Heard a few people raving about cookery courses in Luang Prabang so decided to give it a go! (http://www.tamarindlaos.com/). It was very interesting, first we went to a food market where the locals buy food..
Different than a trip to superquinn!
eels and beetles!
Spices...
Laos tuk-tuks
The cookery school was in a really nice location - 20mins drive from town, had to travel up dirt tracks to get to it - lovely place....
Ready for action..
My creation - fish steamed in banana leaves with herbs and spices (its hard to wrap it and tie it but as its low season there was only 4 of us on the course (normally 12) so I had loads of help!
Lemon grass stuffed with chicken, herbs and spices - this tasted the best (probably because it was deep fried!) you dont eat the lemongrass but you can taste the citrus which permeates on the chicken..
We also made buffalo soup but I didnt eat that. One guy wanted to try frog so they bought him a frog at the market, showed him how to kill it, chop it up and cook it! It was gross, the poor frog, horrible too because he waa doing it on the table opposite me. Yuk.
Lunchtime.....
Must admit I didnt particularly like any of the food I cooked! (but I was feeling very queasy after watching the demise of Kermit). Desert was good though...tropical fruit with coconut and purple (!) rice..
Friday was a cloudy day so I walked up the 360 steps of Mount Phu Si. Great views of Luang Prabang from the top...better view on a clear day but its so hot and clammy in Luang Prabang I wouldnt chance walking up the hill with the sun blasting, as it was the sweat was dripping off me after 10 steps!
One of the main streets in Luang Prabang - you can see how quiet it is, not much traffic and thankfully no 'beep beep'!
Looking at the pictures of the houses it looks like Laos is not as poor a country as Cambodia or Vietnam but it is probably the poorest as once you go outside the town there is a lot of poverty. People who work in the rice fields only earn about 500 US dollars a year and that has to support a whole family. Lao people also seem very honest and its the one place I didnt feel I had to guard my bags and carry my money in a money belt. Ho Chi Minh city in Vietnam is probably the worst for muggings - fellas on motorbikes grap bags and speed off, met a few people this happened to.
Bangkok is next....looking forward to Ireland!
Hi T.
ReplyDeleteSend for a doctor. I'm lying on the floor after having a bad fainting fit brought on by the sight of you in an apron. The very fact that you would even think of going on a cookery course means that you have had too much sun - time to come home before you get hooked on it. (Mind you I'm sure the blonde "dish" in the photo might have effected your judgement.)
I'm also agog with the cookery comments - "citrus permeates on the chicken" Gorden Ramsey look out. I give up - the world must be coming to an end. Your at the cooker for next dinner at my place. Can't wait to tell Christiane??
It's safe for you to come home now as the rain has started again after 10 days of really nice weather. We can have a cold pint of the black stuff waiting for you at the airport.
Enjoy Bangkok????
When are you back in Dublin?
PS - Tipp just beat Kilkenny in the All Ireland Final. Hope for Waterford yet?
Haha, I put up the pic of me in an apron especially for you! make the most of it because I dont think it will happen too often, the main thing I learned from the course is that cooking is boring!! Unfortunately the blond 'dish' is very cruel to frogs and then eats them! The cookery comments are straight from the handout we got on the course! I needed that to remember what we cooked! Back in dublin on Thursday, looking forward to it even if rains for the rest of the year. Good on Tipp.
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