Master Thai Chefs, Korp Kun Kaaah

It started with authentic, spicy Indian food in Malaysia. We tried our all our favorites (saag paneer, aloo ghobi, navratan korma, chana aloo, etc.), but were also introduced to kashmiri naan and some kind of delicious dosa stuffed with paneer and veggies.

Onto Thailand, our first green curry was consumed only minutes after entering the country (along with a Chang beer to cool our palates, of course). The next two weeks were an alternation between cheap pad thais, different colored curries, and anything we could find at the markets, stomachs willing. The food in the south proved different than the food in the north: equally as tasty but with different spices and flavors. Hoping to take some of the different flavors and foods home with us when we leave, we signed up for a cooking class in Chiang Mai before we left the States. Our chef, Aor, picked us up from our Lanna-style hotel to take us to the local market where we finally put names to all the interesting and new fruits, vegetables, and spices we'd tasted since we'd been here. We picked up a few items needed for the nights menu, including coconut milk freshly squeezed (we watched it happen!)

Onto the cooking school, set on a rice paddy field, we would be the only two students of the night! We sampled some sweet lemongrass tea (which strangely tastes exactly like fruity pebbles) while we waited for our ingredients and cooking stations to be prepared for us. First dish: pad thai. It's so quick and deliciously simple! We tossed tofu, rice noodles, veggies, and spices into the wok and voila -- a delicious dish with the sweet, tangy, sour, and spicy balanced to our liking!

We teased our taste buds (or burned them off with spicy peppers) before we prepared the remaining 3 dishes of the night: green curry with vegetables, tom yum soup, and mango with sticky rice. The school prepared all vegetarian courses for us and even made a fresh green curry paste sans "small fishes" especially for us! We both agree it was our best meal in Thailand, and we cooked it!

I will admit -- while we rave about the food, we do miss a good cheese, bread, and a pasta here and there. Since there are enough tourists in Southeast Asia, many restaurants try to capitalize on our western cravings by offering American and European dishes. Among some of the more interesting cuisine from home we've ordered:

- a "veggie burger" that was an egg mixed with vegetables, fried, and served on a bun
- "vegetarian spaghetti" which was actually spaghetti noodles served with a red curry sauce (not good, not good at all)
- rice wine labeled as beer
- "guacamole" which was green but had nothing to do with an avocado

Oh well, that's what you get for not eating like a local. For now, we're just going to enjoy it while we're here...and sneak in that slice of home only if it doesn't seem too good to be true.