Thai Farm Cooking School

Chiang Mai, Thai cooking. The detail that sells this farm school is the mortar: everyone gets their own, and you pound your own curry paste. Once you can do that, most Thai curries are within reach at home. The day starts with a stop at a local market, then a drive to the family's organic farm about 17 km out of the city, where you walk the beds and pick some of the herbs and vegetables you will cook with. Each guest has an individual cooking station, so nobody is just watching. You eat on a terrace looking over a fishpond to the mountains, and a digital recipe book with photos comes with the class. Choose a half day in the morning or evening, a full day, or the seasonal day that adds rice planting.