It's been a wild end to spring and start to summer.
3-week trip to Peru? Check!
Andy graduation? Check!
Buy a condo? Check!
Andy work crazy hours? Check!
Now it's back to blogging! Peru photos and stories coming after this!
In April (yes, APRIL, I am that behind), A's sister S and her husband D came to visit. The highlight of the extended weekend was a food tour/cooking class combo. It took place in the Argyle Street area of northern Chicago, which is where you can find delicious Thai and Vietnamese foods. And all the stores to get the appropriate ingredients in for their recipes.
We start the class out by following our instructor up and down Argyle Street. She told us about when the immigrants had come to this area and took us to some great places where we tried delicious food. First stop - bakery.
These were some sort of bun with a paste in the middle.
Next stop: Ba Le, a very contemporary Vietnamese cafe. They serve delicious Banh Mi and a very strong Vietnamese coffee.
We decided to try this aloe vera drink... it was interesting, but not something I'll buy anytime soon.
My favorite part of the tour was when we went to a grocery store. Our instructor took the time to point out the staples of Vietnamese and Thai cooking and her favorite brands. We had her recommend a good fish sauce.
Look at all the curries!
Apparently if we want really fresh fish we have to go here.
These were still alive and trying to escape. Run! Run for your lives!
Really awesome (and huge!) produce.
We trooped back to the kitchen to try our hand at some dishes. On the menu:
- Green Papaya Salad
- Panang Curry with Beef and Jasmine Rice
- Black Sticky Rice Pudding with Coconut Cream
- Thai Iced Tea
Our foursome was assigned to the main dish - Panang Curry. We quickly set the men to cutting the meat.
These are Thai chilies. They're small, very thin, and very hot! The group making the papaya salad was careful to wear latex gloves while they worked with them. They only put about 8 total in a salad for 14 people and it was extremely spicy!
Curry and coconut cream... where can you go wrong?
Yes, we used all of it!
A tried the papaya salad as they were making it... he agreed it was spicy enough! No more peppers!
Green papaya salad.
Thai iced tea. They serve it with cream or half-n-half. It's very thick and on the sweet side.
Dessert - black sticky rice topped with... can you guess... coconut cream! Super delicious.
The full meal. Super delicious. A little too spicy for me (I couldn't eat much), but good all the same. I just couldn't taste any other food for a day or so.
It was a really great cooking class (our favorite so far!) and a really fun thing to do with S & D. Glad you guys could visit!
