A Modern Day Grand Tour: Cooking in chiang mai

These posts are a little out of order since we actually did the trekking before we did our cooking class but I wanted to put my trek in a separate post. We ended up heading out on the trek the day after we arrived in Chiang Mai so we had to split our time there. It turned out great since we were able to do some shopping (actually tons and tons of shopping) and also take a cooking course!

Chiang Mai is Thailand's second largest city but it is so much smaller that you would think you were in just a small town in the next province over. The traffic was still bad with lots of motorbikes and tuk-tuks but it still had a small town feel and we were able to walk around for the most part without getting lost or run over. But what's a stay in SE Asia without riding around in a motorbike. Ang and I had originally had rented bikes in Kanchanaburi but we wanted to feel like one of the cool kids so we decided to rent a motorbike in Chiang Mai. We wanted to do some shopping as well as get a massage so we had to run all over town so catching tuk-tuks wasn't really worth it. But don't worry (Mom)! We only had a rinky-dink 100cc one that never really got very fast. We got honked at a lot for going so slowly and we were probably the only people on the road with helmets on but we had a fun time riding around. I even ended up with blisters on my hands from my deathgrip on the handle bars! At least we were able to get a lot of our shopping done so everyone will be getting presents back home (and also fit in a massage).

My super-comfortable-yet-really-dorky travel pillow. Very important on those looonnnnggg overnight bus trips! Our VIP bus to Chiang Mai was actually very pleasant with air-con, some snacks and a smooth road.

Look at that road hog! It was really fun but I don't think I'll do it again. Don't want to tempt fate!

But who could leave Chiang Mai without doing a trek or taking a cooking class? The food we've been eating has been pretty spectacular so we were really excited to learn how to make it ourselves. Thai food is so fragrant and spicy so we really wanted to learn about the spices and also how to make some kick-ass green curry! We found a class that was set at an organic farm so we quickly signed up and readied our stomachs. We first went to a local food market to see what different types of foods looked like, for example rice, coconuts and of course chillis!! We drove out to the farm and it was perfect. Sunny skies, rows and rows of fresh produce and no obnoxious billboards in sight. We took a quick tour of the farm and then we got straight to business. We ended up cooking green curry, fried chicken with basil, papaya salad, mango with sticky rice and my absolute favorite, tom yam soup with shrimp!! We had such a great time cutting, tasting, mortor and pestling, and of course eating. Eating and eating and eating!! Everything was so fresh and we were sure to gobble everything up as soon as we could. Ang and I have aspirations of cooking Thai food back home but we'll see how well we can recreate the stuff!

Mmm, chillis! They are so small but nuclear. They were hard to get used to but now I don't think I can live without them!

We had the class at an organic farm just outside Chiang Mai. Who wouldn't want to cook in a setting like this?

We met these really great girls, Consuelo and Carly, who were mortor-and-pestling right along with us. We made the green curry paste out here and it was really hard work though apparently I have a gift for it. All the rage, you know :).

Chopping away! We got to try so many different spices though I highly doubt we'll be able to find some of them in the states (kaffir lime leaves, anyone?).

All the fresh ingredients we used were grown on the farm and our instructor showed us the various plants. We even got to wear these nifty farmer joe hats!