Cooking class/night market

Thailand, Day 3
Sunday was our final day in Thailand.  One of the things I really wanted to do was take a Thai cooking class.  I found one that was highly rated and several reviewers mentioned they had brought their kids.  They picked us up at our hotel.  We had 2 other couples in our group, both from the US.  We started with a market tour to show us the local ingredients that are prevalent in Thai cooking.  It was interesting.  The market was pretty similar to the open air markets in Hong Kong, although there were several stands with prepackaged foods.  We bought some dried fruit and tea to bring home.

When we got to the cooking "school", which was set up in a home, we got to choose what dishes we wanted to make.  We did the half day option, so we got to choose a soup, noodle dish, and a curry paste to make into a curry.  The other people in our group did the full day option, so they also got to choose an appetizer, dessert and main course.  We didn't have to choose the same dishes, she encouraged us to pick different ones.  At first, I had been hoping it would just be the 4 of us in our group, but it was actually better to have a larger group because we got to see the differences in the dishes. 

The first thing we made was soups.  I chose Chicken Coconut Soup and Tom picked Hot and Sour Soup.  Our group had chosen 3 or 4 different soups, but we all started with the same ingredients.  The only difference was the liquids and spices. 

Tommy and I getting ready to chop up our vegetables

 

Chicken coconut soup.  It was amazing.

Tom's hot and sour soup on the right, fried big noodles on the left

Then, we made the noodle dish.  Tom chose Fried Big Noodles and I chose Drunken Noodles.  One of the other guys was asking the teacher about drunken noodles and she seemed excited he had chosen it and mentioned it was the most fun.  I thought it would be a good one to try.  We cut up all our ingredients, then moved over to the woks.  She had the three of us making Drunken Noodles together and wanted us to wait until the others were finished.  We added a few of our ingredients then she told us to stand back while she added the liquids.  She also made the kids go to the other side of the room. She told us to make sure we started stirring as soon as the liquid went in.  I was the second of the 3 she did so I knew what to expect.  It was a little counter-intuitive to stick your hand into a burning pan to stir.  Now I know why she was excited people chose this dish. 

Trying to stir without getting burned

Tom making his noodles

Big helpers

Drunken Noodles-delicious

After we made those two dishes we got to go inside and eat them.  Even splitting our dishes with the kids, we were pretty full after just 2 courses.  Next we made dessert.  Our program didn't come with dessert, but since the rest of our group was making dessert next, she let us do it too.  We made mangoes with sticky rice.  I hadn't had any dessert yet in Thailand, but this was delicious.  In general, I have found that desserts in Asia are not as good as in the US or Europe, but this was really good.  The rice had a sweet coconut sauce on it. 

Mangoes with sticky rice-yummy

After we made dessert, it was time to make our curry paste and then make a curry with it.  I had chosen a red curry with pumpkin and Tom had chosen yellow curry.  We didn't want the red curry to be too spicy for the kids (or us), so I only put a few chilies in the curry.  Therefore, it was almost as mild as yellow curry.  We chopped up our ingredients and then mashed them with a mortar and pestle.

 Then we chopped up our ingredients for our curry and cooked it in the wok.  Our teacher was great!  She gave great instructions and was very witty.  Once our curries were finished we went inside to eat our curries and desserts. 

Red curry with pumpkin, we ate it with rice

All the food was amazing.  The kids were so stuffed, Charlotte told me she couldn't eat another bite, then she realized she hadn't had her dessert yet.  She powered through and ate most of it.  We ended up taking most of my curry home.  Then it was time for us to leave.  The other people in our group still had 2 more dishes left.  I can't imagine how they had any room to eat them. 
We got a recipe book to bring home.  I am going to try to make the Chicken Coconut Soup for dinner tonight.  Hopefully, it turns out. 

After we got home from cooking class, we rested for a few hours and then got a tuk tuk into town for the Sunday Night Market.  Every night there is a night bazaar where locals can sell their handicrafts to tourists.  The Sunday Night Market is supposedly the biggest number of vendors with the best prices.  Apparently the locals shop there as well.  We bought several souvenirs and gifts.  Bartering was fun.  If you asked how much anything cost and then put it down and walked away, the price continued to drop for each step you took.  There were also many stalls selling delicious food and drinks.  I told Tommy we would look for a toy tuk tuk at the market.  After we found one, he was all done with shopping.  Tom and the kids had fun sampling the food while I finished shopping. 

picking out an carved elephant souvenir

Our flight on Monday morning was at 6 AM, so we had to get up at 3:30 to leave.  The seats on Air Asia are really small so Tom had booked the exit row both ways and I was sitting with both kids.  I was really hoping they would sleep on the way home.  Neither one did.  I got up to take one of them to the bathroom at one point and everyone else on the plane was sleeping but them (including Tom).  We had an early bedtime that night. 

Not much cooperation from Charlotte at 6 AM

We had such a great trip, but we are glad to be home.  The kids are already asking about our next vacation.