Leaving Thailand

Our train finally arrived 4 hours late. We grabbed the first cab, and probably overpaid but he fit all of our bags and us into his sedan taxi and took us right to the hotel. His English was very good, and we were able to ask him a few questions on the way. We checked into our hotel, took quick showers, and headed straight to the Sky Train to head back to Chatuchak. We made the mistake of entering a different way than we had one week prior and were so lost. After aimless wandering for a half hour I threw up my arms in a dramatic Liz way and demanded we stop for lunch before I could continue. After we ate chicken shwarma, we decided to start over and find the entranced we used the previous week and retrace a steps.

It took some time, but eventually found our way and the shopping marathon began. Two hours later, with our arms full and enough baht to get us home we left victorious. We hopped on the sky train and headed back to the hotel. On the train, there was a commercial for a local sushi chain that was running a new year special with miso soup, tempura, and various sushi for 200 baht. Allison and I instantly craved sushi. So when we got to the hotel we tried to find one of the restaurants, but the website was only in Thai. Then we asked the girl at the front desk, who gave us bad directions, so we ended up back at Siam Paragon Mall, which included some Krispy Kreme and dinner at MK Restaurant. This time we ordered all kinds of vegetables, tofu, shrimp, shabu beef, and roasted duck. It was great. We are going to look for a sukiyaki place back home.

Monday morning we chose to sleep in and go down to the hotel for breakfast. Our plane did not leave until 3:30 pm, so we planned to leave the hotel by noon. After breakfast we went upstairs and began to pack for our journey home. We had thought ahead and packed some duffled bags and placed off of our clothes in the duffle and stowed all of our treasures into our more substantial luggage. Everything fit into 3 large wheeled luggages and one soft duffle.  We rolled everything downstairs, caught a taxi, and headed off for home.

The flight home was 3 hours shorter than the flight there. James used my car and picked us up from the airport. It was so nice to not worry about trying to get home. Once we were whisked away from LAX we told James “let’s get dinner. Mexican food please!”  A few fajita platters and margaritas later and we home.

Thailand was amazing. I am so lucky to have the opportunity to travel. If anyone else is planning on moving and would like some state-side visitors, let us know and you might get some Schultz’s at your door. 

Leaving Chiang Mai

After the cooking class, Allison rested, mom took a walk around the area to the local wat, and I blogged. We met up with Rick and Kannika at 7pm for dinner. Kannika had a surprise for us! The previous night, Rick told us all about New Years in Chiang Mai; the food, the parade, the family friendly party in the streets, and the paper lanterns that everyone was setting off into the night sky. We were all obsessed with the idea, so Kannika we shopping prior to meeting up with us and purchased two 4-foot tall lanterns for us to light and send off over Chaing Mai. It was amazing. It took three people for the big ones, two to hold the lantern up and one to light the wax soaked wick underneath. Within 5 minutes the lantern had filled with enough hot air to float on its own. They glowed wonderfully and drifted off into the universe. Rick said out of the thousands lit on New Years, there was only one fire caused by a rogue lantern.

For dinner we walked to the local night market and ate at the food court. Allison, mom and I were pretty full from eating all day, and Allison was tiring of local food and was craving a quesadilla. We split an order of fried rice, 2 BBQ pork sticks, and a few shakes. Kannika then brought back our favorite dessert, banana and chocolate roti. We spend a long time trying to figure out how to go about making them at home to share with everyone. No solution as of yet.

We took a long walk through the night market. Once we determined it was a bit touristy for us, Rick departed and Kannika took the three girls through the dark alleys of Chaing Mai and emerged in a 24 hour exclusively Thai shopping oasis. There were quite a few stalls closed, but we ended up at the market area. I learned more about some exotic fruit, and Kannika bought me a kilo of Mangosteens. By 11 we were tired and decided we would return tomorrow for another round of shopping.

Back at the hotel, I daringly broke into the first mangosteen. It had the texture of a ripe pear but with a citrus and sweet peachy flavor. There were six white juicy segments, and one containing a large inedible seed. We finish off the whole kilo before climbing into bed.

 

We slept in on Saturday, and treated ourselves to Rick’s favorite breakfast place in town. It was great!! The owner was American and had a large assortment of breakfast options, and REAL bacon and REAL butter. Mom had a breakfast bowl with spinach, onions, cheese with a side of sort of whole wheat toast and a few cups of REAL brewed coffee. Allison had the French toast made with a baguette, bacon and two eggs. I ordered an omelet with tomatoes, bacon, mushrooms, and cheese. It was a nice taste of home.

After breakfast we went into all the store between the restaurant and the hotel. We got some really cool Chiang Mai inspired patterns. We also stumbled into a rarities shop that had opium pipes and scales. The lady demonstrated how to use the scale, which packed flat into a wood case the looking shockingly similar to a wooden kitchen spoon. We left with some bronze bells and left the paraphernalia behind.

By noon Rick and Kannika were up and ready for a full day of shopping, well Kannika was ready Rick was a little less than thrilled to be shopping with his 20 something nieces, but it didn’t deter him from spending time with us. We headed back to the magical Thai market with a pit stop for lunch and REAL Thai iced teas. This guy gave me his recipe: good strong black tea and carnation sweetened condensed milk, combine well and serve over ice. No extra sweetener needed. His English was not great, but he was excited to practice with me. We found all over Thailand that any who spoke a bit of English tried and encourage our conversing with them. Kannika said if you can speak English well enough, you could get a job in tourism where there is a more money. However, English schools were very expensive. Most of the Thai’s we met we just as helpful with our Thai. Anytime we greeted a Thai with a traditional wai  (a slight bow with hands held in the prayer position finger tips by your nose and the salutation sawadee ka) we received a knowing smile. The first few times it wasn’t quite right, but they repeated it slowly to us so we could learn.

Back to shopping. We did a lot. But the best find of the day was down an alley even Kannika had not ventured to yet. It was hot, and on a dirt trail but we came across a woman who was stithing the traditional Hmong patterns into handbags, and she had a GOOD price. Anywhere near Bangkok they were at least 1000 baht which we once got down to 500, but here she was selling the large totes for 250 baht!! We pooled all of our money and bought quite a few. I have no idea how to tell anyone how to find that alley again, but it exists and she is making them right there!

Low on baht and thirsty for a cool drink we headed back to the hotel for the last round of drinks before our departure from Chiang Mai. We chatted away with Rick about his old catering business and some good celebrity stories, his Steven Spielberg, our Ron Howard milking a cow in Connecticut. Then Rick told us more about his and Kannika’s plans for the future, which ultimately are to find a cool house on an undeveloped beach and enjoy the local scene. Sounds good to me!

Uncle Rick arguing with Siri. It was quite entertaining. 

Our taxi arrived and off to the Chiang Mai train station we went. This time we knew how it worked, so we packed all of our dirty clothes into a spare soft sided duffle so our bags would be thin enough to fit under the seats. After an hour on the train, it slowed to a stop and then began travelling back to Chiang Mai. No one could tell us why or where we were going to stop or when we would arrive at our destination. All we thought was well that’s the Thai way. Mom felt particularly smart for making come back to Bangkok a day before our flight so there was NO chance of us missing a connection if our travel plans went awry.

Allison was not feeling well, so she had her bed made early and watched a few episodes of ‘The Mentalist’ we downloaded on the ipad. Mom and I went off to the party car, also known at the restaurant car. It was even busier that our previous experience and we were directed to share a table with two young Thai’s. We weren’t sure if they were brother and sister or boyfriend and girlfriend. Their English was limited but they sure knew all the words to the American songs being played. Everyone laughed at or sang along with me, and it was a great time.

Rather than order the dinner set, Mom and I decided to just get one entrée and two orders of rice. We decided on the lab, the chopped pork with onion, cilantro, and a lemon juice sauce that Kannika introduced us to. The Thai’s at our table could not believe it! They kept asking us we if really liked it, was it too spicy, were we sure? The guy was so surprised and impressed he asked if he could take a picture of me eating to show his friends “the farang who eats real Thai food”. Somewhere on the internet there is a picture of me on a disco train eating real, spicy lab. When our beer and wine cooler were done, mom and I danced back to our bunks and snuggled in for a long ride back to Bangkok. 

Cooking School Menu and Photos

My last post was so long, I had to add a second!
Here are pictures of our cooking class broken down by course.

Course 1- Stir Fry

Allison Pad Thai 

Nancy Hot Thai Basil

Liz Pad See Ew 

Course 2- Appetizer 

 Allison Glass Noodle Salad

 Nancy Green Papaya salad

Liz Spring Rolls 

Course 3 + 4 Curry paste and curry 

Allison Panang 

Nancy Green 

Liz Massaman 

Course 5- Soup 

 Allison Tom Yum

Nancy- Tom Kha Kai

 Liz Tom Sab

Course 6- Dessert 

Allison fried banana

Nancy Mango and sticky rice Chiang Mai style

Liz Banana in Coconut milk

Let us know what your are interested in trying, and we can make dinner one night! 

Chiang Mai day 2- Cooking school!

During our stay in Thailand we wanted to be sure a take a cooking so we could make some of the food we enjoyed back home. We originally signed up for a half-day lesson, but when we got to the cooking school the half group was full of duds. The instructor informed us that some people who signed up for the full day cooking class on the organic far did not arrive and for an extra 100 baht each ($10 total for the 3 of us) we could join the class. We jumped at our good fortune and joined the full day class. Here is a the website with photos, recipes, and information about the school. http://www.asiascenic.com/index.php 

Here are some pictures from the in town cooking class.

Class began with an introduction by the owner of Asia Scenic, Gayray. She explained what our day would comprise of and then brought in our instructor, Mame. For each course we went around the table and got to choose from 3 options which dishes we would like to learn to make. Then we took a walk through the local market. We learned about fresh noodles vs dry noodles and what products we could find back home as substitutes. Then we went to the rice guy and learned all about the various types of rice used in Thai cooking. We were given 20 minutes to further explore the market. Then we hopped into van and headed out to the farm.

Learning about fresh noodles 

Coconut and how to make fresh coconut creme and milk

TOFU

store made curry paste

rice, rice, rice, rice,....

fresh fish at the market

THE largest bag of pork rinds I have EVER seen

Fresh produce

 At the farm, Mame took us around and we saw all the ingredients we would be using today in our class along with some fun fruits and vegetables. First she showed us her cool mushrooms that she grew, and then we learned the difference between hot basil (which is not spicy it just grows in hot climates) and sweet basil (what we see in stores and used in italian food). We smelled fresh ginger and galangal, fresh turmeric, and picked long beans. Mame showed off the giant zucchini which were easily 4 feet long. We picked hot peppers, kefir limes, and avoided the geese that lived in the local canal. 

Welcome to the farm:

Those tall leafless trees are PLUMERIA. 

They are all over Thailand and grow to be very large.

Hot Thai Basil. I will have to check our local asian market for it

 The mushroom cave

Our group and cool hats

Ginger vs. Galangal

Mame talking away !

GIANT zucchini 

a long bean

Picking green eggplant, they are delicious in curry 

undeveloped farm

 After are walk through the garden, we got down to business and made our dishes. First up was stir fry. All over Thailand stir fry is considered street food because it has many of the same ingredients, just different meats and sauces, and can be cooked super fast. After our stir fry crash course we got to taste our dishes. Allison's Pad Thai was good, but Mom's hot thai basil was great, and my Pad See Ew with fresh noodles was outstanding. Next course was appetizer. I made spring rolls, which we discovered are filled with pad thai and some glass noodles. Also, Thai's do not make their own wrapper, they buy them in the freezer section at the market. Mom's green papaya salad was okay, we agreed it would be very tasty made with green apples. Allison's glass noodle salad was light and refreshing. Perfect on a hot afternoon. 

Then we took a 30 minute break for the school staff to grab some lunch (they weren't eating everything we cooked like we were) and we got a chance to chat with some of our classmates. There was a young couple from France and the boyfriend had never cooked before. It was obvious to the class and the girlfriend loved how everyone teased him. There was a brother and sister from DC about Allison and my age. She LOVED everything Malaysian spicy which is even hotter than thai spicy, and he couldn't handle ANY spice. There was a single Italian woman, who was very comfortable in the kitchen and exchanged some tips with me to improve my cooking (like made risotto in a wok!). We sat next to a fun couple, he was from Great Britain with a quick sense of self deprecating humor, and she was Spanish and was eager to learn thai food so she could tone down the spiciness. There was a single Australian guy, who had little knowledge of thai food, but was planning on hosting a dinner back home for his friends so he needed to learn a few basics. And finally there was a single Brazilian woman, about my age who was very comfortable in the kitchen. Overall a fun group of people. 

After our brief siesta came all the hard work. Making our curry paste from fresh ingredients. There are 4 basic curries: red, green, yellow, and massaman. Red and green curry are the same, just made with different color peppers. Red curry is a base for panang curry (just add peanuts) and a local Chiang Mai dish khaw soi. Then there is massaman which is similar to red curry but has additional spices such as star anise, coriander, cinnamon, and is made with dried chilis. Mame informed us that yellow curry comes from a powder and is sold at all markets. Very few Thai's like yellow curry because it lacks complex flavors and is rarely spicy enough. After what felt like an eternity of grinding the peppers and spices into a paste using a mortar and pestle, we could make our soup, curry, and dessert.

Making the soup was incredibly simple, the base is either coconut milk or water. and then you simply steep the herbs and ingredients in the liquid, add your protein, and wait until fragrant. Enjoy! The curry was very similar. Start with a little oil and garlic, add protein of your choice. Mix in curry paste, then coconut milk mixed with water (more coconut milk for a thicker richer curry, more water for a soup like curry). Then stir in any additional vegetables, like green eggplant or potato and reduce by 1/3. Boom delicious curry! 

Our last course was dessert. Thai people do not eat dessert following a large meal like Americans or Europeans do. Dessert is more of an afternoon snack accompanied by a short rest before the long night (Thai's get moving around 10 am and the markets are often open well past midnight). Allison made friend bananas, which we will never duplicate. The banana's were raw and left a cottony texture in your mouth, yuck. Mom made sticky rice and mango. The cooking ladies kept telling everyone that mangos are out of season and are not as sweet as they are in April. But let me tell you, each mango we ate was considerably more flavorful than anything back home. The sticky rice is a dish native to the north. Northern Thai's prefer sticky rice to jasmine rice. The process of making sticky rice is long and requires a specific rice that Mame does not think we have in the states: First soak rice over night or at least 4 hours, then rinse in the morning with fresh, cool water to remove and starch still on the grain. Then place in a STEAMER basket and steam the rice for 30 minutes. To make the dessert, you then steep the sticky rice in a coconut milk mixture until all the milk is absorbed, making it slightly sweet. The dessert was okay, but we enjoyed to fresh fruit more than tough sweet rice. My dessert was the real winner, bananas in coconut milk. It was so delicious. In the class it was served warm, but we all agreed if it was cooled in the fridge and then served it would be perfect. We learned how to make the coconut milk mixture which has a light coconut flavor with a hint of salted caramel, and then you mix in cooked bananas. In the US we probably would just use fresh since our bananas are softer. 

We loved our class and would highly recommend it to anyone traveling through Chiang Mai, http://www.asiascenic.com/index.php 

Between Allison, Mom and I, we learned 18 Thai dishes! Pictures of our menu to follow in a second post.