Veni, Vidi, Mangé

On the schedule of fun for today, Valentine's Day, was our Thai cooking class!

Yes, the old classic is true, "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach"

Excellent---start to finish. Only thing I'd have changed, is that I feel uncomfortable with the deference of some Thai serving tourists, getting out of the car to open the doors for us, apologizing all the time, bowing....

After selecting our menu that we wanted to cook (6 dishes in all!), we got to work, sweating in the afternoon heat over the stove. First up: Pad Thai for JY and sweet and sour veggies for me.

Our instructor was great, patient, making jokes, apologizing for her English, explaining the difference between the three kinds of basil, why you have to use cold water not hot water for rice noodles...

(Our instructor explaining to Jean Yves--that's our classmate Karen in the picture)

What we didn't realize was that we would eat EVERY COURSE in between! This gave them the time to set up the next course and clean up. But I'd made the mistake of eating lunch before coming. Combined with the heat, it was rough! Jean Yves did his country proud, explaining that he had trained for years thanks to 7 course French meals, on how to keep stuffing himself when he wasn't hungry.....

We hammered and chopped, ground paste in a mortar and pestle, made spring rolls from scratch, learned to deep-fry in a wok, stirred, simmered, and sniffed. We learned that if it's too spicy, add sugar and salt to correct the sauce. You can substitute western basil for Thai basil, but not western ginger for Thai ginger. All in all, we are now ready to have you all over for dinner!

And, you'll be happy to know, Jean Yves and I successfully, happily, harmoniously, cooked together for the first time, in what we hope will be a trend for the future. :)