Today was our first day at the Blue Elephant Cooking School, and things went well! Even though in my weird jet-lagging dreams I am trying to connect the Blue Elephant with my old rock n' roll fascination with Blue Oyster Cult (I guess I'd rather cook -- and eat -- a blue oyster than a Blue Elephant -- just think of the prep work!) I can say that, as one of the scattered non-culinary students along for this trip, my first day of instruction and hands-on turned out great. I felt our instructors were very professional and helpful, and by the end of Day 1 we all sat down and had a great noon dinner with the four dishes we had cooked. I looked around and all the dishes looked pretty uniform -- I didn't spot any wok disasters, no burned up dishes of red curry paste, no thinly disguised Prawn Helper laced with fish sauce -- it all smelled and looked like the real thing, including the dishes that I had made and ate myself. I can say that the preliminary International Thai Cooking course I took just prior to the trip helped me immensely, both with familiarity of the Thai ingredients and also in working around the kitchen (thanks Chef Tim!), and I appreciate the other Real Students' patience with having an imposter in their midst.
I'm looking forward to tomorrow. The past 48 hours have been a whirlwind -- the 6 am "Field Trip" to eat great Breakfast On A Stick at the street vendors, complete with grilled pig snout and a skewer of wonderful chicken gizzards, followed by a trip to the huge Chatuchak flea market and all of us eating a roasted bug, Survivor-style in the subway station. I'm still jet-lagging Big Time, but if that big azure oyster shows up again in dreamtime, I'm going after him with my big mortar & pestle. If it's going to be a fight to the finish, I want to save myself for at least one more of those great Gizzard Breakfast Sticks before I have to go. I know what I like! -- Tom
I figured you more as "dead-head"...rock-on.
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