Asia Scenic Thai Cooking School, Chiang Mai

Well, it happened...I cooked. Now before you abandon your screen to run and scream in terror at the pure thought of me getting within ten feet of a stove, here is a little bit about our experience at the Asia Scenic Thai Cooking School in Chiang Mai this past Saturday night. This experience was about a three hour opportunity to share Thai cooking and culture. The Thai school is located only a few minutes walk from Tha Pae Gate in the old city of Chiang Mai. Here, we chose which dishes we would like to prepare for ourselves out of each of the four Thai categories: stir fry, curry and curry paste, spring rolls, and finally, deserts.

I chose a por pia tod spring roll, massaman veggie and chicken curry (red curry), fried banana and pad thai. What made the school so special was that it hit on all of the points that we as travelers truly wanted out of a cooking class. The menu was created by a true Thai family. Before we slapped on the aprons, we were able to taste herbs from the school garden that are used in traditional Thai dishes, such as an assortment of basils, bai takrai, kha and kamin. Then it was off to the local market to purchase fresh ingredients for our meals. Our teacher was superb to say the least and we got our very own cook books that provided all of the details and pictures step by step to make it easier when we are recreating the dishes at home. All in all, we had an authentic experience that I will love to use knowledge from in the near future, if not just to prove to the non-believers back home that I, Chelsie Leathers, can finally cook.