Memories on Display

I am a firm believer that photographs are moments captured on paper. Every photo holds a memory or a story. Countless are the times when it has taken me an extra second to recall the memory behind an old photo. Without the photo, would that memory be otherwise lost in my sub-conscious sea of thoughts?

While I have multiple external hard disk drives containing systematically labelled folders of photos in digital storage (a back-up for my back-up), I also like to have as many photos as I can printed and displayed. There is only so much surface and wall space for picture frames before your house starts looking like a cluttered mess. There has to be alternatives.

My most recent solution involved trying to be innovative in my crocheting (goodbye scarfs and hats), magnets, and making use of the fridge as an additional surface for display wonderful memories. Also, the hubs moved into a new office and wanted to have some photos up on his whiteboard (I picked ‘manly’ colours for him to counter the doily frills).

These magnetic crochet doily frames are the solution to your kitchen’s photo needs is right here. I wasn’t able to decide which colours looked the best so I ended up making a whole bunch of them in different colours and putting them up on Etsy. Only 4 of them are up for now, but I actually had these made in 10 different colours –sheepish grin-. Oh, the woes of not being able to make up your mind!

Cooking Thai in Thailand

In my recent trip to Bangkok, we decided to do something we’ve never thought of doing while on vacation – sign up for a 4-hour crash course in cooking Thai food.

I love Thai food, and so it makes total sense that  should want to learn how to make Thai food (fyi, no authentic Thai food in Ahmedabad so far). We eventually chose Chef Leez Thai Cooking Class based on good reviews and reasonable (but not the cheapest) price. Reservation was fuss-free and could be completed and paid for online.

We managed to locate the class easily by taxi despite not being able to speak a word of Thai (the class’ website provide good instructions on locating the class). The class began with a trip to the near market. It was a small one, but adequate for Chef Lee to show us the types of ingredients to choose (and what to avoid) for cooking Thai food. It was more an educational experience than an eye-opening one for me as I’ve been to similar markets with my mum as a child.

At the market learning how to choose prawns and such | Photo credit: Juxxtapose

Armed with weaved rattan baskets, we carried the selected produce back to the classroom and began the lesson. We were first introduced to the main ingredients commonly used in Thai cuisine – lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime and its leaves, brinjal, etc. Some of the ingredients were already familiar to us as we also use them in Singapore. But for the French father-daughter team next to us, they were given a chance to smell and taste these ingredients for the first time.

Chef Lee telling us how to prep the ingredients | Photo credit: Juxxtapose

This cooking class is for amateurs and people looking to have fun while learning something new. We did minimal prep work – smash your own lemongrass, cut your mushroom into quarters, that sort of thing. Chef Lee and her crew did most of the heavy-lifting. She taught us how to de-shell and handle the prawns, boil the stock for the soup and make the prawn paste by demonstration.

Her helpers even arranged the ingredients in order of what to add next. Following her instructions was almost painfully easy and the class was small enough for her to walk around and help you out if you needed it. It was good in that we got to experience the fun and easy parts of cooking and not have to do the cleaning and most of the prepping. But probably not so good if you’re a hardcore home cook.

Straightforward instructions for cooking clear and creamy Tom Yam soup | Photo credit: Juxxtapose

Amazingly transformed from an egged mess to yummy-looking Pad Thai | Photo credit: Juxxtapose

The best part, though, was getting to eat after each dish. We got a sample size portion of everything we cooked (or watched get cooked). And it was all so good without the use of MSG or other artificial flavour enhancers.

Dietary preference for each individual was cared for as well. My partner did not eat beef, and so she had chicken as substitute for yellow curry. We got to choose how many chills to add into our papaya salad too – one for least spicy, and 4 for maximum spiciness.

Papaya salad was surprisingly easy. Mango sticky rice was only demonstrated to us. | Photo credit: Juxxtapose

I would have loved to try my hand at all of the dishes they promised to cover. But I guess 4 hours isn’t really sufficient for all that. We got a copy of all the recipes though, and also access to other recipes online. So far, I’ve attempted the papaya salad and clear Tom Yam soup on my own and I’m proud to announce that they have turn out well! Definitely looking forward to trying out more!