Chiang Mai, Thailand

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After a few days in Northern India, we were so excited to spend time in Thailand. After a flight to Bangkok, an airport transfer, and another flight, we arrived to Chiang Mai.

Chiang Mai,  a city in the northern hills of Thailand, is the country's fourth most populated city. We arrived late at night and immediately felt a welcoming, safe tone--we quickly decided to get a bit to eat at the night market just five minutes away from our hotel. 

Our first meal was amazing, and cost about $5 total! We enjoyed cashew chicken and spring rolls.

The first full day in Chiang Mai we strolled around looking for breakfast around 8 am. Apparently this is a night city, because we could barely find one place to eat! 

We settled on a local spot and discovered that Thai people don't eat different foods for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. So we ordered a papya salad and pad see ew at 9 am! So delicious.

We took a ride in a songthaew up a huge mountain to visit the Doi Suthep temple and the Bhubing Palace, the winter residence for the Royal family. The views on the ride up and down the mountain were spectacular!
 
That afternoon, we participated in a cooking class at the Siam Rice Thai Cookery School. 

As part of the class, we got to visit a local market and learn about traditional Thai ingredients. Then, at the school we got to pick a soup, a main course, a curry, and a dessert to make from scratch. 

For my soup, I chose the Tom Kha, a traditional coconut milk soup with chicken.




My main course was druken noodles with chicken. 

As you can see, it was a really exciting dish to cook!

For the curry dish, I opted for panag and even got to make the curry paste from scratch. This is no small feat, but made the dish even more enjoyable to consume. Dessert was an easy choice: mango sticky rice. I'm not sure I'll be able to prepare this dish as amazingly as I did at the cooking school because the sticky rice takes hours up on hours to prepare. That was basically the only ingredient that was pre-preared for the class.



Overall the cooking school was probably my favorite experience of my entire vacation. I highly recommend it and can't say enough great things about Bunpot and his amazing school!

Spicy Curry Noodle Soup with Chicken and Sweet Potato

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On a cold winter day, there is nothing I crave more than a warm bowl of soup. Of course I love the classics, like tomato soup and lentil soup, but sometimes I want to mix it up and try something completely different. I found this recipe over the summer, and the sweet potato curry reminded of the pumpkin curry at Thai X-ing in DC. Have you guys tried it? Out.Of.This.World. I could not wait for the cold winter months so I'd have an excuse to slurp noodles and sweet potatoes from a warm, rich, curry broth. I know the list of ingredients is a little intimidating, but I promise the process is very simple and totally worth the shopping trip. 

To make the soup, you will need:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 tablespoons chopped shallots

3 garlic cloves, chopped

3 stalks of fresh lemongrass

2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger - my grocery store was out so I used dried galangal ginger and it was great 

2 tablespoons Thai red or yellow curry paste - I used red because I already had it in my pantry

2 tablespoons curry powder 

1 teaspoon hot chili paste - such as sambal oelek 

2 cans of light unsweetened coconut milk,

5 cups low-sodium chicken broth (vegetarians could use vegetable broth)

2 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce - should find it in the Asian aisle of your grocery store

2 teaspoons sugar

3 cups of green beans

2 sweet potatoes - peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1 pound dried rice vermicelli noodles or rice stick noodles - I used fresh rice noodles from Trader Joes and they were a little sticky

3/4 pound skinless boneless chicken breasts

1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion - for serving 

1/4 cup thinly sliced scallions - for serving

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro for serving - I hate cilantro, so I omitted this ingredient

3 red Thai bird chiles or 2 red jalapeño chiles for serving. I used serrano chiles because that is what I found easily

1 lime, cut into 6 wedges - for serving

I love the bright purple color of shallots. They taste like a hybrid between garlic and onions. 

Once you've familiarized yourself with all of the ingredients, start out by prepping all of your vegetables. First, mince the shallots, garlic, ginger, and lemongrass. For the lemongrass, remove the tough outer leaves and then only use the bottom 4 inches of the stalk. 

Set aside the minced shallots, garlic, ginger and lemongrass. While you're still at your cutting board, peel your sweet potatoes and then cut them into 1/2 inch cubes. Then, trim the tough ends off of your green beans. Set the green beans and sweet potatoes aside in separate bowls. Then, take your raw chicken breasts and cut them into 1 inch pieces. 

Once you're done prepping your vegetables and meat, its time to start making the broth.

In a large soup pot, heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil over medium heat. Then add the garlic, shallots, ginger, and lemongrass into the pot and heat for about 1-2 minutes, until the mixture is fragrant. Stir in curry paste, curry powder, and chili paste. Then add 1/2 can of coconut milk and stir for 2 minutes. Then add the remaining coconut milk, 2 1/2 tablespoons of fish sauce, all of the chicken broth, and 2 teaspoons of sugar. Bring the broth to a boil, then remove from heat and set aside. 

Fill a separate pot with salted water and bring to a boil. First, add the green beans to the pot and boil for 30 seconds - make sure they keep their bright green color. Using a small strainer or slated spoon, scoop the green beans out and place in a separate bowl. 

Next, add the sweet potatoes into the same pot of boiling water and cook until soft - approximately 7 minutes. Then, scoop the sweet potatoes out of the water and set aside with the green beans.

Then, add the rice noodles to the same pot of boiling water, and follow directions on the package for cooking time. They should be al dente - softened but not mushy. Drain the noodles and set aside.

Finally, bring the pot of broth back up to a simmer. Once the soup is simmering, add the diced chicken to the pot and cook for 10 minutes. Once the chicken is thoroughly cooked through, add the sweet potatoes, green beans, and noodles back into the pot. 

Ladle the soup into individual bowls to serve! 

You can top the soup with any combination of the fresh cilantro, scallions, red onions, lime, and chills. I used finely diced red onion, scallions, and a little bit of Serrano chile. I garnished my whole bowl with fresh squeezed lime. 

Had to give you a shot with the noodles! 

Teak Wood: The night I tempted the restaurant gods and lost

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Last Saturday night, my girlfriends and I decided to give the two-year-old 14^th Street restaurant Teak Wood a try.  I called about two hours before we wanted to eat to see if we could snag a reservation and was immediately told there was a spot for a table of five at 7:30 pm.  Let’s call this sign #1 that I should have reconsidered this option.  Any nice restaurant that can spare a table for five a few hours before the desired time is questionable, in my opinion.  ‘Why aren’t they booked?’ was the first question that popped into my head.  But, we decided to give it a go anyway.

Upon entering the spot, that features both Thai and Sushi cuisine, with Thai inspired décor— read: huge Buddha statues– and what seemed like 100 empty tables greeted us.  Sign #2 that this was not going to be my night.  We sat down and after a few minutes the waitress approached our table.  Since we were not ready to order we asked her to come back in a few minutes.  As any frequent restaurant-goer knows, this can go either one of two ways: the waitress comes back in a few minutes as requested, or the waitress disappears, seemingly on a trek to Tibet, before you have to frantically wave your arms at her to get her attention.  Not surprisingly, we dealt with the latter option. 

We placed our order, and eventually one plate of food came out.  One plate.  Let me remind you there were five of us dining together.  Finally another two plates came out.  And then one more.  That brings our grand total to four plates of food.  One guess as to whose plate of food was missing?  It’s as if the restaurant gods were laughing at me.  I chose to ignore their signs, and this was my punishment.

After alerting the waitress to the fact that, after the 10 minute serving assembly line jaunt, my food had still not arrived, she gave me a confused look and asked what I had ordered.  Sigh.  I knew at that point that she had forgotten to include my order.  To make up for this oversight, I was comped a free bowl of Miso Soup, which I don’t even like.  Finally, my meal came out.  The food, I will say, was pretty good.  Not the best Thai food I’ve ever had, but solid food at a good price point.  I sampled Liz’s Pad Thai, which was also delicious.  The sushi looked quality, though I did not sample any.  The portions were decent.  Oh, and they did have some really fancy chopsticks. 

Maybe I just had back luck at Teak Wood.  But, to me, service is just as important as food quality when dining out.  I’d likely order take out from them, but will never dine in-house at this restaurant again. 

Price: $$

Ambiance: ★★★☆☆

Service: ★★☆☆☆

Food: ★★★★☆