Many years ago now, D. and I went to visit his mom at Christmas. She's a great cook. I had been getting into cooking Thai food and asked her about cookbooks. She pulled out one called "Cooking Thai Food in American Kitchens." Despite the title, it was impossible to find it outside of Thailand (maybe now you can, but then it was out of print and you couldn't even get it from Amazon.com).
Fast forward to last week, when N. found out that I like to cook Thai food. She dived into her suitcase and gave me a copy of..."Cooking Thai Food in American Kitchens." Pretty much the same book, though a newer edition. Wow.
Fast forward to this weekend, when N. revealed that she hardly ever cooks. Her husband is a good cook, so he usually does the cooking, and otherwise they can step outside their door onto the streets of Bangkok and buy delicious food there. OK, then! Time for some Thai cooking experiments for both of us! We bought all kinds of fun groceries (and I was totally psyched to see that I could sound out the Thai label on the package of dried Krachai (labeled "dried rhizome" in English, unhelpfully).
We're putting my big stone mortar to good use and now we're cooking! N. is remembering watching her grandmother do this. I am remembering some things I used to cook for D. There's an air of wackiness while this kitchen "science experiment" goes on. Fun! Next up: fruit carving...