Thai Cooking in a Traditional Teak Home - Day Trip — CALL

Pea is in her 60s and lives with her son, Jah, in a beautiful teak home in Chiang Mai that is surrounded by gardens. Pea started cooking as a young girl of 12. As the first daughter and fourth child in the family she remembers her mom waking her up early in the morning to buy food from the market, teaching Pea about the best ingredients and how freshness can influence a dish. Pea is such a good and creative cook that she can even get her sons to eat and enjoy bitter gourd, a vegetable that is renowned for people, especially children, despising! She says, “In our family as soon as we finish one meal, we think of the menu for the next meal. Cooking is a big part of my life, I love to work in the kitchen.” Join Pea for an authentic Thai meal or cooking lesson in her home. Your experience begins with pick-up from your hotel. Drive to Pea’s home and enjoy a tour of her beautiful vegetable garden where you will discover how essential Thai herbs such as lemongrass and holy basil are grown. You will then be treated to a small snack such as miang kham (a local snack of fresh betel leaves with lime, coconut, and peanuts) before beginning your meal. Pea's mother was Chinese and her father was Thai, and her cuisine is influenced by the culinary traditions of both cultures. Enjoy dishes such as beef noodle soup, kaeng khiao wan (chicken green curry), kai kraphrao khai dao (stir fried chicken with holy basil) or nam prik ong (a typical Northern Thai pork dip) before ending your meal with a dessert of sweet coconut ice cream or mango sticky rice (when in season). If you book a cooking experience, you can expect to join Pea in her kitchen to chop, pound and grind as you learn to make an authentic Northern Thai-Chinese meal from scratch. The cooking lesson will last about 1.5 hours before you share the meal you helped prepare with Pea at her dining table.