DIY Date : Thai Food

This past weekend the hubs and I celebrated our 11 year wedding anniversary!  We wanted to do something fun, not just dinner, so we opted for a cooking class at Sur La Table. 

I'm so lucky to have found this guy.  He is incredibly funny and smart, and encourages me to indulge in whatever crazy idea I may have, with minimal eye rolling.  One thing I've learned from him is that if you can find someone who can make you laugh, really laugh, deep belly laugh, it sure makes the hard times easier and it makes for happy kids too :)

I made this chile salad dressing that was AMAZING.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup sweet chile sauce

2 tablespoons fish sauce (this sounded gross to me, but you could not taste anything fishy)

Juice and zest of 1 lime

1 finely chopped jalapeno

Directions:

Whisk all of the above together and toss with your salad when ready to serve.

We were at a table with a mother-daughter duo and we split up tasks from a pre-planned menu.  You don't have to be an expert in the kitchen to have fun in these classes.  My husband rarely cooks and had just as much fun as I did.  There is a chef that guides you and demonstrates as needed.

Spicy Beef Salad with cucumber and mint.

The setup, four tables with groups of four.

Grilled Lemongrass Chicken with Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce & Yellow Curry Pineapple Fried Rice.

Part of our meal involved grilling and that is the hubs realm usually.  He learned quite a bit.

Come to mama!  This was the perfect ending to a perfect meal, Coconut-Mango Pudding with Crushed Pistachios.  The milk that was used was simmered with coconut in it, then the coconut was strained out so we were left with this super light, and delicate tasting pudding that was so delicious after having all the spicy food beforehand.  I'm so glad we tried this class because I never would have ordered any of these items off the menu at a restaurant and I'm so excited to bring these recipes home and try them out on my own.  The only thing missing from the meal was wine :)

Happy Monday, Friends!