This morning we had to get up ever so early – no time to feel jet lagged as by 8a.m. we had to leave our hotel to make our way to our Thai cooking class at House of Taste Thai Cooking School situated some 1.5 km away from our hotel. In hindsight it was good that we only had a light breakfast as we would be eating our own dishes which we were to prepare at our classes.
As instructed we arrived at the school just on time (I had to keep turning round to see whether Gerry was still behind me as he was just sauntering along!). Of course the students were all international – a party of 6 Koreans including a young couple with their 2 young kids and their grandparents; a girl from Texas, another girl from Japan and a young couple from California and of course us two!
We had an excellent Thai young woman as our teacher and after introductions and explaining what we were going to do, she took us to the market carrying shopping baskets. Our first stop was at a vegetable stall where she showed us the vegetables and herbs we would be using, and then onto the fruit seller to show us the local fruit including papaya, dragon fruit and mango on one side of the stall while on the other side there was fruit from all around the globe!
After roaming around the market and buying some fresh juices and cherries for us, we picked up the ingredients needed for our cooking class
Back at school, we were instructed how to cut up the vegetables and herbs and also pound the spices into a curry paste. Naturally we had to take our ingredients to the cooking area where we all had our place behind a wok on a gas burner. Our Teacher had everything under control, sometimes requesting us to pound the herbs harder in the mortar with the heavy pestle, turn up the heat – or lower the heat under the wok and of course all the while, Gerry had to liven upstage group with his comments.
We prepared – and ate the following :
- Tom Kha Kai – spicy coconut soup with chicken
- Pad Thai – stir fried rice noodles with shrimp and chicken
- Gang Phed Gai – Red Curry Chicken
- Kaw Niew Ma Muang – Sweet Sticky Rice and Mango
Obviously this was all too much and Hence we were glad we had a very minimal breakfast in the morning! But it was all good fun and very tasty!
It’s a good thing we had a substantial walk back to our hotel as we were really stuffed – actually Gerry just didn’t eat his last two dishes, except for the mango fruit. Well it was siesta time by the time we got back to our hotel and as we were going out with our friends Pintuwan and Jan in the evening, we decided to take a well deserved nap.
Pintuwan and Jan came to pick us just before 6 pm so we had enough time to shower and get dressed after our nap. We were all on time to have a good evening together – Pintuwan made reservations at a restaurant called Thanying – a restaurant with Royal Thai Cuisine from the recipes of the Sukothai Palace kitchen. Pintuwan gave me a brief history of this restaurant was named after the present owner’s mother, Her Serene Highness Princess Sulabh who was once head cook in the Sukothai Palace kitchen for her half sister, Queen Rambhai Barni of the late king Rama the seventh. The recipes used in this restaurant came from Princess Sulabh own recipes used in the palace so in essence we had a royal meal ! And it was delicious – good we were with Pintuwan as she explained everything that we were eating!
After our scrumptious dinner we took one picture on the restaurant verandah – just to commemorate and cherish our friendship!
Then to end this wonderful evening with friends, we drove to the Shangri-la Hotel to enjoy an after dinner cocktail and listen to some jazzy singer while admiring the twinkling river view.
When Pintuwan and Jan left, we stayed on for a while but then decided to walk back to our hotel. I had to keep hold of Gerry as every time we passed a Massage Establishment, the young girls tried to drag him inside for a massage! Luckily we got back to the hotel together and were ready to have a good night’s sleep.
Tomorrow we plan to have a relaxing day – after all we are pensioners!
