Making food & making friends

When I was in Chiang Mai, I took a full-day cooking class. Lots of options for these in Chiang Mai (also in Bangkok). I'm glad I decided to do it. There were just 4 of us in the class - me, Sun-hee (South Korean), Vincent (French Canadian) and David (Canadian). All of us were travelling solo. Our teacher and market guide, Tu, made the day informative and fun.

First, Tu took us to a local food market. She pointed out the different noodles (soy, rice, etc.), curries (we would make our own) and veggies. After picking up our supplies, it was back to the cooking school. We would prep in an outside covered area, learning how to chop and prepare all the ingredients. Did a lot of chopping, and some serious mashing with a mortar & pestle. We would then move to a small inside kitchen, where we each had our own stove. We prepared our own dish for each course, adding more or less spice as we liked. Tu kept an eye on us, making sure we had the right heat, were adding ingredients in the right order. She did her job well - every dish came out great.

After each dish, we'd head to the dining room to eat our creations, share off each other's plates, and chat between courses. By the end of the day, we made 9 dishes and had been eating for 5 hours. I also made 3 new friends.

I will be wanting to test out my new culinary skills when I get home, so keep an eye out for dinner invitations.