish, and it will be my first one to make when home. Everything was "aroy" as they say in Thai. Delicious.

We did not cook the white rice, so that is still a mystery. If you remember reading the South America blog, Charlie and I could never get the rice to turn out quite right. I guess the mystery of white rice remains a secret.

Love,

The master chefs