Food Bonanza!

I know you are all dying to hear about my fourth day of orientation, the gory and juicy details of every energizer, presentation, game, etc. And let me tell you…I want to relive it, but I have other news to impart. I will just take a moment to say that today my group and I did a great job in our presentation and made up for anything that was lacking in our last attempt.

Orientation ended today at 5 pm. Originally, the other Laos interns and I were told that the directors of the project at which we will be working this summer, VFI, were planning to take us out to eat at a Laos restaurant here. The plan was for us to discuss some of the details about our upcoming work experience, what to expect, and to get a taste of Laos cuisine. Well, it turns out, the ladies who run the program, Kao, Chinda, Kai, and Lamnleugn, do not think the Laos restaurants here in Chiang Mai are very good. They decided, therefore, to cook for us themselves! Mike (if you remember, Mike is the 2L from my school who told me about BABSEA originally) asked us if we wanted to be a part to the entire process from going to the market and cooking to eating. I immediately said yes and the other girl going on the trip, Sam (same Sam previously mentioned) and the guy, Nate, agreed. Therefore, after lessons our troop headed off to the market.

The market we went to was not far from Uniserv (about a 10 minute walk). The market is housed in a large open building (not so much a building as a wide open space with pillars around it to hold up the roof). It is huge and houses too many stalls to count. Everything is sold there from veggies to meat (every kind, including hearts and livers on a stick to chicken legs and breasts), pork rinds (which I bought and are delicious!) to satay, and sticky rice to little mini crabs you cook and eat whole (they would be about one bite each). Some of what I saw looked disgusting, but some of it looked incredible. Sam, Nate, Mike, and I just followed behind Kao and Lamnleugn as they shopped for our dinner. We stopped first in the meat area to buy chicken. It was amazing to watch the woman selling chicken work. As she discussed the meat with Kao, she pulled out a whole chicken and set it on her cutting board. With two quick motions of her cleaver, the legs were off and tossed in with the tray with other legs. Next went the wings, out came the gizzard, the head was chopped off, and the rest sliced cleanly in two. The entire process took her maybe one minute and the whole time she was running a constant conversation with Kao. It was incredible to watch. Sam and I just stood staring in awe at the skill with which she decimated the chicken. What is also amazing is that every part of the chicken is used. No bit of the chicken (except perhaps the head, but I wouldn’t guarantee it) is used in some way and available for sale. Next, in our market journey we went to the veggie area. Kao and Lamnleugn quickly grabbed vegetables and explained to us some of what they were with Mike chiming in on other veggies that were unidentifiable to our Western (except for Sam) eyes. We saw, mini eggplant (looks like peas), large eggplant (about the size of a large pepper and green), lemongrass, some strange leafy green that was purchased for our meal, etc. Once again I was fascinated by the process and how carefully the two women checked the veggies until they had found the best available. After that we moved on to another stall for more veggies, but along the way Sam and I got sidetracked by the mountains of pork rinds everywhere we turned. Neither of us had ever tried them before, although we had both heard of them and seen them previously. We decided to buy a small bag for 20 Baht and make everyone have a taste. After we made our purchase we followed our leaders to our final stall in the market, the sticky rice stall. It was a sight to light up the soul of any true rice lover. A literal mountain of steaming white sticky rice ready to be bagged an eaten. The mountain was constantly replenished by more rice being cooked and never old as it is bought out so fast. We got an entire shopping bag full of rice (think Safeway bag) and were finally deemed ready to leave the market and head to BABSEA house to cook. As we left we took stock of the bags we had accumulated and it looked like enough to feed an army: a small bag full of chicken (probably 5 pounds worth), two big sacks full of veggies and mushrooms, and one large bag of sticky rice. When Mike questioned the amount, since we only planned to feed 12 people, he was told that they planned to make four courses for us. It turns out, however, that this was STILL not enough in their minds and we stopped along the way at a cart to buy two fried and baked, stuffed fish to add to the mix. Finally, we were done and we headed home to cook.

When we arrived at the house we all immediately gulped down some water and sat down. The ladies grabbed the bags, told us to rest for 15 minutes and that they would just take the groceries into the kitchen. 30 seconds later, Mike came in and asked what was going on. We told him what was said and he jumped up and said, “No. They are trying to trick you. They are going to start cooking now so that you don’t have to do anything.” Well, that was not acceptable. We wanted to help and watch them prepare our meal. We all scurried back into the kitchens, therefore, and sure enough, there were the four of them starting to prepare our meal. They tried to tell us not to worry and to go back out and wait, but we insisted and they finally relented, allowing Sam and me to wash veggies and mike to prepare the chicken (aka debone and deskin).

So…the process of washing veggies…you might think you know how to wash veggies, but I am here to tell you that you don’t. Sam and I were told repeatedly that we needed to rewash a particular item (the mint and mushrooms we redone three times and the ginger twice). We dutifully washed and scrubbed until our fingers were pruney and were finally upgraded to chopping status. We were shown how to cut the mushrooms for one dish and then later, taught to cut limes (you have to bang on them first to release the juices), and shown how to slice banana flowers (a job that was immediately taken away from me as they feared I would cut off a finger). It was simply amazing. As we worked, sitting and crouching on the floor of the kitchen with people bustling around us everyone was laughing and chatting. It was such fun. The women were constantly laughing at our efforts, but in a fun way that made us laugh along.

After cutting vegetables for a long time we were finally allowed to do some actual cooking (mostly because I followed them around, leaning over their shoulders and watching until they finally put me to work cooking just to get rid of me). I was in charge of cooking the small ball mushrooms that we had previously sliced into strips. We first put them in a pan with a tiny bit of oil (barely any) and then added water, steaming the mushrooms. I just kept flipping them over and over, turning them so they never stuck to the pan and never burned. When they were finally done, they were put aside in a bowl to await Thida’s (a Cambodian intern) cooking of the garlic, green onion, green chile, etc. concoction. Sam was then in charge of burning some rice (slowly) that was then ground into a powder and added to the Lap we ate (which was sort of the main course I guess you would say). The rest of the time we all flitted around the bustling cooks as they made our dishes.

When the table was finally set (and it was a long table that fit about 14 people as more had added themselves to our group) it looked like a feast, with every inch of the top covered in food and bowls. It was amazing. The main dish, as I said was Laab, which is small bits of cooked chicken (diced) with the shredded banana flower, the rice powder, green onion, cilantro, mint, and chile. You eat it with sticky rice. So…you put a little on your plate and grab a big hunk of sticky rice too. Then you take a bite sized piece of sticky rice and role it into a ball in your hand, then just dab it at the laab and the extremely sticky rice just grabs it up. It is amazing! The second dish was an unidentified green leafy vegetable that was fried in oil much like we would fry spinach for a salad. It was called Hom Pom and it was cooked in garlic and with chiles as well. Those were amazing…maybe also similar to bok choy. The third dish was what I called my dish :)! It was called Jao Het and consisted of the mushrooms I cooked and the other stuff cooked by Teeda. The final dish was the soup, which is called Tom Som Gai (gai meaning chicken) and was incredible. It was so fresh tasting and light. It had onions, tomatoes, chicken, large leafy mushrooms, etc. And the secret ingredient that made it taste so fresh…lemongrass (and some ginger). It was the most refreshing soup I have ever eaten.

So, now that I have described all this food in such loving detail, I am sure you can guess what happened next. I made a COMPLETE pig of myself. We ate everything on the table (literally). Everyone was laughing and joking while we ate and having a fun time. It was such an amazing experience and I know that when I look back on this trip I am going to isolate it as a highlight of it all. And I feel particularly good because at the end Kao and Kai told us that when we come to Laos they want to cook for us again in their homes. It is so amazing to be invited to their homes for food and I can’t wait for that to happen too. While I now feel ready to slip into a food coma, it was all worth it and I would not change a minute of it or a single bite I ate.

In the end, there just can’t be anything more fun than cooking and eating with these amazing people with laughter and joy and the seamless dance of 8 cooks all working together in the complicated dance of Laotian Cuisine.