Originally Posted by yosithezet

My apologies for not returning and posting. I could have sworn I'd written up a review somewhere but I cannot find it.

I found the Blue Elephant cooking class to be very well organized, interesting, informative and thoroughly enjoyable.

I arrived about 30 minutes before the start of the class. Registration and payment were on the second floor. After paying you sit in a room and have some tea or coffee while waiting for the class to start. Because it was a morning class, you start with a trip to the Bang Rak market. We broke into two groups. The leader of the group was one of the sous chefs. She explained the various vegetables and herbs that we saw. We also stopped and bought some local coffee at one of those carts where they use the condensed milk and pour it through a series of cloth strainers.

Back at the Blue Elephant we headed upstairs to the top floor. On one half of the floor is a classroom. On the other half is a kitchen. The classroom has chairs with table arms like in US high schools. Being a big guy, it was a bit awkward for me to sit and get up but it wasn't all that uncomfortable. At the front of the classroom there was a cooking station, similar to what you'll find in a TV cooking show studio. Above the station was a very large mirror hanging down from the ceiling at an angle. The angle gave a very good view of the work being done at the cooking station.

First the instructor went over some of the basic tenants of Thai cooking. The various ingredients which are common, etc. Then we reviewed a recipe, with the instructor showing us how it was done. After each recipe we'd go across the hall to the kitchen where we each had our own station with all the necessary equipment. The kitchen is set up like a horseshoe for lack of a better description. The instructors are in the middle with the students around the outside. This way the instructors can easily see what the students are doing and give assistance and advice. For each of the recipes we'd head to the kitchen and all the prep work was already done. So we didn't have to measure the coconut milk or weigh the coriander. It was already prepared. One of the things we did need to do ourselves was to remove the seeds from the chillies. This was useful as it reinforced the point about the heat of the chillies.

After each dish was complete we taped our number to it and went back to the classroom. After 4 dishes or so we had a summary session. Students that were finishing up that day, and not taking additional days where they'd learn more lessons, received a Blue Elephant cloth apron, Blue Elephant cloth shopping bag and a gift box with some pastes and sauces and a recipe.

I subsequently bought some dried herbs and whatnot, and the Blue Elephant cookbook and have cooked a few dishes at home.

Since junior high school I haven't done similar classes elsewhere so I don't have anything with which to compare. However, the class was very worthwhile and I highly recommend it.