I’ve been looking at things to do while trying to keep myself at home as much as possible. Through someone’s social media post, I found that Airbnb is offering online experiences of all kinds for people who want to learn new things. I have done a Van Gogh drawing class and a sake education class so far. This Thai cooking class was my first online cooking class. I made a Thai green curry with pork and eggplant and a Thai omelet as well as a shrimp basil stir fry. We also made a chili and lime fish sauce which according to our teacher is one of the most popular Thai condiments and turns out that it is now one of my husband’s favorite condiments.

To prepare for the class, Tatiya, who lives in Bangkok, Thailand, sent us a list of ingredients and luckily, I had most of the items already. The only things I had to get were some eggplants and some basil. I am trying to grow basil but I have to be a little more patient. The basil plants are not yet large enough yet. The rest of the ingredients were things that I normally had in my pantry or fridge/freezer. Actually, my green curry paste was expired so Myra shared some of hers with me since I don’t cook with that paste very often. She also shared some jasmine rice with me–otherwise I would have just cooked regular rice.

I prepped all the ingredients before our 4 p.m. cooking class started on Zoom and set up the computer in the kitchen so that I could Zoom and cook easily. There were eight of us on the call — five Hilo friends and a couple of people from other parts of the world. It was fun Zooming with my friends to make these Thai dishes that we could eat together. We didn’t only learn how to cook but Tatiya also shared what her life in Bangkok is like. What a great experience — a two-hour class fro just $6 a person! My family loved the dishes we made and I’ll have to put these on regular rotation at my house. Living Hilo Style.