Cooking in Thailand

     We went to a Thai cooking class in Chaing Mai.  A tuk-tuk picked us up from our apartment and took us to the cooking class.  When we got there we sat down a a table and they brought us a menu.  We only did a half day class so we didn't get to do everything, but we still got to cook a soup, noodles, and curry.
      For the soup I choose hot and creamy.  We walked outside and there was a table that we all stood around.  On the table there were wooden blocks and huge knives.  We cut up some vegetables and then moved over to the stove place.  At each place there was a pot and a spoon.  We dumped all the stuff that we cut up in the pot and then waited.  We put coconut milk in, but we weren't supposed to stir because it made the color of the soup red.  When we finished we went back into the table and ate it.  Mine was alright, but the coconut soup was very good.
   Next up was the curry.  I chose masaman curry.  We went back to the cooking table and there was a mortar and pestle, which is basically a heavy bowl and stick.  We got a bunch of vegetables and cut them up then put them in the mortar.  Then we took the pestle and started smashing the vegetables for about a half-hour and that made a very small amount of curry.  Then we headed over to the cooking area and started boiling the curry with some oil and other stuff. It took about an hour to prepare and cook it, but it was very good.  It was straight off the stove so it was hot and so delicious.
     Last was the noodles and I chose Pad Thai.  We started cutting vegetables like normal then headed over to the cooking station.  Instead of the usual pot there was a frying pan.  We put all the noodles and vegetables in then stirred it up.  One persons noodles caught on fire and that was supposed to help them cook better.  Once they were done we took the noodles to the eating area and ate them.  It was almost as good as the curry and once I was done I was stuffed.  I felt bad for the people that had a full day because I could have never eaten that much.  We got a cook book and then we were dropped off at the train station.

thats a really big knife

Jenna trying her soup

mortar and pestle

After a half hours work...