Thai Farm Cooking - Chiang Mai

So today we thought we'd see a bit more of the Thai culture and went out into the country for a day spent learning to cook Thai. It wasn't something I had planned on doing but we saw a brochure for it and thought it looked like some fun.
We were picked up from our hostel and then before we got to the farm, we stopped at the local food market to pick fresh ingredients for the day. Our guide/chef was called 'Nice' and she explained the different products and what to choose when thinking about cooking something Thai. The market had everything from rice to spices to dried fish to pigs heads (I took a picture but i'll refrain from putting it on here, might scare some people away!)
Once we had a look around the market we headed up to the farm. It was set in such a beautiful location and it was so peaceful. The plan was to make 5 dishes, three to have at lunchtime and two to take home....so we were basically eating the whole day! The farm uses a lot of its own ingredients so we were shown around the garden and a little bit about the vegetables/herbs etc.


And then the cooking began...There were ten of us altogether and we each had our own little station although the we made our curry paste (which I made from scratch!) outside on the deck, it was so pretty!

So anyway, by lunchtime I had made Red Curry, Thai Vegetable Soup and Chicken and Cashew Stir Fry...and that was lunch! There was so much food and (not to blow my own trumpet here) it was really good. Because we were so full from lunch, we had an hours rest to walk around thegrounds and relax. It was great to talk to the other guests too and hear all about their travels.

In the afternoon we were to make another two meals, Phad Tai and Coconut Sticky Rice with Mango, probably my favourite two, the mango here is soooo yummy. You could choose which dishes to make so Emma and I chose different ones so when we return we're going to cook and impress you all with our new culinary skills!