Cooking with On....

We are off to our cooking class today so there is no way we are having breakfast but will still wander up the road to get fresh coconut water for a great start to the day. We decided to sit in the Mangosteen Cafe as they have wifi and wait for our cooking timeslot, Alvo tried out their mocha coffee which she thought was great. Guessing that it would be ok if we were early we headed up to On's restaurant to start cooking. She was ready for us with all the ingredients for todays class set up in a folding table next to her one and only wok burner which is right on the footpath, yep no fancy kitchen here just a chopping board, a few assorted bowls containing the essentials like chilli, garlic, soy, mushroom sauce, tofu, sugar and veggies and one single wok burner where she works her magic. We get to make 3 dishes each today and a desert and we have chosen banana flower salad (because the dressing is delicious), peanut sauce, massaman curry, curry fried rice, pad thai, laap and she threw in pad see ew as she told us that the veggie salad that goes with the peanut sauce was too easy and of course mango sticky rice. She told us to save some of our dishes so we can eat them for dinner tonight and we would make the dessert after dinner when we return. She was there on her own today so I asked her if I could stay past the end of the class time and help her in the restaurant, her face lit up and she said 'please, please, please' so we were put to work chopping vegetables and washing woks. As the day progressed many customers came and we cooked together, we cleared dirty plates, washed up, swept and delivered food for her. She is such a lovely person and helping her was such a joy. It is nice to know that you do not need a food handling certificate or some sort of qualification to give someone a hand here. She even had Alvo making shakes for customers who remarked that the food and drinks were delicious.....maybe we could work here one day...lol. She told us that today was her lucky day and she feels like a princess, she even bought us coconut ice cream and wouldn't let me pay, I think she appreciated the help. When the place got quiet her friend from next door bought over some fish dishes for lunch and she wanted us to sit with them and try it all. What I like about this place is that for people who have so little they are always willing to share, that is why you don't mind giving some of your time I guess. The fish dishes were unusual and her friend mainly caters for Thai people so it was great to taste real Thai food and enjoy the company. She spoke to us about her family and the things going on in her life and we assured her that we would keep in touch. It was late in the afternoon and we wanted to shower before returning for dinner so headed off. As we were showered and ready quite early we stopped in at the Mangosteen for a cocktail, Alvo tried their long island ice tea which was very potent and I had an interesting mix of coconut milk, vodka, ginger and chilli.....it sounds strange but it was great. Ok.....enough lazing about, time to go and cook our dinner but not before a photo, exchange of facebook contact and a goodbye to our massage ladies. They were happy to see us and sad that we are leaving tomorrow. The restaurant was quiet so we cooked our curry fried rice straight away and heated up our massaman curry from earlier. As expected, it was delicious and we were pretty full so was happy to see the place get busy as this meant we could wait until later to cook our dessert. Again she put us to work helping her cook and serve food as well as washing up and chopping ingredients, it is nice to know that we can slot right into cruise mode and help out. Alvo was mainly doing PR work inside the restaurant while I ran around washing woks and re-filling ingredient dishes.....it was soooo cool. Quiet time came again and I had already helped her with a dessert for a customer so she just let me loose on the wok and I created some damn good mango sticky rice. We all sat and chatted and her friend from next door was excited when I told her that next time I visit I will work for her as long as she gave me a room and food, she kept saying 'yes come, come' so you never know. We took lots of photos and felt like we were right at home, On told us that she wanted us to feel like that and she was very hospitable. On gave us an apron as a thankyou gift and we will certainly think of her and this place when we wear it. Goodbyes were said and we headed for a night cap at the 10B bar. I got chatting to the girl there about the structure of Thai language and she helped me to understand alot. There was an English guy there too that Alvo got chatting to about his family here in Thailand. We had one and then another and another, more people came to the bar and we got chatting. I met a young bloke from South Africa who is teaching here in Kanchanaburi and is loving it, we talked about how he came to be here and how he got qualified etc, he was really nice. We again exchanged facebook contacts and took photos before heading back to our room, we forgot we needed to collect our washing but when we got there the reception was closed so lets hope they are open early as we are catching the early train. Goodnight all. Tanya xxx.