wokin' hard in the kitchen

I've heard great things about Thai cooking classes, so I decided to plan a weekend in town and take one.  I even got a friend to do it, too!  The Silom Thai Cooking School--sounds fancy, but it's tucked away at the back of a long, narrow alley on the third floor of a small apartment building, as quaint as it can be.

We met at the market to pick up the supplies on our menu and learn a few things about the vegetables, herbs, and other ingredients we would use.  Including chilies from set your hair on fire inferno hot to they're only used to add color.  I'm a mai sai prik (or a 'ah no spy-CEE') kind of a girl, so if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's too hot!...or something like that...At least I was able to control the spiciness of my own dishes, and my taste buds actually enjoyed some delicious Thai food for a change.  Because there's nothing worse than have the spice hit you in the back of your throat--the kind that makes you cough and your eyes water.  Especially when you have to ration your water because you're no longer in the land of free drink refills.  But I digress.

They had the tiny 3 room apartment running like a fine oiled machine with at least 15 students cutting and stirring and eating and never getting in one another's way.  It was traditional cooking in the sense that we were preparing our food while sitting on the floor.  Despite having strangers' bare feet within inches of my food, I was into the experience.  Kind of liberating.

My favorite dishes:

• Chicken Galangal Coconut Soup (tom-kha-gai)--it was very much like tom-yum without the intense spiciness and a different base. 
• Fried Cashew Nuts with Chicken (gai-pad-med-mamaung)--lightly fried cubes of chicken, cashews, and vegetables, lightly coated in a sweet sauce. 
• Desert Banana in Coconut Milk (khluy-buad-chee)--it's as simple and delicious as it sounds (I think.  I don't remember preparing this).

It was a fun day!  What's great about this cooking school is that they offer several different courses (menus) on different days, so I plan to go back and learn how to make some of my other Thai favs--vegetable fried rice (khao-pad-pak) and green papaya salad (som-tam).  I can't wait to come home and test these recipes out for friends and family and share this part of my experience.  Cheers!