school thai(s)

on the 16-hour toronto-hong kong leg of our trip to thailand last year, i came down with what felt like the plague. when we arrived at HKIA at 4 in the morning, i didn't think i'd make it to our gate, let alone survive the flight to bangkok. poor adam spent the next few hours running though the airport looking for a pharmacy that was open, while a fellow canadian traveler kept an eye on me as i tried to sleep at the gate.

eventually, adam returned with some chinese pills (?) and instructions for me to take 5 of them 3 times a day (!). although i was sure something was lost in translation, i obliged, and thankfully started to feel a little more alive. in the meantime, adam made small talk with our new canadian friend who seemed to be as big a fan of thai food as adam.

an american traveler was sitting just a few seats away, keeping to himself on his laptop, but apparently enjoying the animated conversation between adam and our new friend. he introduced himself, and as it turned out, the traveler was chef robert danhi, author of southeast asian flavors (nominated for a 2009 James Beard Foundation Book Award), international restaurant consultant, and culinary tour guide. we had seen several of chaf danhi's youtube videos featuring thai street food, and adam instantly barraged the chef with every question he could think of surrounding thai food and cooking.

chef danhi suggested we attend a cooking class in bangkok; we had planned on doing so, but didn't know which school would provide the most authentic experience. chef danhi recommended khao cooking school, where we could be taught by his friend and renowned thai chef/instructor kobkaew najpinit. with over 40 years of experience in teaching traditional thai cuisine, we knew we would be in good hands with kobkaew. and on top of that, she was a sweetheart! i'm pretty sure kobkaew had a crush on adam, but the dishes she taught us were so fantastic that i was willing to look the other way.

thanks to chef danhi's connections, we were given a private 4-hour class with kobkaew, and she pulled out all the stops. kobkaew showed us four dishes: khao soi (a chicken red curry with soft and crispy rice noodles from northern thailand), tom ka gai soup with young coconut, a searing hot green curry (adam insisted on using as many thai chilis as the locals would in the curry paste), and a prawn pad thai that we could barely eat because we were already SO full!

we will return to khao cooking school every time we travel back to bangkok, and highly recommend it if you find yourself in thailand! a HUGE thanks to chef danhi for letting us know about kobkaew and her school.