Tales From The Future

It was the end of 2008 and we decided we should spend the day cooking and learning about Lao food. We had to check out of our hotel and get down to the Tamarind restaurant for 8:45. We arrived and milled around for fifteen minutes, then were packed into a couple tuk-tuks and taken off to the market. There were twelve people on our course: two from London, one American, a German lady, one other Canadian, another Brit and the rest were from Australia.

Our two guides took us through the market. There was one guide at the front leading the path and the other guide at the back herding people along and making sure no one got lost. The market was similar to other markets that we’ve been to. Our guide said that Laos people like to go to the markets three times a day, they want to use fresh vegetables and herbs in everything they make.

After we went through the market we were tuk-tuked off to a ‘secret’ location to do our cooking course. It was a gorgeous spot along the river. It was quiet and relaxed, there wasn’t much else happening out there. We sat down at the table for a drink before we got down to business.

The first thing we had to make was steamed rice. They’d been soaking the rice all night and all we had to do was massage the rice (to get the starch off the rice), and then put it in the steamer. We made two kinds of sticky rice, white and purple.

The second dish we made was jeow mak keua, eggplant dip. You had the option to make this or jeow mak lin , tomato salsa, which was the spicier option of the two. We went the less spicy route. We had to roast the eggplant, garlic and shallots before we pounded the dip.

We finished making the dip then got down to eating it. To eat it you had to take a little clump of sticky rice, roll it around to make sure it sticks together and then flatten it into a small disc. Then you place the disc on the tips of your fingers and, using it as a scoop, scoop up some of the dip and eat it. It was a very nice dip.

The third thing we made was mok pa, fish steamed in banana leaves. Using a mortar and pestle we had to
crush and combine garlic, shallots, chilis, chopped fresh dill and basil to make a marinade for the fish. Once we made the paste we had to place the fish in the banana leaves and spoon the marinade over the fish. Then we folded the banana leaves into a little pouch and closed it with some bamboo ties and through it on to the fire to be steamed. It took about twenty minutes for it to cook.

The fourth thing we made was orlarm, Luang Prabang stew. We made one big pot together. It was too difficult for us to make an individual bowl. Joy, our guide, said that traditionally Lao people put in dried meat of any kind: guinea pig, rats, bats, chicken, or anything they get hold of. He said that these different types of meat are difficult for people who aren’t used to eating them to eat. They decided that they’d stick with chicken.
The fifth thing we made was ua si khai, stuffed lemon grass. We had to create a paste, in the mortar and pestle, of garlic, spring onions, coriander and ground chicken. Then we had to slice the base of the lemon grass so that it can be pushed out to look like a lantern. Next was trying to stuff our paste into the lemon grass. I was not very good at this. Our guide helped me a little bit with this. We each made two of these, one to barbecue and one to deep fry. I think I preferred the deep fried one; the lemon grass flavor had permeated everything. They were both very tasty, though.

The last thing that we made was purple sticky race with coconut cream. This was a pleasant end to the day. First we had to pour hot water over fresh ground coconut to get the cream, and then bring the cream to a boil. Once it’s boiling you throw in the rice and stir until it’s absorbed the milk. Then you’re ready. Well, we added banana, mango, and tamarind sauce to the concoction. A very tasty dessert.

After the cooking course we had to check in to our new hotel. Then it was nap time. After some recovery time we set out for New Year’s.

We settled in one restaurant with the plan of doing an appetizer crawl down the main street in Luang Prabang. The plan lasted through the appetizers. They impressed us so much we decided to stay for the rest of our meal. After the meal we wandered around until we made our way to the official Luang Prabang official city New Year’s party. We watched the show until we realized that, other than it being in Lao, the show was like every other New Year’s show we’d seen. We settled in to a café across the street and chilled out until midnight. That was our plan until they politely got us to leave at 11:45.

We went outside and watched everyone preparing to launch what looked like mini-hot air balloons.

They would hold them and light the fuel cell in the bottom until the air inside heated up so the balloon would float. Then they released them and watched them go. We think people wrote wishes or something on the sides of the balloons before they released them. We watched about fifty people release these balloons. We sauntered back to our hotel for our first night in 2009.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Today was our first full day in Luang Prabang. We rolled out of our room and had breakfast overlooking the Nam Kahn river. It was pleasant way to start our day. The first stop for our itinerary today was the local produce market. Even though the market was picked over (it starts at 5:30 am), we were able to see different foods than we’ve seen previously and enjoyed the walk through.

We went up and down the market three times. Half way through the first lap of the market I ran into problems with my foot. Every time I stepped I felt my left heel stick to my sandal. I stopped and saw some black goop on my heel that was acting like glue. I wanted to stop and pick it off, but it Buddhist countries it is EXTREMELY rude to point your feet at someone else. I was in a pickle: I couldn’t check the bottom of my feet with pointing them at someone. I had to tough it out. We made it to the end and I found a patch of grass and wiped the bottom of my foot just like I had stepped in some dog poop. I was sooo distracted by the random goop on my foot I missed all the different food. Like this:

The chickens with the feet and heads still on.

The frogs.

The bats.

The random rodent, perhaps a gopher. Perhaps something else.

By the time we finished at the market, the sun had burned off the fog and it started to get hot out. We set out for a café for some coffee and some internetting. On the way we stopped at the Royal Palace Museum. Most people say if you see one thing in Luang Prabang, see the museum.

Unfortunately for us, it was closed and we aren’t sure when it will be open again. We continued on to the café and ran into the Australian people we met at the cooking course in Chiang Mai. We chin wagged on the corner for a while. Then we went our separate ways and continued on to the café. We settled in for coffee, cheese and a baguette, which then turned into us ordering sandwiches for lunch.

After lunch we went and signed up for a Lao cooking course for tomorrow; we got the last couple of available spots. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around Luang Prabang. We went into a few shops and stopped at Wat Nong Sikhounmuang.

But then it got TOO hot. This situation required a return to our hotel to siesta.

After the siesta we decided to brave the trip up Phu Si. In Luang Prabang there is a large hill with a temple on the top and a few different temples or ruins on the way down (or up, depending on your approach). To get up to the top there are approximately 318 stairs (aside: after proofreading this last sentence, I remarked that there was nothing ‘approximate’ about the number 318. Andrew insisted upon leaving it in. ~CW). We took it slow and stopped to look at everything we could but we were still tired by the time we reached the top. However, some of the other people we saw looked like they were in pain or were going to die on their way up.

From the top there is an amazing, clear view of Luang Prabang.

As well as the temple.

We rested up top for a while to recuperate before our journey back down. Suffice it to say the journey down was a lot easier than the way up. We wandered around Luang Prabang before we settled on a restaurant for dinner. While at dinner we realized we have to change hotels tomorrow, even though we had no idea where our new hotel was. We figured it would be best to find our new hotel before we have to check in. A quick Google check sent us on our way. We located it quickly and easily, now we are set for tomorrow.

Once we found our hotel we were next to the night market.

We enjoyed the laid back atmosphere from last night and decided to go through again. Even though much of the things were the same as last night we did find some new and different products. We didn’t buy much. After we got out of the market we strolled back to our hotel, we have to pack and get up early tomorrow morning. It’s cooking time, Laos style.