A couple days ago, we took a Thai cooking class. Somehow, I thought this would be a very fun but somewhat impersonal, extremely touristy experience.
It was a very touristy thing to do, but definitely not impersonal. Andrew, Amy and I were the only people in the class (it’s low season … I love travelling in low season, even if the weather is less perfect) … and it was held at the teacher’s home! Her whole family helps out with her business … helping with prep work, cleaning dishes, making brochures, helping with internet advertising. And they make space in their lives to welcom foreigners into their house and their thai-style (of course, since it’s their home) outdoor kitchen to learn to make the dishes they eat (but in a way that is toned-down for western wimpy palates). I felt so privileged to be able to be there and learn.
We got a tour of the food market first. It puts French food markets (the only other outdoor food markets I’ve been to) to shame. You really need to check out Andrew’s photo pages to see what it looks like. The sensations and smells are amazing! Plus, our teacher’s descriptions of how it works (along with some help we’d gotten from Karis) make it much easier to figure out and order meals in Thailand … which doesn’t sound that hard with all the Thai restaurants in Seattle but is really intimidating here!
The cooking part was a lot simpler than I’d imagined. Mostly stir-frying with different ingredients, or famililar ingredients that I wouldn’t have thought to use that way. Even the curry was mostly a stir-fry. I’m excited to hunt down new spices and cook Thai for people when I get back to Seattle.
