My reflections on Indochine

So it has been over a year since my fantastic exploration of South East Asia, where I explored a great new world of flavors, spices and ingredients. I went to as many markets as possible; floating markets in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam, huge centralized markets of Saigon, and the food vendor’s night market near Cambodia’s Angkor Temples. I even visited a fish sauce factory on an island in the Gulf of Thailand…when I asked the locals for directions to the factory they thought I was crazy, “You don’t need a map, just a nose!” I have been thinking about all of these magical places a lot lately, as I prepare to share my experience in a cooking class in our new Interactive Culinary Centre in Calgary.

This travel experience has truly influenced my cuisine and how I look at ingredients. My menu for this cooking class is: Shrimp ball skewers on green papaya salad and spiced almond dip; curried chicken amok with Thai rice and basil; banana sesame seed beignet with coconut and lemongrass ice cream For this class I will be sourcing most of my ingredients locally in Calgary from T&T Market, and from the store that used to be called Shun Fat on 17th Ave S.E. just East of Deerfoot on the South side of 17th Ave.