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Cooking in Phuket

Cooking in Phuket
Ingredients!

This morning, after Jenny and I had showered and gotten dressed for the day, we met our parents in one of the hotel's restaurants. As we sat down, one of the other hotel guests came up to us and said "I couldn't help but notice how nice you smelled as you walked past. What is that scent?"

"It's insect repellent."

"What? No way!"

"Yeah, it's an all-natural lemon and eucalyptus bug repellent spray. Seems to work really well too, because we haven't been bitten yet."

I'm sure they were not counting on it being insect repellent, because that's where the conversation died.

After breakfast, it was time to head off to a Thai cooking class. My mother, Jenny, and I were picked up by our instructor and whisked away to our first stop, which was a market where we were to buy all the ingredients for our recipes. Although the class had been advertised as a group class, the three of us were the only members of the group.

Preparing chicken at the market (note the cigarette)
Preparing chicken at the market (note the cigarette)
Vegetables at the market
Vegetables at the market
Preparing coconut milk at the market
Preparing coconut milk at the market

The market was nothing short of amazing. It was completely unlike any supermarket I've been to in the U.S.; everything was fresh and looked and smelled incredible. We purchased all the things we were going to cook, and then we were transported to the class itself. Surprisingly, the class was hosted in a large room in the instructor's home. We felt very honored that we were being invited into the instructor's home.

We learned to cook five different dishes. I could go on and on about the class, but I'll let the pictures of the finished dishes speak for themselves. Every dish tasted twice as amazing as it looked.

Papaya salad
Papaya salad
Chicken curry with eggplant and rice
Chicken in green curry with eggplant and rice
Stir-fried chicken with green beans and an amazing sauce
Stir-fried chicken with green beans and an amazing sauce
Shrimp Pad Thai
Shrimp Pad Thai
Spring Rolls
Spring rolls
Deep-Fried Bananas
Deep-fried bananas

We returned to the hotel with more food than we could possibly eat, and took naps.

After the nap, I went out walking around Patong with Jenny. We stopped by 7-Eleven to buy some bottled water and some snacks. Fun fact: the chocolate bars here in Thailand come in tiny tiny sizes; the regular sized candy bars we're used to in the U.S. are considered extra-large here.

A tiny Snickers bar (no, I do not have giant hands)
A tiny Snickers bar (no, I do not have giant hands)

We also found Phuket Tours by Jenny. The two Jennys had a good laugh upon meeting each other.

Patong is truly a wilder place than Krabi. Everything is bigger and crazier here, including the wiring disasters on the telephone poles.

If you thought wiring in Krabi was bad...
If you thought wiring in Krabi was bad...

I am having an amazing time here. I should, however, buy proper walking shoes, because my feet get sore way too quickly walking around in the shoes I have now. My feet will be dead if I continue walking around in my current shoes! Luckily, shoes are inexpensive here in Patong.