Cooking Class Experience at Mom Tri's Boathouse, Phuket

I attended a couple of cooking classes in Phuket recently. I attended a demonstration cum hands-on cooking class at the Mom Tri’s Boathouse. I thank Ms. Lisa Sol, PR of Mom Tri Boathouse and the management for extending the complimentary cooking class to me and the warm hospitality.

Mom Tri's Boathouse is a luxurious Boutique Hotel located on the beautiful Kata Beach. The hotel boasts of over 35 rooms and suites, fine restaurants and a wine cellar with more than 750 labels. Recently, Mom Tri’s Boathouse announced the appointment of Thailand’s only Maître Cuisinier de France, Chef Jean-Noël Lumineau, as the Boathouse Wine & Grill’s executive chef. The Boathouse cooking class was held at one part of the restaurant on Saturdays and Sundays only. I attended the Saturday’s cooking class.
Participants stand or sit round a long table and do simple hands-on preparation for the various dishes example - Make a pandan leaf cup; combine and mix fish for the fish cake, roll the spring rolls and more. The prepared items are brought to the main table where Sous-Chef Rattana Pholthaisong fries or do the salad as we all stand round her and watch. The food is then passed around for tasting before the next dish is prepared. At the end of the class, participants will sit down together at the main restaurant and finish what was cooked. During the class, Chef Rattana shared with us the secrets of Thai ingredients, tips on selection, storage and the methods of chopping; dicing and pounding of the ingredients of Thai dishes that were learning. I was surprised to learn that the Thais drink water boiled with pandan leaves for health reasons. Read my article on Pandan leaves.

The classes start at 10 am and are followed by lunch with all the students at approximately 1 pm. Lunch is included in the course price, the recipes, a certificate of attendance and a Boathouse apron are yours to take home.

2 day course 3,500 Baht ++
1 day course 2,200 Baht ++
The cooking class menu for Saturday and Sunday is different and if you attend both the classes you enjoy a good discount.



Note:  As of middle of November 2010 the cooking class menu will be the following:

Saturday's Menu

Tod Man Talay (Deep-fried seafood cake)
Tom Yam Goong (Spicy soup with prawns)
Gang Kiew Wan Gai (Sliced chicken in green curry)
Goong Phad Nam Makham (Sauté prawns with tamarind sauce)
Khao Niew Mamuang (Sticky rice with mango)

Sunday's Menu
Som Tum (Fresh green papaya salad)
Tom Kha Gai (Herbed chicken soup in coconut milk)
Goong Phad Kruang Geng (Prawns in red curry with vegetables)
Pad Thai Talay (Stir-fried Thai noodles with seafood)
Sangkaya Fugtong (Pumpkin custard)


Mom Tri’s Boathouse
Kata Beach
Phuket 83100
Thailand

Tel: +66 76330015-7
Email: info@boathousephuket.com
Website: www.boathousephuket.com





Thai Women are Hard Working

If you have visited Thailand you will agree with me that it is a country of markets, temples, beautiful beaches with crystal clear water, cheap tailors and nice Thai silk, monks walking in the morning, kick boxing posters everywhere, extremely wonderful food, great art and craft and smiling people everywhere. Then there are those who will tell you Thailand is all about massage parlours, nightclubs, pubs, brothels, social escorts and women everywhere! Both are true.

I started thinking of Thai women differently from what was usually in my mind after my recent trip to Thailand. Well, what was in mind was instilled by the hundreds of friends and acquaintances who told me about their experiences with Thai women and the numerous things I read about them. I have been always thinking that most Thai women are gold diggers who go all out to make as much money as they can. I was told they were great liars and swindlers who would paint suffering stories of themselves to the foreigners and the rich and try to make as much money as possible from them. But then, there are gold diggers, liars and swindlers amongst us. So, we cannot brand women and their habits by country.

I have come to a conclusion that Thai women are one of the hardest working women in the world!! This is so because most Thai men are just useless and sitting around doing nothing the whole day – most of them expect money to drop on their lap. Now, this is just based on my observance for one week recently………so you men, don’t jump at me. Even the prostitutes and the social escorts I met, seemed to be hard working from morning to evening. I see them sitting around the pubs waiting to chat up a foreigner as early as 10 am and they are still around at about 10 pm. Just sitting around waiting for a guy to book them and then doing what they are supposed to do and back to sitting down waiting for another guy is not exactly easy for a woman!

I am sure all women want affection, love, security, status and all and I don’t think one get all these sitting down every day waiting to service different men. It is not easy to be poor in Thailand especially so when the so called ‘bread winner’ of the family is lying down drunk somewhere or gossiping at a taxi stand. Many of these prostitutes have children. I saw a woman feeding her child and playing with her child and as soon as she saw a foreigner she rushed to him to sweet talk him to offer her services. I bet no mother wants to do such things in front of her child but these Thai women have no other choice. They cannot get other jobs as most of them are not educated and many live in villages far away from the main towns.

I saw Thai women working as executive chefs and head chefs; I saw Thai women cooking the whole day at little eateries; I saw Thai women in the market – cutting huge fish and a whole carcass of a pig; I saw Thai women driving taxis and tuk tuks; I saw Thai women earning a living by giving pillion rides on their motor bikes to strangers; I saw them sitting outside on the hot sun, canvassing for clients for the massage parlours they work for. I saw their lips moving non-stop, saying “massage” in a sing-song voice to all passer-bys in the hope that they can make some money for that day. I saw hope, anxiety and humility in their eyes as they say those words. I saw them sitting and laughing with foreigners and I could see that it was all fake. Their motive was all about making money.
When I was about nine years old I overheard my parents gossiping about an uncle who left my aunt to marry a Thai woman. My mother was telling my father that probably the Thai lady used some black magic on my uncle to seduce him. He married the Thai lady and eventually had eight children who are all educated and doing well in society. When I was about forty my mother told me that my aunt was to be blamed for the marriage break up because she was a very arrogant person who looked down upon my uncle who was neither handsome nor rich. I felt bad that for so many years, I distant myself from her because I thought she was a witch and that she caused unhappiness in my aunt’s life. That Thai lady who is no longer alive was in fact a wonderful person.

Somehow, I feel when a man marries a Thai woman; society tends to think that she is a prostitute. This is so unfortunate for all other Thai women as well as the guy who marries one. But then many questions raced in my mind as to why many of these Thai women became prostitutes. I can only think for a few possible reasons that is applicable to all the suffering women in the world. ONE – being born in poor families with no opportunity for education; TWO – living in a country with few job opportunities; THREE – some of the eldest daughters are sold to become prostitutes by the parents because of poverty and also so that the sons can be sent to school (unfair); FOUR – some girls voluntary become prostitutes because they cannot stand watching their family members suffer in poverty; FIVE – some of the girls are forced to become prostitutes by their husbands or boyfriends.

Whatever the reasons maybe, I don’t think these ladies have become prostitutes so that they could drive a BMW or wear at Cartier watches!! Many send money to their aged parents, their children, their siblings and relatives so that they can live comfortably or go to a decent school inside the country or out of the country. We cannot condemn these ladies but rather understand why they are doing it. There are many good hearts out there that are doing many things to help these suffering ladies and children. Perhaps you want to help these ladies too........


Development and Education for Daughters and Communities http://www.depdc.org/

ECPAT International
http://www.ecpat.net/