Chiang Mai

After a slightly early return from the bike trip up north, we've had a lovely, relaxing few days back in Chiang Mai. Top of our agenda, of course, was to eat as much good Thai food we could find (and fit in our stomachs). During a mid morning bowl of noodle soup last week, a friendly Dutch (my best guess) ex-pat who was gushing about how we were eating the best noodle soup in Thailand, also offered his recommendation for the best Khao Soi in the city (his favorite dish). This suggestion sent us to the enormous Airport Plaza, essentially a five story mall featuring floors dedicated to Thai furniture and craftwork, electronics stores, a movie theater, and, most importantly, an enormous food court. After browsing the rows after rows of dried fruits, nuts, package fermented sea creatures of all sorts, and so on, we quickly found the stall he had described ("straight past the giant aquarium, the first in the food court - not the second one - I've never tried the second one"). Happily aware that we were the only foreigners in site, we found two free stools just next to the Khao Soi station. Two raised fingers and a big American smile quickly brought us two bowls of what I'm committing to saying is the best we've had. All the elements were there: richly spiced broth, braised drumstick, both soft and crispy noodles, and all the requisite accompaniments (lime wedge, raw shallots, and pickled cabbage, with fish sauce, chili paste, and sugar all within arms reach - although in this case none of the three were necessary). Satiated, we wandered the multi-leveled, in a sort of "where the heck are we" stupor, before scooting back to our hotel.

Airport plaza

 The next day start off with (drumroll please), more Khao Soi. We had tried to find this particular stall last week, but it turns out we were looking between the wrong set of temples (an easy mistake to make here). Great atmosphere between the faded menu painted on a concrete wall and the Winnie the Pooh plastic table covers. The curry was solid, but not quite as enveloping as our other favorites - a bit too much fish sauce (yes, this is possible).

That afternoon we took a short ride (about 15km) up to Mae Rim which was home to some of Chiang Mai's most popular (at least as indicated by volume of advertising) tourist destinations. We stopped briefly at a string of animal related attractions and after deciding that neither of us were too happy about our perceived happiness of the animals themselves, we opted to spend our time (and money) in the orchid garden.

It was probably hardest to turn down the opportunity to spend 20 minutes playing with tiger kittens (for about $20)

Free to play with the baby crocs outside the "Crocodile Show"

Back for dinner at a curry restaurant we had enjoyed last week. Pork curry with ginger for me, Thai-style omelette over rice for Cindhu. It was King Bhumibol Adulyadei's birthday, so we enjoyed some impromptu firework shows over the city while the sky was peppered with little orange paper lanterns, some of which would drop showers of sparks (this had been going on all weekend)

Happy Birthday!

This morning brought the much anticipated cooking tutorial from the lovely chef-hostess of our now favorite Chiang Mai restaurant. We returned the motorcycle, grabbed a severely disappointing breakfast (our repeated mistake of ordering western style breakfasts), and headed over to the restaurant at 10am.

This one's for Dad and Will

After a friendly official introduction with our lovely instructor, Tanya, we were ushered into her humble kitchen  and shown to a mortar and pestle filled with chunks of peeled ginger. We took turns mashing before she dug a plastic bag from the refrigerator of some sort of beige colored paste - she didn't know what it was called in english, but a quick whiff indicated that it was some sort of fish/shrimp paste. Not sure we're going to find that one back home. About 200g of the mystery sea-animal paste, then 500g of a bright red, fragrant chili paste that includes some mix of chili, garlic, lemongrass, and lime peel were added to the finely mashed ginger. Meanwhile, 2kg of fresh, wonderfully fragrant coconut milk (not sure we'll find that either) was coming to a boil before the contents of the overflowing mortar were added. Then came a bit of salt, a few heaping tablespoons of tumeric-rich curry powder, and once back to a boil, several pounds of chicken thighs and drumsticks (bone, skin and all, of course). While I was somewhat romantically hoping that we would be privy to a truly from-scratch process, so I could learn the true secrets of the balance of spices and aromatics, it's probably for the best that I'll still be left trying to perfect my own blend. Topped up with another 2kg of coconut and slowly brought back to a boil for the chicken to cook fully before adding a healthy amount of sugar. No rich stocks, no fish sauce - any additional seasoning or balancing would be left to the customer through the appropriate accompaniments. The process was pretty darn close to the one I have attempted numerous times. Now I just need to find that fish paste and fresh coconut milk somewhere in the asian markets of Philly.

The whole while we were enjoying our cooking lesson, there was a tall stock pot bubbling away with a beautiful brown stock, with various chicken parts and bunches of herbs floating at the top. To cancel the memory of our poor breakfast, and mostly because it smelled so good, I ordered a bowl of her chicken noodle soup. Rice noodles, lettuce, braised drumstick and a ladle each of the chicken stock and the equally enticing and richly aromatic beef stock that was quietly simmering in a neighboring pot, topped with some chopped scallions. The best version I have ever had of a dish that is so common in so many different cultures. The stock was deep and rich without being heavy with a slightly exotic background of distinctly chinese spices - clove, cinnamon, allspice. I know what I'm having for breakfast tomorrow. 

The last several bites of what I will un-hesitantly call the world's best chicken noodle soup

One last night in Chiang Mai, then on to what can arguably be called the food stall capital of the world, Singapore for 5 days. We're already getting sticker shock from the cost of accommodation, but I suppose we've been a bit spoiled.