Come join me on my one month culinary adventure… in Thailand.

Hi All! I have some exciting news. In my goal towards learning new ways of cooking by using the flavors of different cultures, and incorporating them into my dishes, I have a new culinary adventure starting TODAY! I love traveling to different countries and experiencing the beauty that each holds…but the best part of it all, for me, is experiencing the different foods that each has to offer. Yup, it’s all about the food…ha, ha. I got the traditional Mediterranean cooking down, so now it’s time for me to venture to other parts of the world to learn about their flavors and preparation of foods. First stop, Thailand, again! Whoop whoop! See how I will be doing this at the end of this post.

Last March my husband, daughter Lexi and I went to Thailand to visit a very good friend for two weeks. Two weeks didn’t cut it for me to experience all the wonderful food (ESPECIALLY street food) that Thailand has to offer. I want to learn how to create those unique flavor profiles that I tasted. So rich and spicy with the perfect balance of everything! I want to learn how to cook in a way that perks up my taste buds, using all the different curry pastes, herbs and spices, such as lemongrass, galangal, and chili’s, that are often used in Thai cooking.

The food I did have there in my short two weeks was amazing! The depth of flavor in broths and dipping sauces hooked me, although I have always loved ALL Asian foods. I had the BEST tom yum goong soup there…but of course I did its the most famous Thai soup! I got to make traditional pad Thai from scratch, with instruction of course :), and it was so delicious.

I have to say, though, that one of my favorite things that I had there was the simple Pomelo. Pomelos originated in South and Southeast Asia. They are the largest citrus fruit and related to the grapefruit. They are sooo juicy and feel wonderful when the flesh pops in your mouth, uuuummm.

Another fruit I tried while there was the stinky Durian. There are 100 varieties of the fruit in Thailand. It is a large fruit with a strong odor and thorn covered rind. I tried it in one of the local market areas in Bangkok. It is hard to eat if you can smell it, but if you hold your nose closed then the taste is good, and pretty sweet.

Some other tasty and beautiful dishes we had while we were in Phuket, Thailand included chicken satay with peanut sauce and a vinegar based chili sauce and shredded phyllo wrapped shrimp. It’s amazing how light and flavorful the sauces taste.

One of the most beautiful and tasty dishes I ate was at the Ruen Thai restaurant at Dusit Thani Laguna, in Phuket. It was called Mung Korn Lui Fai. It is a flambeed Phuket Lobster served with a sweet red curry sauce. Oh, it was SOOOO good and so beautifully presented. The resort itself was amazing too!

I have a million more pictures that I would like to share with you but it would make this post too long. I have to mention, though, that one of the most amazing experience we had while in Thailand was visiting the Elephant Retirement Park in Phuket. They taught us how to care for elephants, make their medicine, bathe and fed them. Yes, we got to make food there too…for us and for the elephants. Take a look!

Anyhoo, how am I planning to learn all this Thai culinary stuff? Well, I thought you would never ask. I have enrolled in a 6-week Master Thai Chef course at a cooking academy in Bangkok. I will be taking this course (accelerated for me into 4-weeks) in December. My classes will be 6 days a week/8 hours a day (or until I satisfactorily finish the 5 to 6 dishes a day they will be teaching me!) I can’t wait to share what I learn with you. My plan is to talk about the dishes or techniques I learn and feature my favorite dish of the day. One month of cooking, eating, cooking, eating…I will be in la la land!

So, join me in my culinary journey of Thai cooking. Hopefully we will learn a lot of wonderfully tasty dishes together. Meet you on the other side!