Sharing food

Eating together is the most human way I can think of to make new friends. Cooking together may be even more fun than just eating together.

A few nights ago I did a cooking class at the Asia Scenic Cooking School in Chiang Mai. We learned how to cook a few delicious Thai dishes and got to share many laughs in the process.

My favourite part of the whole evening was learning that the business was wholly owned by Thai women.

We started off getting a tour of their organic garden in the middle of the city where they grew everything from basil to bananas to keffir limes.

Our host for the evening then showed us the local market and the type of things the locals buy and how they discern quality.

The first thing we got to make was miang kham – betel leaves filled with delicious goodies like shallots, limes and an amazing syrup.  So fresh.

Next up: pad thai, of course.  With emotion.

Followed by making our own curry pastes!

With a brief interlude for spring rolls before diving full into the curry preparation.

And to cap it off – mango sticky rice for dessert.  What more could one want?  Half of that rice is dyed blue with a naturally occurring dye.

We truly feasted like royalty.  I had such a fun 4 hours – laughing over food prep, coughing at spicy food and sharing stories from our travels. A great reminder to cook more with friends when I get home.  I’m truly so thankful for this experience.