The Mistress of Spices

I have been wanting to take a Thai cooking class for a while, and this week seemed like a good time to do it.  With Tim working in India, it was a good activity to help keep the driver busy.  I'd read a few reviews online, and one particular cooking school got some pretty good reviews - the Happy Home Thai Cooking School, Restaurant and Guesthouse.  (Trip Advisor has been a great resource since we've arrived - restaurants and activities are rated by their customers).  So I sent an email asking if any classes were available this week.  They were very willing to do any time I wanted, even if I was the only student!  They did have a couple of times where other groups were coming, so I decided to join one of those.  (The emails were written in extremely good English, from someone named "Harvey."  I found out later that Harvey lives in Japan, but handles the Happy Home correspondence!)

apartments at the end of the alley

Well, I'm never sure how long it will take to get somewhere in Pattaya - traffic can easily double or triple your drive time - plus you never know how hard it will be to find a place.  So I arrived around 8:45 a.m. for a 9 'clock class.  The "school" was really just a little home that had been converted for the school, tucked away at the end of a little alley just off a busy central Pattaya road.  (Pattaya has three main roads that run east/west:  Pattaya Nua (north), Pattaya Klang (central), and Pattaya Tai (south) - this was off Pattaya Klang).  The woman who runs the school, Sheri, just arrived as we pulled up, and unlocked the gate to go in.

While I waited in the little courtyard, a curious little boy from a home nearby came strolling by, followed by his grandmother (?) who coaxed mouthfuls of rice into him as he played.  He decided I was alright when I applauded the well-placed kick of his little soccer ball into the courtyard.

The wait had just started to get a little awkward, when two other women finally showed up around 9:10.  They were both Japanese - one woman was now living here because of her husband's work.  They have only been in Pattaya a month or so longer than we have, and her husband works at the same huge industrial complex where Tim works.  Her friend was here visiting her on her way back to Germany from a job in Australia.  They'd both lived and worked in Germany for a few years.  They spoke excellent English, and probably excellent German as well!  As you can see, we had quite a lot of time to get to know one another over the course of the morning.

The cooking school teacher (the Japanese women called her "sensei"), was a lovely Thai woman with very good English and Japanese skills, but better teaching and cooking skills.  We were presented with a pretty comprehensive list of dishes and were allowed to choose four dishes each.  I had expected that we would all learn the same dishes, but she tailored each lesson to each student.  I chose Phad Thai, Spring Rolls, Spicy Noodle Salad and Mango with Sticky Rice.  

(Have I told you my sticky rice saga?  I bought rice without being able to read the label, and it turned out to be sticky rice.  The first time I cooked it on the stove, it came out a big glob of rice, which Tim valiantly ate anyway.  The second time, I went online to see the best way to cook it - so, as instructed, I thoroughly rinsed the rice, then put it in the rice cooker that was left here in the condo.  Rice cookers are supposed to cook rice perfectly, so I've heard.  Well, it came out another big glob, some of which Tim valiantly ate.  There was a lot left, so I decided the best way to make things palatable is to add chocolate (Nope, I haven't changed much).  So I cooked up some fudge the way we used to make it when we were kids, especially brother Bob and I, then stirred in the globs of rice.  (Bob, remember how we used to add Rice Krispies to the fudge?)  Well, it came out a more chewy, globby version of that, so I dropped spoonfuls onto saran wrap and froze the lot.  I've been popping one or two into the microwave when I need some chocolate.  Please note: I am not recommending this as a recipe any of you should try - it is palatable, but that is all!)

a prepared plate of ingredients

Anyway, I thought I should find out how to use up some more of that sticky rice, hence the last selection for my lessons.  The kitchen is set up with about eight portable gas stoves with little prep areas to each side.  For each course, Sheri disappeared into the back, and came out with dishes piled high with the ingredients we needed for that course.  She patiently went through each ingredient, and instructed us how to prepare everything - "chop fine," "chop big," etc.  Nearly everything started with chopping some garlic cloves.  There was also a lot of other fresh ingredients, some I knew - tomatoes, carrots, shallots, green onions, bean sprouts - and some I didn't - rice noodles, glass noodles, palm sugar, fish sauce, preserved turnip, red bird's eye chilies, Kaffir limes, and galangal (Siamese ginger).

Phad Thai with prawns

Spicy Noodle Salad

Me, Teacher Sheri and my Spring Rolls
(something about her reminds me
of my Mom)

Mika, Me and our Mango with Sticky Rice

 After preparing each dish, we could sit down and eat it.  There was far too much food to eat, however.  Fortunately, one of my cooking partners had done this once before, and came prepared with lots of baggies, which she generously shared.  We all sampled each other's dishes, and enjoyed each other's company along the way.  Everything was delicious, and the sweet mango and sticky rice was a nice end to the morning.  The class ran a little long, so I ran a few samples out to Mick, who was waiting patiently outside.  The cooking was fun and pretty easy.  I think the hardest part will be finding the correct ingredients.  The Thai spice aisles in the grocery store are overwhelmingly full of a hundred different varieties of I-don't-know-what, with labels I am unable to decipher. 

In the afternoon, I went to Tesco Lotus to see what ingredients I might find.  I found a few things, but I will have to continue the hunt for others.  I don't know if I mentioned this before, but some of the escalators here do not have steps;  they are just big, moving ramps.  The first time I shopped with a grocery cart, I asked where the elevator was to take my cart to the lower level where the car was.  But the guard pointed me to the escalator.  I was certain I would have to hold onto it for dear life, but somehow the wheels of the cart lock into place when on the contraption - cool.

Try a new recipe for dinner tonight, eh?