last week, the mongolian ladies mentioned that they would like to attend thai cooking school, they were especially interested in learning how to make curries. and hating to send them off on their own for something like that, i forced myself to join them – i’m all about suffering for the cause. :) (i’d pat myself on the back, but i can’t. i have stitches. – i’m working hard at milking this skin cancer thing for all it’s worth.) i met the ladies at the hospital and then we were picked up and taken to the school. where we were greeted by this -

invited to sit down and then we had a small cultural introduction where we learned thai culture is a chewing culture. now, it wasn’t really explained what that means, but since we were given a little tutorial and then instructed to eat what is on the plate, i’m defining it as a culture that likes to eat. i could be wrong. but i can’t get google to cough up any information for me so i’m going with what i think. (oh, and those leaves, google did tell me what they are, they are betel leaves. and they cure it all, constipation, indigestion, aid in lactation, etc… seems they are little power houses.)

then we headed to the market, returned to the house and started cooking. seven dishes in all.

pad thai & spring rolls

ingredients for curry paste & red curry paste

steamed curry w/ fish & hot and sour prawn soup

chicken w/cashew nut & mango w/sweet sticky rice

everything was very good. and a lovely time was had by all. and i know if you made it this far you’re wondering meme, where in the world is the meme and how does it fit in? well, sarah over at the bean bag tagged me for the

that was started by smokey mountain breakdown. so here goes.

1. What food do you consider the best “date” food? In other words, what meal or food item do you think is sexiest to eat in the company of someone you would like to look sexy around?
spaghetti
(i don’t really think this, but the someone i would be trying to look sexy around loves spaghetti, and it has been ages since we’ve recreated that lady and the tramp scene…)

2. What well-known person would you like to share a meal with

well, that would be james spader. but i’m afraid i would only be disappointed because i just know that james spader in person is a super boring guy – despite the cool glasses. oh, but maybe dinner on the balcony with alan shore and denny crane?? and maybe a short appearance of jerry espenson. yes, that would work.

3. What does your perfect breakfast-in-bed look like? (Food AND the details, please. Candles? Music? Flowers? Hot tub? Dancing girls?

i can say for sure that it does not include the traditional thai breakfast of rice porridge with fish. but it should include french toast, with melted butter, maple syrup and powdered sugar. and crispy, almost burnt, okay, you can burn it, bacon. and mangos. and pineapple. yum. and i wouldn’t mind the hot tub right after breakfast.

4. What do you consider the best application of whipped cream to be?
on top of my hot cocoa, of course, or it’s equally as good on top of a gingerbread latte. and i know what kind of answer you’re looking for here and all i can say is whip cream is sticky, hello.

5. Oh-God-No, Biff, the yacht is sinking! You are sent to the galley to retrieve the food. What luxury food items do you snatch first? The champagne? The caviar? Smoked Salmon? Truffles? Chocolate? Or something else?
well, my galley has no champagne. it does have some mighty good frozen margaritas. both strawberry and lime. and i’ve saved them. oh, and some chips and queso. they won’t go down with the ship!

The Rules…
“Answer each of the five questions. Tag five bloggers you would like to pass the meme to. Have them link back to you and to this post as the source meme. You and they can take the graphic from here if they like.”

so, now, who do i tag…

1. well, of course, i have to tag wineymomma, her last post was about food. and i like her.

2. how about mary and bob’s journal. i have no idea what kind of food a gal in training for a marathon goes gaga over, but i have heard about carb loading. almost makes me want to get out and run a marathon tomorrow!

3. and learning to walk in stilettos, i don’t know what kind of delicacies they have in belarus. but tagging her has helped me discover i have link issues from my blog to hers that i must fix right now.

4. and teryx. i haven’t heard from her bloggy wise in so long and have no idea why i think this meme will do the trick, but it’s worth a try. plus, her hubby shaved off all his hair for charity.

5. last, but not at all least, hay. she just celebrated her 10th anniversary. like today. happy anniversary! to celebrate i give you a meme.