Before I introduce you to the beginning days in Thailand, lets take a peek at my current travel partner and new roommate! This is Bree, the first photo is the day we met on the flight to Asia followed by our first reunion in Cambodia. Now, we meet again to explore a bit of Chiang Mai together. What a beautiful path crossing!
Her and I found out quickly that we share a love for food, cooking and trying new flavors. This made it easy to choose the country side excursion that takes us to a local market, followed by several hours of creating traditional recipes. I’ve been fortunate to have enjoyed a cooking experience in Peru as well as a culinary class in Cambodia so lets see how this one compares!
First step is a trip to the market (which still remains as one of my favorite things to visit in a new country). Just combine the street vendors, scrumptious edibles and the energetic people and you’ve entered my happy place. We only spent a few moments at this particular one, so my “market post” for Chiang Mai will be separate… but soon to come!
After our mini lesson, we got to hop on bikes and peddle our way into the outskirts of Chiang Mai. What a perfect way to start a day of eating!
We arrived, parked our bikes and jumped right into the garden to find more goodies.
They give you this menu in which you get to pick from. Yes, every single person got an individual choice on what they were going to cook that day. This differed quite a bit from other classes I’ve taken in which “you get what you get and you don’t throw a fit” (quoting every kindergarten teacher at some point in their career).
Next we suit up!
Prep to cook, then prep a bit more and then cook again!
After each dish, we got to sit and eat. Luckily we were with a group that was eager to share everything. This means we all got to try a total of 16 different delicious recipes!
A full stomach, new friends and a cookbook are just a few of the bonuses from this all day excursion.
My favorite new item of the day was this traditional rice steamer. Mark it on my kitchen list for when I grow up...
Her Happy Trails 
Nice to have the time to follow you again, Erika! Short break due to health concerns in our family.
So happy you have learned to cook my favorite cousine! Please save a little time to use my kitchen to practice your skills while you are in Folsom.