Phuket: Kata Thai Cooking Class

So that vacation I mentioned to Thailand? I figured you wanted to hear a little about it. We spent a week in Phuket, soaking up the sun, frolicking in the water, and eating copious amounts of food. Thai food happens to be a favorite among my family members and in order to get out fill, we decided to take a cooking class our very first day.

 

We signed up for classes through the Kata Thai Cooking Class and I cannot recommend them more enthusiastically. The owner Kelly responded quickly to my inquires and picked us up directly from our hotel. We were taken to her classroom where we learned how to make Tom Yum soup, Green Curry, and Pad Thai. Pretty much my three favorite Thai dishes.

Kelly was wonderful at explaining not only the steps required but also elaborating on the types of ingredients we were using. I can honestly say that I never cooked with shrimp paste before.

After tasting and prepping our ingredients, we were off to the kitchen to try out our new skills.

Once our dishes were complete, we were allowed to taste (or in my case gorge on) our creations. Hands down, the best food we ate throughout the entire trip. It was perfection.

Interesting in the Kata Thai Cooking School? Contact Kelly at:

5 KetKwan Road, Karon, Muang
Phuket 83100 - THAILAND
 Tel.: +66 (0)76-284510 | +66 (0) 81-7875895
E-Mail: katathaicooking@gmail.com

Lessons in Chinese Cooking

A few months ago (hence why everyone is wearing sweaters in these photos), I took a private cooking class with some of my friends at the Chinese Cooking Workshop in Shanghai. Since then, I've come back for a group class and really enjoyed myself. The classes are reasonably priced at 150 rmb (~$24) and include all the ingredients for your meal. Plus, I have yet to go to a class where I don't also bring home takeout containers stuffed full of food. Score.

The class included three dishes, two of which we cooked and one dish which was demonstrated by the chef (though we did get to eat it). For our class, we made mapo doufu (spicy tofu), yu xiang qie zi (fish fragrant eggplant), and gon bao ji (kung pao chicken).

You chop and prep your ingredients, then watch as the instructor goes over how to make each dish. Then it's your turn to give it a try.

Overall, it was a fun way to spend an afternoon with friends. And I learned how to cook some of my favorite Chinese dishes. If only I could learn how to properly chop without getting my fingers in the way.

Tim Gunn It

I was insanely hungry for some lasagna last week. Sadly, I had trouble finding lasagna noodles and when I finally did, they were much more expensive than I cared to spend. Thankfully, my super smart husband came to my rescue. He suggested that I use wonton wrappers instead of noodles. For 3 rmb (about 50 cents), I was able to pick up an entire package of wonton wrappers.

 I layered them just like noodles and ended up with a tasty dish of comfort food. I'm just glad we could "make it work".