Valentine's Day

This year for Valentine's Day James and I had the opportunity to do something a little out of the ordinary. Usually we would head out for a nice dinner, just the two of us. Well, this year involved dinner, but with a little bit of a larger crowd.

Friends of ours invited us, along with 3 other couples, to participate in a evening with a Viet-Thai chef! The chef, Sally, owns their favourite Thai restaurant in a nearby town. One of the services she offers is to come to your home and show you how to cook Thai food. Although it is a little expensive, once the cost was divided between the 8 of us, it actually ended up being about the same price as going out to our local Thai food restaurant.

We had a blast. We had a coconut soup, fresh spring rolls, Pad Thai (our favourite, and the entire reason we went!), Coconut curry tofu and vegetables on jasmine rice, and a special Thai dessert. We floated between the kitchen and the dining room, learning from Sally, trying our hand at the cooking, and then indulging in our creations. The food was delicious and the company enjoyable. All the guests attend our church congregation, but none were couples that we regularly hang out with. It was nice to get to know them, laughing as we shared stories and a passion for eating (and now cooking) Thai food.

Bonus: Sally left us with a gift bag of food goodies: noodles, rice, wraps, and 4 different sauces we used in creating the dishes. We are so grateful for this new knowledge. I'm a pretty good cook, having learned over the years of marriage; there has only been one misfire. I tried once to make Pad Thai, and it was so bad we actually threw it out and ordered pizza. That was the only time in six and a half years of marriage that we ever tossed something we tried to make. I haven't tried since then, but after this weekend's lesson, I feel pretty confident to try once more!