A LTTLE ABOUT LUANG PRABANG

It’s been here for at least thirteen hundred years.  The city lies between two rivers, the Mekong and the Nam Kahn Rivers.   Most of the city sits perched upon the elevated wedge of land that lies between the two rivers.  Although the main part of the city itself is long and narrow, you can walk from one riverside to the other in ten minutes or so.

It is known for its temples.  There are many here and are the oldest structures in the city.  Otherwise housing stock looks to me to be no older than a couple hundred years.  All the temples are inhabited by monks.  They can’t work and have no money so it is up to the local citizenry and touristas to provide for their food.

You can stroll through the major parts of the city in an hour.  During daylight you see a main street filled with boutique shops and restaurants.  The street on the Nam Kahn River side houses the finer hotels and many of the upscale restaurants.  The Mekong river side, although much wider than the Nam Kahn, houses the ‘lesser restaurants and guesthouses’.

My favorite time to go walking in the city is at night.  The restaurants are almost all open to the street and brightly lit.  A walk along the Nam Kahn River side takes you past fine restaurants which line one side of the street.  Their counterpart open air seating areas which are on the river side sit across from the restaurants.

Although most of the upscale restaurants are there you can walk down a seemingly common side street in the city only to come across an outstanding restaurant nestled in a residential area.

But, enough about the city.  Cooking today at the Tamnack Lao School was mediocre a experience.  We prepared five dishes.  I might prepare one or two someday but they were generally unremarkable. 

The high point of the day was the tour of the market where I found something I have been looking for for four years.  I ate a barbecue in Siem Reap about then.  There was a donut shaped aluminum pan with a raised center which sat atop a ceramic brazier filled with glowing charcoal.  The raised center was pierced so the heat came up through the holes.  The trough (for lack of a better term) around the bottom (think bundt pan) was partially filled with water.  The pierced portion was rubbed with pork fat and then bits of chicken, fish, beef, and pork were put on the pierced dome portion.  Pieced of fresh cut vegetables were put in the water.

The more you cooked, the more juices ran down into the water creating a delicious broth for the vegetables.  I can’t wait to prepare dinner on this for anyone who is interested.

That piece of equipment and a couple of small covered woven bamboo containers for sticky rice rounded out my market purchase.

The upcoming Tamarind School cooking class on Monday holds great promise.  Among other things, I’ll be making minced chicken with herbs encased in lemongrass stems and deep fried plus a very aromatic fish concoction steamed in banana leaves.