Today we ventured out to take a cooking class at May Kaidee–a local Vegetarian restaurant in the northern city of Chang Mai, Thailand. It all started yesterday when we stumbled upon the restaurant in one of our seemingly-endless searches for good food. Looking at the menu, we decided to order their special–green pumpkin curry. I can say with certainty that it was far and away the best curry I’ve ever had (and we’ve been eating curry at least daily for the last few weeks). As we made our way through the other dishes we had ordered (fresh spring rolls, green papaya salad, and veggie tempura with a wonderful peanut sauce) we decided that we had to take their cooking class.

May Kaidee has 4 branches–3 in Bangkok near Ko San Road and 1 new branch in Chang Mai, run by the sister of the original owner who is also the teacher of the course. We happened to be the only people in the class today (in Chang Mai), but there is space for only 4–guaranteeing personal attention.

During 4 hours we learned to make Tom Yam Soup (vegetable  soup with tofu, and spices), pumpkin soup, stir-fried mixed vegetables with ginger, stir-fried vegetables with cashew nuts, pad thai, masaman curry, green curry with pumpkin, peanut sauce, spring rolls, pumpkin hummus, and green papaya salad (which is available at most Thai restaurants in the U.S. and is a must-try for everyone). Along with the 4-hour class in which we made 15+ dishes between the two of us, we received breakfast, a detailed   explanation of each ingredient at the market, all the leftovers, a recipe book, and even a lesson on the “May Kaidee” song for the bargain price of 1200baht (or about $40).I know what you’re thinking.. when are you coming over to my house to make all of this for me? Perhaps when we get back, we’ll be able to outfit our warehouse with a wok, and we can share the yuuuummmy food that we had today with all of you!