Thailand...A dream comes true

Hey everyone! Haven't posted in a while because I've been doing my gypsy thing. Two weeks in Thailand was a dream come true! The beautiful landscapes, the delicious curries, the elephants! It was all that I hoped it would be and more!

I have so much I want to share with you and I'm working on some recipes for my Thai favorites, but for today, I want to share one of my wonderful days in Chaing Mai, where we spent the day with Sammy the chef, learning about Thai food and taking a cooking class at his local farm.

First thing, we went to the farmer’s market and got to see the fresh produce that we would be cooking with. The market was so vibrant and alive with colors and scents that will stay with me forever.

After the market, we drove out into the country to the farm, for our cooking class. What a lovely and serene place. We instantly felt at home as we donned our red aprons, and Sammy schooled us on all the basic Thai ingredients...lemongrass, ginger, garlic and a myriad of other exotic spices and aromatics.

Our cooking class began with a traditional Thai curry dish. We crushed the ingredients with a mortar and pestle and I came away with a fragrant yellow curry paste. Amazing!

We added the curry paste, along with some chicken and vegetables, to simmering coconut milk, and in seconds, we had yellow Thai curry! With homemade fresh curry paste! So delicious and savory.

We were fortunate enough to get to make five different delectable Thai dishes over the course of the day at Sammy's Organic Farm. Luckily, we were able to take a short siesta after the first three courses and staked out a couple of lovely hammocks. Cooking and eating is hard work!

Green Papaya Salad

Stir - fried chicken with holy basil

Fried spring roll with sweet Thai chili sauce

Here’s the recipe for the yellow curry from Sammy. You can get yellow curry paste in the market, if you don’t want to make it yourself, and substitute the sugar with any brown sugar you like. For my Lectin- free crowd, I think sweet potato or parsnips would be great to sub in for the regular potato. Serve over Basmati rice. Yum!!!

I have so much more to share with you in the next few weeks and I know you’ll fall in love with Thailand, as I did! My take on a favorite Thai street food is coming soon! And the elephants 💕