Dear Kate, Martin, Tom and Josh

Thank you very much for buying us a cooking class which we did yesterday and enjoyed very much.

We have to say that neither of us realised quite how good we both are at cooking before...therefore we would cordially invite you (and everyone else we know) to a dinner party when we are back in the UK.

I think a dinner party is where you come round to our house and we cook for you and you say things like 'mmm this is nice' and 'can you pass me another hors d'oeuvre please'. It should probably involve a fair bit of wine as well.

The cooking course started with a trip to a market to learn about all the ingredients. I have to admit I might have drifted off a little bit when she was explaining the difference between 3 different types of ginger but Donna told me afterwards that it was all very interesting.

Next we got to choose what we wanted to eat. We got to choose a soup, a curry, a stir fry, an appetizer and a desert. Which, when you think about it, is quite a lot of food.

The course was run by 3 charismatic Thai women and, as per usual, I got bullied. They kept on insisting that I put more and more chillies in my soup to make it spicier because I am a man.

As a strict mild chicken tikka masala guy, this made my first dish, the soup, inedible.

I didn't realise it was actually possible to cry from eating too spicy food So...my shrimp and coconut soup probably won't be on the menu at the dinner party.

However everything is a learning curve and I can happily say the rest of my food was a bland korma level of spiciness.

Next we had to make the curry paste. This seemed to involve an awful lot of ingredients and an awful lot of hard work as you have to bash the awful lot of ingredients with a mortar and pestle. Like two great minds thinking alike, me and Donna both looked at each other and thought 'Sod this, we can just buy a paste and no one will know the difference'

On to making the curry. I was making a massaman. Quite frankly it was easy. It is just a case of adding all the ingredients at the right time. Luckily there was always one of those instructors hanging around to tell you exactly when the right time was.

At the same time, we made the stir fry. I picked chicken with basil leaves because it sounded easy. Preparation involved attacking a piece of chicken until it was a lumpy mass, adding some basil leaves and again cooking it for just the right amount of time (again luckily those helpful instructors were there).

Without being modest, I have to say that it was the best curry and the best chicken with basil leaves I have had since coming to Thailand. Which technically makes me the best cook in the whole of Thailand.

Donna's Pad Thai and red curry was pretty good as well apparently so maybe I am only the joint best cook in the whole of Thailand.

In the afternoon, our attention started to wane a bit. Afterall, when you have just eaten a massive curry and stir fry, all you want to do is lie down and massage your swollen belly.

So I have to admit my spring rolls were only passable rather than brilliant but the deep fried bananas and ice cream for dessert was delicious.

At the end of course, we even got a certificate to prove we are now bone fide, genuinely good, tip top Thai cooking maestros (and a cookbook in case we had forgotten any of the ingredients) so we will definitely cook a good dinner party.

The cookery school offered the guarantee: you will finish the day looking pregnant.

Can't argue with that.

So, yeah, let us know when you are all free for the dinner party and we'll put something in the diary yeah?

Lots of love

Jim and Donna