David's Kitchen & B. Samcook Home 16

The service we received at two of Chiang Mai's highest rated restaurants, was unlike anything we have ever experienced before.

One evening we went to David's Kitchen, a restaurant that came in 10th place in the world on Trip Advisor for fine dining restaurants.  We had reservations, but probably arrived about 15 minutes early.  To our surprise, two people came out to the vehicle to greet us, and walk us in.  We didn't let anyone know that we were on our way, but they were ready for us.  They led us to a table that had a card printed out welcoming us by name, as well as cute folded napkins.

The server brought out a delicious amuse bouche:

And then we ordered the escargot, and a lovely citrus salad:

Christopher had the tuna, and I had the lobster pasta.

We really enjoyed our food, and how unpretentious the restaurant was; sometimes we find fine dining places sort of stuffy, but this one wasn't.

We had another great dining experience at B. Samcook Home 16.  It's casual, funky, and fully booked until about August.

There is no ordering, you just eat what the chef is making that night.  Our server brought us the menu for the evening, along with the first beverage.

The first course was a crab meat spring roll:

Then shrimp tom yum, coconut soup, which was fabulous - so flavourful:

Next were pork ribs with a garlic pepper sauce:

And a pretty blue drink:

The next dish was grilled salmon with spicy lime sauce:

And then duck leg with mixed berry sauce:

Finally we got a little dessert and third beverage:

The chef said we could also take an ice cream treat from the freezer - haha!  We were way too stuffed to eat any ice cream, and I feel bad, because Christopher ate at least half of all of my portions.  I have to remember that I just can't eat enough in one sitting to do tasting menus.  It was a really unique dining experience, and we enjoyed how casual it was, yet how beautifully the food was presented, and how fresh and scrumptious everything was.

The craziest part was at the end of the evening when the chef came to our table and asked what hotel we were staying in; he said he'd have his driver take us back!  Talk about service!

How was your weekend?  What did you do?

Thai Cooking Class

One morning when we were in Thailand, we took a cooking class at Galangal Cooking Studio.  They picked us up from our hotel, and then our first stop was at the market where we were shown some of the ingredients we'd be cooking with; we left with a bunch of fresh veggies and herbs.

We arrived at the cooking school, which was really well organized.  There were so many choices of things to make, and Christopher and I each chose five different dishes, so we'd have practice with 10 different dishes total, and could taste more things.

My first dish was pad Thai:

And Christopher's was minced pork with fried holy basil (pad kra-paw):

Next up were the soups.  We made chicken in coconut milk soup (tom kha kai), and hot and sour prawn soup (tom yum gung):

They were delicious!

Next we worked hard with the mortar and pestle to make curry pastes.  Christopher made a green curry paste, and I made red.

Then I made khao soi and spring rolls, while Christopher worked on green curry, and chicken salad (lab kai).

He made deep fried bananas for dessert, and I made one of our favourite dishes that we ate numerous times in Thailand, mango with sticky rice.

We had a really fun time and learned a lot.

There was waaaaay too much food!

Have you ever taken a cooking class?  

What is something you'd like to learn how to make?

Elephants!

I miss them.

One of the best things we did in Chiang Mai was visit Lanna Kingdom Elephant Sanctuary.  They rescue elephants from riding camps, logging camps, and circuses, and bring them to live peacefully, without being forced to work.  They just eat, play, and roam free.

 

We learned so much, and heard about the elephant hospital in Chiang Mai, and the ambulance used to get them there if needed.  They are so well taken care of at the sanctuary.  It was really sad to see the scars on the elephants from both the riding chair, and tattoos they were given when being forced to work.  Some arrived at the sanctuary with broken backs, and others had holes punched through their ears for riding.

Lanna, the three year old we met, was rescued from the circus, so she still does some things that she was trained to do, like give kisses with her trunk.  She's a fun little girl, with loads of personality.

We love her.

And she loves having a bath!

We mud bathed the elephants; it's very good for their skin, and helps keep bugs away:

Then we washed the mud off in the water, and brushed them:

We wandered around with them, fed them bananas (Lanna liked to steal bananas), made and fed them herbal medicine balls, and pretty much had the best time.

And then we had lunch with a view!

We think a fun retirement gig one day would just be volunteering at the elephant sanctuary.  We can't wait to go back.

Ethical tourism is something that is really important to us, so we definitely did our research before going on this trip.  Getting our picture taken with drugged up tigers, or or gawking at the people of the long-neck tribe seems so wrong to us; there are also crocodile shows, monkey shows, snake kingdoms, etc., but we had no interest in supporting these unethical businesses.  If you're ever in Northern Thailand, and want to spend time with animals, I highly recommend Lanna Kingdom Elephant Sanctuary.

What's your favourite animal?