Miss Ya Chop Chop!

I finally got to go to cooking school!!! Ok, so it was only three hours long, but I enjoyed every minute of it. Some of the dishes were prepared very quickly and at the same time as other dishes. I was concentrating so hard, Frank thought I was upset and reminded me to smile. My brow furrows when I am concentrating, but I was definitely in my happy place! The recipe book we received with the class is stained and covered with notes and my hands still smell of garlic. I was cooking, writing, taking pictures, asking questions and making videos all at the same time. It's a wonder I didn't catch myself on fire! I had so much fun I had no room to eat what we cooked. But guess what's for dinner tomorrow?

Our teacher, Mrs. Chonloya Laotong (Ya), left a prestigious cooking career to open the first Thai cookery school in Krabi. We got lost (that's when we found the pineapples) trying to find it on our own because it is at her house, a small bungalow on a dirt road that looks like nothing at all. But, walk in the gate, past the palm fronds and birds of paradise and suddenly you are in a cooking class. Open to the tropical breeze with long tables covered with everything needed for prepping and cooking, including plenty of forks and spoons for sampling.

We learned to make the bases for Thai cooking, like curry pastes; red, green and Panaeng (red with peanuts), and a seasoning made of peppercorns, cumin seed and coriander all crushed to a fine powder in a mortar and pestle. Traditionally, the pastes are also made this way but a blender makes fast work of it. You just have to add a little bit of water to get things moving. I learned what galangal is. It is the root on the right side of the plate that looks like ginger. It has its own distinct flavor but ginger can be substituted. I sliced lemongrass for the first time ever (that's the white thing that looks like spring onions). The whole class was hands on. I made Chicken with yellow curry, Thom Yam (soup) with chicken and Pad Thai with tofu. We had to prep and cook everything ourselves and at the end sat down to eat it all. Of course, most of it went into take away bags because of all the sampling. I could write a book about those precious three hours when my dreams where coming true. Thanks babe for an unforgettable day! The Packers won and I went to cooking class. We're both walking on air!

mandy

"everything, bang! bang!"-Ya