Day two in Cambodia was Valentine's Day! We decided to spend the day learning how to cook Khmer style food via the amazing talent of Linna, a culinary school owner and chef. Ironically, she studied the culinary arts in Tokyo for three years and speaks Japanese!
We were joined in the class by Curtis, a Canadian English teacher in Korea. He was super cool and we really enjoyed getting to know him and to hear about life in Korea and his view of American politics. :)
We began the day by following Linna through the local market to buy some fresh ingredients for the food we would be preparing. We did not see a single grocery or convenience store in Cambodia, so I think it's safe to assume that the open market places are how the folks shop. We also noticed a lot of communal dining on the sidewalks and streets. And based on our observations of the local "flats", I don't think many people have kitchens so eating at local food stands and such is the norm.
CAUTION TO MY VEGETARIAN FRIENDS: Some of the pictures below show raw meat! :)
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| Linna stopped and let us sample some friend banana, yum! |
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| Next we had a banana that was cooked over charcoal, wrapped in a palm leaf, with rice and plum I think. |
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| The palm wrapped banana |
The following pictures depict some of the other sights in the market - it was PACKED with people and we were having to weave our way through buyers and sellers. There were fish being chopped to order. Anyone concerned about raw food temps and sanitation (like me!) are guaranteed to have a difficult time seeing what goes on, LOL. I did a great job of compartmentalizing what I was seeing regarding food purchasing and prep and what I knew I would be eating throughout our trip.
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| This is Linna underneath her culinary school sign. She had a REALLY nice set-up! |
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| The kitchen - she had some students there to assist us |
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| They had everything set up in advance |
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| Curtis, Joel and I ready to cook! |
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| The boys making rice paper seafood wraps |
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| Joel making the paste for our pumpkin soup (which was really more like a green curry with pumpkin, catfish and pork in it) |
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| The soup |
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| Linna showing us proper technique |
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| Yummy! Beef Lok Lak and Pumpkin Soup! We had a WONDERFUL time and learned so much! |
After we left full and happy, we tuk tuk'd it down to the Riverfront to walk off some of the calories and explore. The following are simply pictures we took of the local views and architecture. We did eat a nice dinner at another restaurant that sponsors local child aid groups, but we won't bore you with more food pics in this post. ;-)
Phnom Penh really is a beautiful, happenin' city.
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