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.