our trip: thailand eats

We spent multiple meals at one particular restaurant in Chiang Mai - Som Tam Soi 5.  Set up in Nun's out building (maybe a garage in its previous life?), it housed 8 tables and a tiny kitchen.  Nun is the owner, chef, waiter, and makes incredible food.  I was nervous before traveling to Asia - would I like the food?  Would everything be spicy?  What if I couldn't figure out the menu?  Luckily, most menus we encountered had pictures, so I could point out what I wanted, and when asked if I wanted it spicy I could shake my head "no"!

The hubs got the same things every time we went here - papaya salad (som tam), minced pork with holy basil, and we shared mango sticky rice for dessert.  I alternated between wide rice noddles with sweet soy sauce and pad thai.  Our dinners were less than $7 - TOTAL.

On Friday afternoon, we went to explore the Warorot Market.  This market is more of a local market, located in Chinatown of Chiang Mai.  There is an indoor section (below), then most food stalls are outdoors lining the streets.  The market was packed because of the Chinese New Year, and the weather was really hot, so we walked through then headed back to the hotel!

Food options:

Little quail rotisserie

Outdoor sushi at 90 degrees is still a no-no in my book!

I saw this little pink Volkswagen bug on our way out and had to grab a picture of it.  Not until I downloaded my photos did I notice the couple next to the bug, with their wheeled luggage and umbrella!

We spent all day Saturday at May's Thai Secret cooking school.  They picked us up at the hotel and our first stop was a local market about 20 minutes away.  This is a true local's market, and May took us on a tour of the local ingredients we'd be using during our cooking session.  May, like most residents, go to the markets daily.

It was hard to get pictures during our class because May had us working fast!  

Our class was comprised of a Canadian couple (Dave and Robin), a couple from Hawaii who are both operating nurses (Danielle and I can't remember her husband's name), and Neil, who runs the comedy section of Australia's public television.  It was a fun bunch and we all had a good time cooking together.  

The hubs made the papaya salad, and I made the spring rolls!  I also made yellow curry, mango sticky rice, and pad thai.

On the hubs' bucket list was a visit to the Cowboy Hat Lady.  At the North Gate's food market, you can get a wide variety of local food, but the hubs only had eyes for this woman and her khao kha mu (stewed pork leg).  Her food stall has been featured on television shows and is the most popular one, so we arrived early!  The hubs had two bowls of the pork and rice, with pickled mustard greens and chili vinegar sauce, raw chilis, and raw garlic.  It was incredible, tasted like nothing else I've ever eaten, but my craving was next door - I ate my weight in steamed pork buns!