Cooking up a storm......

Someone needs to tell the roosters here that they are only meant to crow when the sun comes up....not all night. When we did get up it was raining lightly but we didn't mind as we were off to meet our cooking class guy (Thai) to start our private cooking class. We walked to the end of the lane we are staying in and he picked us up right on time to take us to the markets where we would buy all the ingredients for the dishes we would cook today. It was 8am and the markets were bustling with excitement. It was so cool there and we were like a couple of kids in a lolly shop, pointing at stuff and oohing and aahing at everything. Thai spoke perfect English so he was able to answer all our questions and give us heaps of info. Everything was so cheap there too....and if we said that we liked something he would buy it and tell us what we would make with it. Our 2 shopping baskets were overflowing after an hour and we got in a cab to go to the beach where the place was we would do the class. The view was beautiful and we were in heaven. Fresh passion fruit juice was served to start and topped up all day....it was delicious. We spent all day making dishes and eating all of them as well. Dish one was tiger prawns in tamarind, then grilled clams, whole grilled sea bass with shallots, beef rice paper rolls, crab cakes, bbq pork belly & patties, spring rolls, duck and pineapple salad, crispy fried quail with green papaya salad, pork belly clay pot and last but not least tamarind soup.....phew.....it was a mammoth effort to eat all that food I can tell you. By the last dish we were both so full we actually felt sick. After the duck salad we both had a bit of a belly ache which required several trips to the bathroom :-\ And talking about the bathroom....they had the neatest dunny we have seen yet....it was a little hut with cool saloon type doors, 2 big ceramic urns with the water for flushing, a huge mirror and enough room for 20 people. And if you are thinking getting excited about a bathroom is weird then you have never travelled in Asia and seen some of the disgusting toilets you have to use....lol. Anyway back to the food......All the dishes were good...some better than others but we decided that it was all a bit too much food so next time we will only do a half day. Beer was also supplied all day if you wanted but after drinking half a one I got another dreaded headache so obviously I can't drink any type of beer here. We went for a walk along the beach when we had a break, which was really nice. Although we ate way too much we would definitely recommend doing a private class instead of a group one at least once. It cost a bit more but was well worth it. It was very hands on and we did most of the preparation and all the cooking. We even had to do some gross stuff like killing the crab, which I made Tanya do, so when it came time to cut the ducks head off (yes it was already dead), it was my turn....we may be traumatised forever.....lol. We also got a couple of sets of cooking chopsticks as a souvenir which was really cool. By 4pm we had finished our mammoth cooking expedition and said our goodbyes. We went back to Jason and Jess's place where I had to lay down as not only did I feel like my stomach was about to blow up, my head was absolutely throbbing. Tanya hooned down the road on the moped and got me a Vietnamese iced coffee which did the trick yesterday for my headache. After half an hour of napping I was good as gold.....we can't believe that caffeine is helping, although if you buy panadol here the and get the panadol extra it has caffeine in it so we are not going crazy. By 7.30 we decided we would go for a walk to get a cold drink (obviously we didn't need dinner) and on our way out Jason and Jess said they were going for dinner and asked us to join them so we did. We just had coffee and iced coffee (i think I am getting addicted to them...lol) and even looking at their food made me sick. Today has definitely been the highlight of the trip. Alvo xo