Which nut job once said “Language really isn’t a communication system”?

Day 9. 11^th February 17…Which nut job once said “Language really isn’t a communication system”?

Today I did a full day in school - cooking class! This is a really nice way to gain a better understanding of Thai Ingredients and cooking methodologies, which genuinely interests me.

I arrive at the centre and I’m introduced to my fellow cooks for the day. I can’t believe it, not a single English person again!….I felt sure there would be at least one to loosen the flow of words…the thought of another day of communication ‘twister’ filled me with dread! So today we have…Argentina, Japan, China, France and Peru. I’m saying to myself “please Lord give me strength to make it through the day….I’ll never be bad again….promise”…but I realise….you can’t ‘cut deals’ with the big man upstairs, you’ve got to 'man up' and push on!!

Well, I decide early in the day that Chinese and me… well it's simply a communication war zone. I’m sitting on a Chinese couples table and neither of us knew a single word of the others vocabulary. The first dish I cook is a massaman curry. So being thoughtful I offer my bowl to them (like Oliver Twist), for them to taste and they look confused. I’m trying desperately to translate with my raised eyebrows, wide eyes and nodding motion…."go on try" (not the most reassuring tool in my locker I know)….But it was a catastrophic disaster…I seriously think they thought I was mental. In the end I had to accept failure which was frustrating to say the least after such a gallant effort on my part - China 1 England 0.

    The Chinese Couple....She sits with her back to me in the end......Bless me I tried so hard!!!

The day in itself was quite nice. They take you to the local market first and show you all the fresh produce, how the flavours compliment each other and how to be a savvy buyer. You then make seven dishes throughout the day… I can’t recall all of mine but here’s a few:

• ·      Massaman curry
• ·      Spring rolls
• ·      Pad Thai (a very popular dish in Thailand)
• ·      Sticky Thai rice (prep only as this take hours to cook)
• ·      Chicken Satay & peanut sauce
• ·      Sticky rice and Mango (I would say this is the most popular dessert over here)

  

    

The young trainees at the centre were really lovely and very helpful, but the head chef was a right old battle-axe - bossing and dictating throughout the day. She made the environment uncomfortable for everyone I think. She was tough with us too….I dropped my spatula at one point during her multiple orders to me which really spun her head off. She went off huffing and mumbling to fetch me a new one. I was polite and grateful on her return but in my head I wanted to shove her ‘cooking 

Spatula’ right up where the sun doesn’t shine!

   The 'Battle-axe'.....I'd like to show her my mamma's secret (clifton) recipe lol!!

I would recommend anyone coming to Thailand to try this experience, though my advice would be to find a more rural setting. They have farm shops which grow their own produce etc, and do cooking courses there and I think this would be a better environment. Still I enjoyed it and learnt a lot.

    Argentina and France to my left ....these were all really lovely people.