Food Glorious Food

So I have just completed my very first Thai cookery course, and now the post-food fatiuge has passed, I feel it is only fitting to dedicate my next entry to one of my greatest passions in life: FOOD.
 
Having a limited taste of what Thai food actually involves, other than Padt Thai and Thai Green Curry, I am not ashamed to admit that the main thing I have been looking forward to on my travels is to do a Thai cookery course. Eager to broaden my cooking horizons, one one-two-one 5 hour course, 6 dishes, and a very full stomach later, I was not dissapointed.

I started my day off learning the simple, yet delicious Paht Thai. Since our arrival, Rebecca and I have been on the quest for the perfect said dish. Using a scale of 1-10 we have dedicated ourselves whole-heartedly to this mission! Ahh, the tastebuds are tingling at the very thought. There has to be the perfect ratio of peanut to lime, not too greasy, not too much beansprout...and yes, today I found the perfect one. Made my moi. Ok, ok, under the close consule of a very experienced and knowledgable teacher and yes, it was her recipie not mine, but not the point. My mission is now complete, and now I must branch out into other areas of Thai cuisine.

I am yet to delve into the bemusing, and perhaps not quite authentic dish of deap fried cricket. The fact that the only place I have seen this being served is the tourist hot-spot of Kho San Road has made me somewhat suspicious. However, I am not adverse to trying crickets, so watch this space! Perhaps not the giant cockroach that I accidently trod on last night though...

Wandering around the food markets is a treat for the eyes as well as the tastebuds. The shear variety of colourful and delicious fruits that simply don't exist in England is staggering. I never even knew there were many different varieties of lychee! I was literally cheering when I found that mangosteen, a fruit we ate a lot of in Sri Lanka, is available in abundunce here in Thailand, And then there are the fruits that are only availale at exuberent prices in Waitrose such as the vibrant coloured, yet dissapointinly bland 'dragon fruit' . Makes a pretty picture though (soon to follow). The foodie inside me has died and gone to heaven.

So today I have learnt 6 traditional dishes, Paht Thai, chicken and cashew nut fried rice, hot and sour prawn soup, papaya salad (suprisingly delicious), chicken in coconut milk and banana and coconut soup. A-MAZ-ING. I know everyone goes travelling hoping they will shed the pounds with the numerous illnesses we are likely to pick up on the way, but unfortunatley I think I will be coming home the size of a house. The only dish that I have tried and will never do so again, is spicy fruit salad. Horrific. Whole pickled chillies hidden amongst dragon fruit and mango. Never. Ever. Again.

I am excited to see what spicy, sour and deliciously sweet dish is waiting for me around the corner. And who knows, perhaps I shall be tempted to take another course to tantalise the pallet even more.

I am so happy I think I might just do a little dance. But will have to let my six course lunch digest a bit first...