Ready, Steady, Cook!

Thursday 23^rd August 2018.

I don’t know how much more of this relaxation we can take!

We need to set an alarm today because Pam is picking us up at 9.30 to take us to a local market and then back to her restaurant for a cooking class. The foyer is jumping and the forecourt is jammed with vehicles. Many of the wedding guests are leaving today and also the ‘rainy day activity’ shuttle buses to Phuket depart at 9.30am, so it’s busy, busy. It would be interesting to know how many guests have taken advantage of the shuttle to Phuket.

Pam at the market

The local market, as always, is very interesting and I recognise many of the strange fruit and veg from other market tours we have done but there are always going to be something we haven’t seen and Pam is happy to explain what they are. She picks up a capsicum and says that here in Thailand they are expensive. I rummage through them and show her one with 3 bumps on the bottom and one with 4. I tell her the ones with 4 bumps are more sweet and she is surprised. She’s never heard that before. I don’t confess that I haven’t known for all that long either, only a couple of years. 

need eggs?

The fruit and veg all looks so vibrant and fresh, and then we get to the wet market……….. It’s not too bad though, not too smelly, again the seafood and meats must be pretty fresh. We see king prawns for under $10 AUD per kilo and wish we had a kitchen in our room! Our souvenir from the market? A packet of 10 plastic coated wire coathangers for 59 THB. They’re really strong and far more useful than a fridge magnet! We spend about ¾ hour there and then head back to her restaurant to start cooking. We’re going to make chicken satay skewers, larb, panaeng curry and pad thai. 

As we turn off the main road towards the Marriott and also her restaurant, there’s a big building that looks like more accommodation and I ask Pam if it’s another resort. We are surprised when she tells us the Marriott owns it and that it’s accommodation for staff.  There must be many employees who live too far away to travel in every day. 

Under Pam’s direction, we chop and slice, and cook up a storm, almost literally as thunder rolls around in the distance. 

The satay is a revelation, Pam marinates the meat in coconut milk, curry powder and her ‘secret ingredient’, a chicken salt type of product. The meat is left to marinate for the time it takes us to prep some other vegetables, then they go into a pan with more coconut milk, sealed with a tight fitting lid and simmered slowly until they’re cooked, about 15 minutes, being turned a few times. The smell is amazing and the result is the most moist and tasty chicken satay we’ve ever had. 

In the above pic, the satay is at the bottom, the pad Thai above right and the Panaeng curry to the left and Pam is serving out the larb. 

Even though there’s enough food for at least 4 people and there’s no way we can eat it all, Pam asks us if we'd like some steamed rice to go with it! The panaeng curry is also very tasty and has more veg in it than what we’re used to, it’s very good. Even though we ask for ‘no spicy’ the larb is a bit too much for Trevor and I’m not that keen although it’s not too hot for me. The Pad Thai is a surprise. It’s my least favourite dish of the 4 we’ve made. There’s nothing wrong with it, I think the others are just so good! 

the finished product

The rain eases and I ask Pam if we can look around her garden which was part of the plan but the rain was a problem. She loves her garden and is keen to show us but first we have to apply some mozzie repellent as there’ll be lots out there with this rain she tells us and she’s right, but in an interesting turn they go for Trevor and not me for a change! She has lots of fruit and veg growing but says she almost too busy now to look after it all. Also that in the dry season the garden struggles because of the sandy soil and lack of rain. She sometimes has to buy water in the dry! 

Her mother came to visit soon after Pam had set up her business and she cried. She was so disappointed that Pam had given up a career as an engineer in Bangkok to run a restaurant. But Pam said Bangkok was not good for her health and she needed a change, so started cooking. She didn't cook before she opened her restaurant! She thinks her mother is proud of her now and we agree that she must be.

Pam’s taxi driver takes us back to the Marriott and as much as I feel like collapsing onto the lounge and doing nothing, I get changed and go for another walk. Then I can relax! No massage today, I’m still sore from the massages of the last 2 days. I don’t know how anyone can handle one every day! I know the thought of it sounds good.

Happy Hour drinks with Kat and Phil as a farewell to them. We’ve all had such a great time here and it’s no wonder that this is the first place they’ve liked enough to come back to for a 2^nd stay. I think it will go on our list for a return visit. Knowing that they’re going home tomorrow brings the realisation that our holiday is not far from being over either. But we’ve still got some time off when we get home, so it’s not all bad.

Dinner tonight is at the Thai restaurant, Ta Krai. We booked it earlier in the week, before we knew we were doing the cooking class today and neither of us really feel like it. Kat tells us the spring rolls are really good and so is the coconut ice cream, so we go. It’s really good food, as expected, and the sticky rice with mango and coconut ice cream is fantastic. 

Flicking through the tv channels again tonight we discover what looks like a Bollywood movie, but it turns out to be an Indian version of MTV. Same, same but different to the Thai one we found. It’s called ZeeEtc. Another thing to try and find at home. Maybe via YouTube?

Didn’t bother with a swim today, even though the pool looked back to it’s former pristine self. And still haven’t started reading my book. Every spare minute has been used writing this blog. Not that I mind, because it certainly good to look back on and be reminded of our travels.