It is the third Day....at School

Tuesday, August 10, 2010
I awoke this morning had breakfast at the beautiful restaurant the group is to meet at 0700 a.m. When we arrived at the above ground. The menu for the day consisted of Crispy Golden Bags stuffed with Green Curry Prawn and Chicken or in Thai it is called Toong Tong Keaw Waan. Our instructor for the day is actually own of the owners of the School/Restaurant. And Naam Jim Sub Pa Rod (Dipping Sweet Pineapple Sauce) for the Bags of shrimp and chicken. The next dishes is Salmon Yang-Nam Plaa Waan (Grilled Salmon with Sweet Tamarind Sauce), Tom Kha Kai Sai Mapraow Orn (Coconut Milk with Chicken and Young Coconut Flesh), Kai Phad Prik Tua Fak Yao (Stir fried Chicken with Red Curry & Long Bean).
After the initial recipes were completed the instructors demonstrated different techniques for fruits and vegetables. I carved Papaya in the shape of leaves, cucumbers in the shape of a type of tulip, carrots in the shape of leaves as well and large white radishes.
Bags of Shrimp and Chicken


The above delicious packages are tied with blanched green onion skins
In the next recipe you will see that the salmon is cover with a wonderful sauce that would disguise
Any overdone salmon. This recipe is very forgiving.
One of the most interesting things about this dish is that it is wrapped in banana leaves for moisture retention and added flavor.

Next I have prepared for you a coconut milk soup:

This soup is so rich it is a velvety experience on the mouth. One thing for sure if one eats this they will enjoy the smooth silky texture and the great layers of flavor the experience on the thong.
The last meal that I prepared to day is called: Stir fried Chicken with Red Curry and Long Beans (Kai Phad tua Fak Yao)
It is a spicy dish that includes Kaffir leaves with is a common flavoring in Thailand and it has sweet basil added just before serving. I like things really hot so I added extra red chillies to this dish as if it needed additional help:

After this session we started carving fruit and vegetables: Here is what mine ended up looking like: LOL The joke is really on me I wish I could develop a flower out of fruits and vegetable which closely resembled this dish. However mine fell somewhat short in this department and actually I was so mesmerized by the procedure I forgot to take a photo of mine. I would like you to think and imagine how closely mine decorated fruit looked. The chef who demonstrated these techniques told us that normally it takes him mere seconds to create beautiful presentations as this I am in the learning stages and I will achieve this in the end.
Well as far as I am concerned it is back on the subway and to the room to do laundry. Tomorrow we travel most of the day so it will be a boring log entry, but maybe I will manage to cook a hot dog or burger in the window of the bus, you never know... I will tell you more when it happens.


All in all this is the best thing. i love the Thai way of cooking it doesn't get too spicey for me. I really love their presentation and decoration techniques. I am sure we are merely scracthing the surface. I wish i could stay here for a very long time. Every country has its main ingredients it seems; except america we are a combination of different ingredients. I think I can clarify by saying the French cook with butter and cream. the greek cook with olive oil, lemon, and feta cheese. The Italians cook with olive oile, garlic and tomatoes. It seems that the Thai cook with fish sauce, oyster sauce, birds eye chilies, curry and coconout milk. I really value this culinary experience it is all relative.

It was all good

In the previous screen I showed you pictures of the Pad Thai, Chicken Red Curry with Coconut M and I should you a picture of our Culinart chef as follows.

Monday in school was a feeling.....

Thinteresdting thing about the knife fish was that the flesh was so tender you can literally scrap the meat off the bones this the the fish we made taste like pork by adding spices and pounded it in bowls.

Assorted Fish on Ice.



The Culinary instructor was so good at explaing what things were however we litterally ran from point to point as she explained. what thing we were looking at. She informed us we were to start cooking the food we purchased at the market this morning.. I found out that Thai people as people in many cultures who eat frech food shop everyday to get the frshest ingredients in their food.

Today started with a short trip to a nearby market complete with one of the culinary instructors who explained about many of the different areas we ran through to review. As we ran through the market we saw everything from cooked food, fruit, raw meat, and vegetables. One of the things that deserves honorable mention was there was a young lady meating B-Na-Na as our instructor called them and while eating she was handling the meat. You and I both know that would never fly in America. So all I can say is pass the beef.



Today is Monday August 9, 2010, we are on our way to the cooking school I am so excited that I did so well on Sunday.

I made the most delicious fish patties out of knife fish, that really tasted like pork after I got done pounding it in a bowl with many spices. The sauce that goes with it was a perfect balance between sweet and sour.

I felt as if I can really achieve my goals to learn as many culinary styles and tastes as possible. Todays menue consist of:Phad Thai which is a wether dry noodle dish that is famous in America and other places it is known to be a Famous Thai dish:

My Phad thai was of course extra spicy and delicious. I always seem to add a little more pepers so as my dishes are a little more spicy. Next I will prepare for youTom Yam Koong a Spicey and Sour Prawn Soup this dish was very good the only change I made was to add my shrimp at the very last minute so that my shrimp would retain their moisture. I was concerned that the shrimp would become rubbery if I cooked them as the instructor did. The Instructor knew how to cook this meal quickly, but because I was unfamiliar I thought “oh I had better add my shrimp last or I would come up with a dish I should call rubber shrimp:
The dish I have prepare below consist of Green Curry with Chicken, one of the main components of this dish was the eggplant not as we know egg plants , but Thai egg plant is very young and small in size. The small peal shaped egg plants that accompany the dish literally burst in your mouth with a somewhat sour taste.

Let me tell you

In the previous pictures I showed you enormours ham hocks, roasted corn, Fried shrimp, Fried Quail ggs, and the dancing coffee maker. There were several Thai men as soon as you walked into the area where the weekend market was established, these men would dance while they were mixing the condensed milk and coffee drinks for the customers. I stead a little too long and I found out that the coffee was already mixed and thet were simply pouring large cups of coffee into large containers as they danced in circles and pour thess cups into one another at varying ditances it was wonderful to watch. But magical it was not. Just cool.

Sunday is the first day of school

This was the most exciting day; the culinary instructore of the Blue Elephant demonstrated how to make the dishes and then it was our turn to make the dishes. It's funny in a way we prepared the dishes and I made sure I asked the instructore to taste my dishes so I could make sure they were delicious according to Thai standards. But they were really safe in making us eat our own food. The recipes we developed that day were, Tom Som Salmon (Ginger Soup with Salmon), Kai Har Bai Toey (Deep fry Chicken wrapped in pandanus leaves-Emerald Chicken), Paneang Nua (Paneang Curry with Beef) All these disehs came out great I love heat so I was also sure to add more chilies to my dishes.

Afterwards I returned to the Weekend Market and as I previously have shown that evening we went to Chinatown below you will see more pictures of the weekend market. How great it was.

Saturday Night was the dance and the Dinner Theater Weird to see men wear so much make-up

The male dancer is on the left side of Linda.

Proof that we ate the insects.

At the weekend market you literally could find anything you wanted to eat or sit on, including furniture and we even saw pets that were somewhat questionably treated. Their living arrangements weren't what we might consider wonderful. I had never seen a blond squirrel before today. Oh and by the way I even got a visiting African Political official to try the ants and roaches they too agreed they were delicious. I think it was the salty spray they put on the roasted insects prior to sending them home with the purchase. Thailand is truly the land of waste not.

The Weekend Market What a Blast....

Probably the most wonderful thing about our day today was not only the market itself but the delicacies of which they served. As I walked through the market I could not help myself but to try the different roasted insects that were on display. I bought extra and the crew tried these crunchy snacks as well. The grasshopers were the best tasting and the roaches were delightful however they stayed chruncy in your mouth for at least thirty minutes after consumption. Interesting it was. They really were delicious too.