Chiang Mai

Tha Pae Gate into Old City

 The gate (what's left of it) surrounds the entire old city in a large square and just outside, a reconstructed moat lines the gate.

I spent the first day pampering and the second day walking.  I walked all around the old city and visited several of the Buddhist temples.  Wat Chedi Luang was the most impressive.  Tomorrow I'm taking a tour up to the mountains to see one of the ancient temples and the surrounding area.

 Today I spent the day at Asia Scenic Cooking School and it was sooo much fun!  They picked me up at my guesthouse and took me to the school in Old City.  I was introduced to my group that I would be with for the day.  Go figure, I get paired with a family from NEW JERSEY!!  And a really nice couple from Holland.  We all got along well, enjoyed learning from each other, trying each other's dishes and sharing stories of traveling around the area.  We each got to choose 6 dishes to learn and all dishes were included in a nice cook book we got at the end of the day.

 Our teacher first brought us to the market in Chiang Mai so she could explain different types of rice, noodles, chili peppers, tofu and how to buy them properly in the US.  We then drove to the farm where we learned about the different herbs and vegetables used in Thai cooking and how to substitute if they're not available where we live.  I'm counting on the Dekalb Farmer's Market to keep my Thai cooking going!!

 We first learned how to soak rice and the differences between cooking sticky rice and jasmine rice.  I have some tools I need to buy before I head home!

We each got to choose an appetizer--I picked papaya salad which I LOVE LOVE LOVE!  I'm crushing  the ingredients above in the mortar.  Luckily I got to also try the spring rolls made by two of my new buddies (rolling them up here).  I don't usually like spring rolls from what I've tried in the US but these were really good and easy!  

For my stir fry dish, I chose pad thai of course.  That's my dish below!!

 We had a lot of fun working with each other.  For our second meal of the day, we chose a soup and curry paste to make.  The curry paste took some time as we had to take turns crushing all the ingredients into the paste.  We then added the paste to coconut milk in the wok and other herbs, vegetables and chicken.  It was really good, I'm so excited to make the things I've loved here at home!!

 

The other pastes we made were panang and red curry, masaman and khaw soi (popular in Chiang Mai).

I need to buy a wok and some ingredients I might not be able to get at home.  Mom, Dad get ready. I'll make you dinner to say thank for taking care of Rio when I get home!  Hopefully everything turns out as well as it did today.

 Final meal (dinner)..my soup, jasmine rice and green curry.

New buddies!!