Crispy Fish waiting for the tamarind sauce
My dear brother Thomas is visiting us from Denmark. My dear
husband said my brother and I could go away and spend some quality time together;
he would look after kids – yeah! No need to think twice. Thomas and I went up
the coast, stayed in my friend’s lovely house in the forest at Yandina; we
booked cooking school (and a spa experience).
The cooking school was held at Spirit House, a Thai
restaurant located in beautiful lush rainforest surroundings at Yandina. They
have lots of different cooking classes to choose from, we just hopped on the “Essential
Thai” one for that day and it was great! The restaurant has been cooking their
famously delicious Thai cuisine for 21 years; they have published several
cookbooks and sell their own brand of sauces and condiments plus have this
cooking school – respect!
We had the best day! From 9.30 til 2pm, we were
occupied in a very professional cooking environment, a newly renovated
beautiful and generous kitchen with a very competent chef handing out the know-how
of Thai ingredients and the 4 essential tastes of Thai cooking: salt, sweet,
sour, heat.
From the moment we stepped into the kitchen, the fragrant scent
were all around us and the fresh fruit and vegetables laid out ready for
chopping were displayed beautifully.
By the time we finally got to sit down and enjoy the meal we
had cooked, the build-up for that first mouthful was immense – but we were not disappointed,
the flavours were fantastic; Tom Yum, the chicken green curry (Thomas did a
great job of beating the crap out of the green curry past in the mortar), the
totally crispy fish and salad of pawpaw and caramelised pork – all delicious
and best of all we had a great time making it.
xo Sarah