Chiang Mai, February 14, 2018

Cooking class last night was a blast! We are learning that there are many, many cooking schools in Chiang Mai but this school was selected for us because it serves vegetables, herbs and mushrooms grown in its own garden. And while they teach large groups of tourists in their well-equipped outdoor kitchen during the daytime, this evening event was just for the two of us.

Bay and driver, Ten, drove us a long way through the busy city streets. It was rush hour. We finally left the city and drove out to a neighboring village where farms abound. The natural growth along the roads is dry, but the gardens and farms are thriving with the help of hand watering and irrigation systems.

Finally we reached Thai Garden Cooking School and met Mr. Son. His real name is Sonithichal Rinyana, but he goes by Son. As we stepped up on his porch, Mr. Son served us an ice cold sweet drink made from purple pea flowers and proceeded to take us through his beautiful organic garden. We saw his mushroom farm, his clumps of Thai basil, celery, oregano and cilantro. He showed us kefir lime leaves and kefir lime fruit; mango, jack fruit, eggplants of all sizes, from tiny grape-sized eggplants to ping-pong ball sized white ones to purple Japanese eggplant. He grows cherry tomatoes and peppers of all colors and varying degrees of heat. We tasted little sour fruits said to be good in soups and leaves of all kinds, also said to be good in soups. He showed us how he composts and adds an extra touch of vitality to his garden and compost heap with just a dab of fermented fruit juice. He says it boosts the microorganisms and helps to break down the compost into soil bursting with nutrients. He said the juice will also clean toilets and freshen odors. It's good for septic tanks too. The jug he had brewing had been made with star fruit and brown sugar. It will stew in the jug for another 2 months before it is ready to use.

Finally, we started cooking. We learned how to make curry paste, an everyday cooking staple here, using fresh chilies, shallot, herbs, fish sauce, galangal (like ginger root but different), lemon grass, fresh turmeric, fresh pepper corns and who knows what all else. All the ingredients are finely chopped and placed in a mortar where it is all ground and mushed together until it's a fine paste. After ten minutes of mashing, voila! It is curry! The paste was put aside.

Next we made a chicken and coconut soup with broth he just made today. Knock your socks off delicious!!! Then we shredded carrot, shallot, cabbage, and re-hydrated black mushroom and tossed it all with egg and chicken breast that Stan minced using two knives. I stir-fried the mixture and let it cool.

Back to the curry . . . We stir-fried the curry paste in a little oil and then added chicken and cooked it until just white. We added kiffir lime leaves; coconut milk; tiny, bitter eggplants; fish sauce; palm sugar and sweet basil leaves.

Oh boy, not to be finished yet, we made stir fried chicken with cashew nut. Wow!!!! We marinated chicken breast cubes with sesame oil, sugar, and oyster sauce. Then we stir fried big red dried chilies, added onion, galangal chunks, green and red pepper chunks plus a bunch of seasonings. Finally we topped it off oyster mushroom that we had shredded into strands, and lemon grass. At the end we splashed on Chinese whisky and roasted cashew nuts. OH MY!!!!!

Finally, we rolled up spring rolls made of the vegetables and minced chicken we made earlier and deep fried them until they were just golden-brown. Because they were so hot, they continued to brown a little more as they drained on racks.

Dinner was ready. My God, I've never had such flavors! All I can say to my friends and family is GET READY! Mr. Son gave me his cookbook and you are going to get one of these dinners!

Today was equally happy! We went on another bike ride starting early in the morning. The weather was just perfect, and as we rode through tiny streets of a nearby village, the air felt like we were in perfection. As we biked along sometimes I would just breathe it in.

We saw traditional houses, saw people working their gardens, and saw rice being sowen by hand in a wet paddy. We passed barking dogs who wanted to tear us up and sleeping dogs who never knew were were there. We stopped at a Catholic school and watched children at play. Today is Valentine's Day; two kids, a little girl and a rambunctious boy, pasted valentine heart stickers on my shirt and grinned at me. I don't know who got the greater thrill today, the kids or me!! How sweet, sweet, sweet!!! Kids here love to say hello! I just want to hug them all!

We stopped at a facility that was formerly for lepers. It was established in 1908 and has a hospital, tiny houses for individual living quarters, barracks, places for social gatherings, and rehab facilities for physical, mental, and occupational therapy. Originally established as a leper colony, people with all kinds of needs are served here now, including still those with leprosy today. The 9th king, the one the people love so much and the father to the current king supported and enhanced this facility. He was a man who loved the people of his country and their culture. From everything we have learned about the former king, he was a man who loved learning. He established schools for rural children, he founded universities for agriculture and science; he's the one who built the Royal Park Rajapruek and the Royal Flower Expo. As a side note, pictures of the 10th king (the son) are on lamp posts and billboards everywhere. While his father was a great king, seems the son is famous only for having many wives and many divorces. He is currently unmarried and has no legitimate male heir.

In our 2.5 hour ride, we passed more temples. The most remarkable point about the ones we saw today is that they are in ruins. It's called the underground city. Flooding occurs here during every rainy season and over the years; the waters have eroded and washed away most of the old relics. Many restoration attempts and digs to uncover the buildings have been performed over the centuries but Mother Nature continues to have her way.

We capped off the morning with lunch at the Yellow Noodle, a very popular Islamic restaurant. Our guide has been eating here for over 30 years. We had the most popular dish, egg noodle, chicken and meat ball soup and some sweet, deep green tea on ice with lime and honey to drink.

The place was packed with locals. We and Buddhist townsfolk sat alongside Islamic Muslim neighbors. A bowl of necessary condiments came with the soup . . . cubed shallot, fermented vegetable and lime. All goes in the bowl. The dish was delicious! Sooooooo, here we are again, bellies full of good spicy stuff, and there is a dinner and native dancing planned for us tonight!!!