Southeast Asia Files: I Can Cook!

I took a Thai cooking class in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Yes me, the girl who does not cook. And you know…it was fun! I think that it’s even something I could reenact at home! Part of my aversion to cooking is the intimidation factor. I’m not familiar with cooking and I’ve convinced myself that it’s something I would not be good at. Well, when you have all of the ingredients prepared for you and a professional chef watching your every move to make sure that you are doing things properly it takes some of the anxiety out of it.

My class consisted of a Dutch couple, a British couple, an Irish couple, two Finnish girls, an Australian guy and myself. I cringed when they asked about my nationality but thankfully didn’t get any anti-American sentiments. Our two Thai instructors were very goofy and did the showman bit while demonstrating the cooking procedures. We got a tour through a local market before the cooking portion, where the ingredients were were going to use were explained to us. The class was very hands-on and we cooked every dish ourselves and then ate them for lunch.

So what did I make? And did it taste all right? The menu was yellow curry with chicken and veggies, steamed fish in banana leaves, stir fried chicken with cashews, lemongrass soup, fried fish cakes, phad thai, and spring rolls. And it all tasted pretty fantastic, if I do say so. The amazing thing was that it was all so easy. I feel like the mystery has been taken out of cooking and a door has been opened into the culinary world. I may never cook these dishes again, but I fully believe that if I wanted to, I could.

Southeast Asia Files: Dinner and Downpour

After a day spent shopping and exploring in Bangkok’s commercial areas, I decided to go for a walk in Lumphini Park, a large pond- and grass-filled area surrounded by skyscrapers and major arterials. After a couple of hours of strolling and reading it was beginning to get dark so I headed back toward the entrance, hoping to get something to eat from the vendors I had seen setting up shop on my way in. What greeted me at the exit defied my expectations. The parking lot had been transformed into an outdoor restaurant; waiters ran between food booths and tables full of chattering Thais, setting out plates of food, bottles of beer and glasses of whiskey for the dining masses. Having envisioned something simpler I was initially a bit lost and wandered aimlessly past the various vendors, eying the menus’ Thai script and hoping for some English. Soon enough a waiter ran up to me and began speaking in rapid Thai. The look I gave was no doubt baffled because he switched over to English, handing me a menu I could read.

I sat alone at a table with boisterous activity all around me. I felt out of place but in a good, excited way. As soon as my whole grilled catfish (delicious) and papaya salad with shrimp (spicy) arrived, the random bolts of lightening that had been playing through the sky all afternoon gave way to a full on thunderstorm. The tables situated on the outskirts of the overhanging tarps were quickly moved closer to the center of the dining area and the ends of the tarps were rolled and fashioned into makeshift gutters, which the water poured down from in great gushes. The sudden downpour brought the diners closer together and we looked at each other conspiratorially, laughing about the rain.

I waited it out as long as I could, but after nearly an hour the rain showed no signs of stopping so there was nothing for it but to trudge home through sheets and lakes of water. I was completely soaked by the time I reached the condo I was staying in, but the dinner was all the more memorable because of it.

Southeast Asia Files: Bugs

They were crispy, they were crunchy, they were fried, they were definitely undisguised in any way, and yes–I liked them. I recently partook of these bugs:

while at a locals’ food market in northern Thailand, and while they weren’t the best thing I’ve ever eaten they were far from the worst. They made for a nice light snack and I wouldn’t turn them down if offered them again.

It seems to me that if bugs are so high in protein and so plentiful and presumably easy to acquire that we should be eating more of them, as a people. This would be a hard sell to the Western world, I realize, what with our social conditioning to view bugs as dirty and disgusting, but grinding them up into hamburger patties doesn’t seem like such a bad idea. It would disguise their appearance and would be a cheap, protein-rich, earth-conscious alternative to land- and resource-wasting beef. Just a thought. In the meantime, they can be found in the local markets of Southeast Asia, and elsewhere.