The kids love colouring in, but I thought we should do something a little different this afternoon. I’d bought them paint on the weekend and paintbrushes, some big sketch books and glitter glue and so I got stuck into what I love best; craft! We all traced our hands, decorated them, dried them in the sun which in this heat took no time and whilst I constructed the tree, the kids coloured in more pictures while they waited for there masterpieces to dry. We cut them all out, stuck them on the tree to mimic the leaves and the director was really impressed with our efforts, she also gave me a massage afterwards, so I guess I’m in the good books 🙂

One of the first meals I couldn’t physically stomach! Good old chilli sauce and rice as my saving grace.

That’s the first time I’ve ever been able to say that, and I hope it’s the last!

Afternoon storms are blessings here, the wind cools and circulates through the house and the temperature drastically drops to bearable. They make the air smell delicious but always look so alarming.

Tuk tuk to the bus station….righto!

Or in this case pork (cause the beef didn’t look good enough at the markets apparently). I took the first photo to prove that I dabbled with some green chilli in mine, a lot less than others but baby steps are being taken here in Asia. Morning glory (a vegetable here?), chilli basil (didn’t know this existed till today) marinating the pork in sugar, fish sauces, and soy sauces and cooking it all up with garlic, oil, water and the paste made for the last dish! I was so full from my first curry and wasn’t expecting this much food for 10 dollars but it was fantastic! I did this class with about 8 others, and met some awesome people (mainly volunteers from the Battambang province as well as an under water photographer working in Thailand). I’m so glad that I finally got to do a cooking class, it was so much fun and we got a cook book full of Asian delights as a souvenir which was perfect. Battambang as it turns out was a culinary experience but I’m a-okay with that!

Cooking all the ingredients, it was imminently obvious the difference the fresh coconut milk made. Letting all the ingredients simmer, and once done pushing them all up on the spatula as to drain the oils made from purely the fish and coconut milk, no oil required for cooking… And it was absolutely delicious.

I made my own coconut milk today which was such a cool experience. Using fresh grated coconut inside this material sack, dipping it in the water and ringing out the excess. It was the coolest experience. Combining this with bamboo shoots, beans, straw mushrooms, eggplant, amok (very, very smelly fish that Cambodia is known for) as well as a tiny bit of shrimp paste we took our fresh ingredients over to the woks.