ทานให้อร่อยนะ (BON APPETIT...I THINK)

Well, after the busy last few days we have had around Chiang Mai, today was relatively quite. We decided to give the boys the morning off and let them play some playstation that is in our apartment. It was actually nice to sleep in and not feel hurried at all this morning. We grabbed some lunch from a tiny little restaurant around the corner from us - which fed the four of us for about £1/$1.60 each...not too bad. 

We then headed to a very local market where we met with MRs. Orn, our Thai cooking instructor for the day. She works with Dot Cook Thai, a company that teaches non-Thais...like us...to cook the way Thais do. So after we made our introductions, we decided on the 5 dishes we wanted to learn to cook:

1. Papaya Salad
2. Thai Green Curry
3. Tom Kah Gai (Coconut Chicken Soup)
4. Massaman Curry
5. Mango Sticky Rice - Dessert

After we had decided which dishes we would be cooking, she sent her helper off to buy all of the required ingredients and then proceeded to walk us around the market. She introduced us to local delicacies, like delicious little warm coconut dessert cups fresh off the grill. Ours were all warm, but for some reason, the one that Matt picked up was SCALDING hot - he then proceeded to burn his lip and drop the fest of the custard like filling into his hand - burning his palms and fingers. He had to walk around with a handful of ice for a little bit. 

After the coconut incident we were treated to some worms/grubs - which we were told are something that you bring to your friends and family as a souvenir from your trip to Chiang Mai...anyone want me to bring some back/shop some for you????? The next treat we were introduced to was a type of sausage unique to Chiang Mai. What makes this sausage stand out from the rest is that the locals use the animals hooves in the sausage mix...blah. They might enjoy it, but it just wasn't to my personal tastes. Mrs. Orn also showed us a local dish that is served to guests, a salad (of sorts) made of raw beef. She didn't have us try this one because she doesn't like it herself. She then walked us through the butchers section - full of all the innards you could ever want to see (or not see...).

We were then given about ten minutes to wander around the market for ourselves. We managed to find a fruit stand with mangos, mangosteen, and rambutans (which are crazy red, prickly fruits). We bagged ourselves 3 mangos and only wanted a few of the others, since we are leaving Chiang Mai tomorrow, we didn't need or want many. We put five mangosteens five rambutans into their respective bags. The stall lady then proceeded to add more and more fruit the the bags, until we were walking away with about 20 of each - all despite Matt and I telling her to stop. Oh well.

We then went back to find Mrs. Orn, where we were then shuttled off to her home in the center of the Old Town. Her house was amazing. It is an old wooden house right behind the largest temple in Chiang Mai, Wat Phram That Doi Suthep. We began our preparations for our dishes and then go to cooking. It was interesting to see that no recipes are really used, all of her knowledge had been taught to her as she learned to cook and her seasoning was all from tasting the food as she went along, no cookbook required (even though she gave each of us a book to take with us). 

We ended the day by sitting down and eating the Thai meal we cooked with our own eight hands...with a lot of help from Mrs. Orn. She gave us an 8 out of 10 on our cooking and told us that it is actually quite a complement that her family were all in the kitchen eating our food. She told us that most of the time when white people take her lessons, her family don't eat their cooking...so that had to be a good sign!! I will attempt to cook some Thai food when we are back home, but don't expect me to be opening a Thai restaurant anytime soon!!