Eat your heart out Patrick McDarrah

This is a specially dedicated post to our favorite food lover. We have been collecting pictures in Thailand of our favorite dishes, and we just completed a cooking course in Chiang Mai with Emalie Gainey!! Emalie is visiting us from Boston, and we get to travel with her for 2 weeks. 

In Northern Thailand people love to have this for lunch. Khao Soi has flat egg noodles in a curry and coconut milk broth with crispy noodles on top and lime, shallot & chillis on the side.

Green Tea Thai style. Condensed milk and over ice..

Spicy papaya salad is another favorite here. I learned to make it in our cooking class with a mortar and pestle. We frequented this resto for the couple of weeks we spent in Chiang Mai, and they served it up with a piece of boneless fried chicken. With a cold ice ginger lemon on the side, you're good to go. 

In the North of Thailand we finally found sticky rice. We were starting to think it wasn't Thai at all! We often got it at the street market (around .30 for a single serving). I liked to have it with Massaman curry, which tastes more like an Indian curry and has meat, keffir lime leaves and potatoes. 

Jackfruit is so good! That's dragon fruit below.

One night we went to Korean BBQ where you pick all your own food and cook it yourself at your table. The food selection was interesting to say the least. Pork wrapped mushrooms, seasoned meats and green noodles among other things.

Emalie Gainey! And a new friend we made, Erica, from Tahoe.

Before we get to the cooking class, I'd like to share that Matt made me eat bugs. And a couple of our friends too.

Charlotte was an ambitious bug eater..

For our cooking class, they took us to the local market to show us the ingredients we would be needing, but the actual ingredients came from the cooking place's own organic farm outside of town. Without really planning it, we did this class on Thanksgiving. This was appropriate because all the food you're about to see we ate between 11-3! We were stuffed.

Cooking class welcome snack - ginger, shallot, peanuts, toasted coconut, lime juice and syrup wrapped into a betel leaf. The leaf was bitter but actually really good.

First dish for me was pad Thai. We were told that locals rarely eat this, but Thailand is famous for it, (at least outside of Thailand) and it's delicious. It is tricky to cook in the wok as it is burns easily. On the bottom left are my chopped ingredients - the tofu has egg on the outside which is why it's yellow. 

Matt's first dish was pad see ew, which uses the wide, flat rice noodles. Sharon's fave! I got a kick out of us cooking barefoot. I love that you're rarely expected to wear shoes in Southeast Asia.

Emmy made cashew nut chicken stir fry, and the unusual ingredients you'll see below are red chillis, 'ear' mushrooms (on the right) and baby corn on the bottom.

Next up were spring rolls & salads. Matt and I actually made the spring roll mix for the group.

The spring rolls were pretty easy to roll up and then we fried them. For salad course, Matt and Emmy made spicy chicken salad. That plate has Thai mint and something similar to cilantro along with scallion.

I made the spicy papaya salad. They use green papaya or young papaya instead of a ripe one for this salad.

Next we made our curry pastes. This was hard work as the chilis have to be really smashed up with a stone mortar and pestle. We were told a food processor wouldn't work because it doesn't extract the oils. On the plates below you can see chilis of course, as well as turmeric, ginger, coriander, ginseng, garlic, & green onion. On the bottom right the finished pastes clockwise are Massaman, green, Panang (red plus peanuts) and red curry.

 

Here is my Panang curry with coconut cream & keffir lime leaves (mostly garnish). Emalie made green curry but I didn't get a good picture. 

The last courses (we were so stuffed at this point) were soup and dessert. I made coconut milk soup (otherwise known as Tom Ka), Matt and Emalie made Tom Yum, a sweet & sour soup (bottom left). Top left is Matt's red curry Khao Soi. Someone gave us their sticky rice & mango to share and it was really tasty. The sticky rice gets boiled in coconut cream and sugar and salt and topped with sesame seeds. 

 

All three of us made deep fried banana for dessert. Rice and wheat flour mixed with water, sesame seeds and shredded coconut to make the batter.

Food extravaganza! They also gave us a cookbook (coming your way Alexandra) and I think we will be able to make many of these things at home. 

xx ELM

Bhavatu Sabba Mangalam

This means "May all beings be happy" in the ancient language of Pali, and we heard it chanted many times a day during our 10 day Vipassanna Meditation course. 

DISCLAIMER: extremely long winded post, proceed at your own risk and feel free to scroll to sweet final picture and abort, at any time.

The location & accomodation:

Dhamma Simanta is set in the mountains south of Chiang Mai. We had beautiful, private rooms which were nicer than many hotels we have stayed in, and this whole thing, including room & board, was free! It was donation based. It's a beautiful thing that you are there on someone else's gift and you give so that others can learn the technique and 'come out of their misery' as they say. You clean your own dishes after each meal and your room at the end of the course.

Here's our walking area (the only exercise allowed and the surrounding grounds..

Sunrise on the last day, when we could finally have our cameras back! We weren't allowed to read or write or draw or anything. I saw the sun rise each morning which was a wonderful experience despite being tired.

My room:

The teaching: It was conducted mostly by recordings of the Burmese teacher S.N. Goenka, played at the beginning and end of most meditation sessions. Goenka is credited with spreading Vipassana all over the world. There are several centers in the US: a couple in Cali and one each in Texas and Mass, and there are many in Europe. Unfortunately, Goenka passed away last year. Each night we watched about an hour long discourse on what we had done that day, what was next and some explanation/philosophy - recordings of Goenka done in the early eighties (complete with humorous camera angles and VCR references). Our sole source of entertainment (unless counting snails qualifies). There was also a Thai monk 'assistant teacher' who occasionally asked us questions about our progress through a translator. 

The whole course we followed these five precepts in addition to noble silence which meant no talking, gestures or eyes contact was to be made between participants. You could of course speak with the volunteer staff if you had a material issue, and occasionally you spoke with the teacher.

      1. to abstain from killing any living creature;

      2. to abstain from stealing;

      3. to abstain from all sexual activity;

      4. to abstain from telling lies;

      5. to abstain from all intoxicants.

The schedule: Meditation times and meals were indicated by a loud gong played throughout the center. It was nice not to have to worry about tracking the time, however the schedule was rigorous, and Matt and I clocked just under 100 hours of meditation each.

4:00 a.m.---------------------Morning wake-up bell

4:30-6:30 a.m.----------------Meditate in the hall or in your room 

6:30-8:00 a.m.----------------Breakfast break

8:00-9:00 a.m.----------------Group meditation in the hall

9:00-11:00 a.m.---------------Meditate in the hall or in your room according to the teacher's  instructions

11:00-12:00 noon--------------Lunch break

12noon-1:00 p.m.--------------Rest, and optional interviews with the teacher

1:00-2:30 p.m.----------------Meditate in the hall or in your room 

2:30-3:30 p.m.----------------Group meditation in the hall

3:30-5:00 p.m.----------------Meditate in the hall or in your room according to the teacher's  instructions

5:00-6:00 p.m.----------------Tea break

6:00-7:00 p.m.----------------Group meditation in the hall

7:00-8:15 p.m.----------------Teacher's Discourse in the hall

8:15-9:00 p.m.----------------Group meditation in the hall

9:00-9:30 p.m.----------------Question time in the hall

9:30 p.m.---------------------Retire to your room; lights out 

Matt and I were separated until the 10th day when silence was broken and even then we    could speak only briefly. 

The practice & some philosophy: The practice of Vipassana is ancient and complex, so I won't go into too much detail for fear of oversimplifying it. It comes straight from Buddha thousands of years ago, and is Dhamma in its purest form. However, it is meant to be a universally accessible practice, for any and all people who wish to leave human misery behind. It is not associated with any sect or religion even though it is Buddhist in origin. Goenka actually explained that Buddha only meant to teach this specific meditation practice, and over time it became Buddhism and spun out into different sects and different types of meditation. It does not use any visualization or verbalization (no mantras) for reasons that are well explained throughout the course. You start with three days (30 hours) of focused meditation where you observe only your respiration the first day, then only sensation in a small area of your face, then the third day a slightly larger area. For days 4-9 you branch out to observe sensations throughout your body by methodically scanning it with your attention. Three times a day we practiced addhitana, or sittings of strong determination, where you were asked to maintain the same posture for one hour without moving your hands or toes, or opening your eyes. This was especially hard when you couldn't move and your back was aching and your legs were burning, but it builds physical and mental strength, and if you're really skilled then your pain or tension or discomfort will dissolve completely while you meditate. 

The teaching is that all human misery comes from craving and aversion to sensations, emotions and thoughts that we have. Buddha found out that these emotions were connected to sensations in the body which can only be felt through dedicated attention and practice. Once one is aware of the sensations, you can change the habit pattern of your mind (which craves good feelings and good emotions and avoids the opposite) and become "equanimous" to these sensations. In other words if you were ambivalent about a good thing (or sensation) then you would not be upset when something you wanted did not happen and likewise not so upset when something bad happened. This is because every sensation whether good or bad is impermanent. For example when you have an itch, you observe it for what it is and eventually it goes away without exciting a reaction from you. As you do this meditation, you begin to be able to observe subtle vibrations throughout your body, and it feels amazing, but you can't form any attachment to the positive sensation, otherwise you develop craving which contradicts the purification. This is a very difficult process, and the path is a long one, but we learned that essentially, when you reach complete equanimity, you have achieved enlightenment. We are meant to continue to practice one hour each morning and each night. I think this will be hard but I hope to practice some at least. Anyway, please remember this is only my interpretation, and I hope I did it justice..

Liz's experience: 

My first day I accidentally killed a snail and later, accidentally locked myself in my room (which was nearly impossible to do) so I got off to a poor start. Funny things would happen or difficult things and I would just want to tell Matt! Being separated was especially hard, but we were so grateful to see each other again at the end. We did accidentally make eye contact one time on day 8 or 9 at night and just laughed and looked away. I had good days and bad days. Day one And two I was ok and pretty comfortable. Day three was the hardest as I realized the magnitude of what we had committed to. As I continued I had days with pain and boredom, but I got stronger mentally and physically. Day six was poor for meditation but incidentally wonderful for wedding planning...The food was vegetarian and great, I've never seen so many creative uses for tofu! We had meals twice a day and then at 5pm we had tea and fruit and cookies or bread. Second time students followed an additional 3 precepts so they had only tea (no milk) at this time. I thought I would miss having a third meal but it was really okay. Plus, I really like cookies.

Overall it was positive, and I'm glad I did it, but the last day when we could talk it was extremely emotional for me. When you sit for this long in your own mind, in this way, every bad thing you've ever done (and many good things) will come up in your mind and instead of repressing it you understand it's impermanent, and it's the past, and you let it come and let it go. If you remain neutral towards it, eventually it loses it's power and doesn't come back. It was a purification process and it felt like one. Now that we are back in the world, I feel like I have some tools for dealing with difficult situations and for managing my own expectations. We even had several people back in Chiang Mai tell us how good and relaxed we looked so maybe it showed outside too. It was a really difficult, worthwhile course.

Matt's experience:

So day one, we meditated more in that one morning than I have meditated in my whole life. Still, I was into it. I committed to doing 10 straight days of serious meditation and that's what I planned to do. Not talking, eating vegetarian, eating 2 times a day, waking up at 4 am everyday, these were very easy things for me, no problem at all. I never felt hungry, the food was delicious, and maintaining silence was best to submerse yourself properly into the meditation technique. There is enough chatter happening in each one of our heads. The last thing you need is further input from outside your own head. Overall I felt that I grasped the meditation technique quite well and surprisingly quick. I was able to feel vibrations, pulsing, tingling all over my body flowing freely throughout by the 5th or 6th day. Remaining equanimous to the intense back pain, ignoring itching or prickling sensations, not moving for 1 hour,  and not taking pleasure in the cool vibrations happening all over I could manage well.  So the last half of the course lost it's novelty for me, with no further technique to learn. By day six though, I had a very hard time coping with the monotony of the daily routine, that I could not see or talk to Liz, the (relatively) outrageous amount of meditation we were doing every single day, and that I could not read, write, exercise, or do anything else to mix-up the daily routine. After I meditated on the feelings of agitation and cynicism I acquired on the sixth day though, I got over it and spent the rest of the 4 and a half days in peace and happiness. 

I liked the fact that the teachings surrounding the meditation technique were not related to any religion, or sect and are universal for all people. Being positive, selfless, compassionate, happy, virtuous and gaining control over your own mind are universally great things for all people regardless of personal beliefs and are really the centrally important things for any good religion. The purpose of this meditation technique is to bring peace and harmony to yourself and to spread that throughout the world, which I think it does well. The course was very difficult and intense, but I feel that I learned some very good things about myself and that I am a better person for having gone through the course. I'm very glad that I accomplished making it through the 10 days. It was an incredible experience overall. But I am also glad that it is over and that we are out in the world - together.

Taking a 10 day Vipassana meditation course is said to be taking a few steps on the path to enlightenment, but I think taking those few steps were really harder than any cliff or mountain I have ever climbed. Hopefully for the next steps on The Path we can walk hand in hand.

Post meditation levitation above the streets of Chiang Mai:

Temple Run

This will be our last post from Chiang Mai before we start our meditation retreat! Hard to believe we've been traveling for 2.5 months.

This week, we did day trips to two unique temples in the area. The first is called Wat Umong, and we rode our bikes into the country to get there. It's starting to feel almost normal to be on the left side of the road... Wat Umong is in a lush, wooded area and the original parts were built in the 14th century. They had a highly revered monk there who had a tendency to wander off into the forest. In order to keep him occupied they built a series of tunnels beneath the stupa, and they painted the walls of the tunnels with natural scenery likes trees and flowers. The grounds surrounding the tunnels were interesting and beautiful as well.

Top right: Matt didn't quite fit in the tunnels. Bottom left: A monk speaks to a handful of devotees.

People were feeding GIANT catfish that lived in this pond.

The second temple we saw is called Doi Suthep. It sits on top of a nearby mountain and it's pagoda is gilded in gold. We took a songthaew to get up here with some friends; the local share taxi. It's a pick up truck with a cover and two seats lining the bed. 

Clockwise from top left: giant gilded monk statue, Matt listening to a giant gong, dragon staircase up to the temple.

At the bottom of these stairs were some hill tribe kids dressed in full on traditional clothing. They were impossibly cute. 

This one counting her money..

The temple itself... The holiest of all temples in Nothern Thailand due to the presence of a magic relic. A piece of the collarbone of Buddha himself is said to be housed here, although no tourists are allowed to see it. 

How many golden pagoda pictures is too many? Ok, one more.

And the view of Chiang Mai on the way back down.

So tomorrow we begin our 10-day, Vipassana meditation retreat. We will be separated, waking at 4:30a, eating only two meals, both before noon, observing noble silence the entire time (!) and meditating almost the entire day until 9pm. Wish us luck! Vipassana centers are located all over the world. If you're interested in learning more about what we're doing and why, you can find some good info here: http://www.dhamma.org/en/about/vipassana 

Initiating ten days radio silence! xx ELM

Festival of Lights

PWe were lucky enough to come up here in time for the famous Yi Peng and Loy Krathong festivals, which occur together on the days surrounding the full moon in the 10th month. 

First up are a few parade shots, as there was one on each of the three festival nights.

Loy Krathong involves creating small floating offerings out of bamboo, banana leaves, & flowers, and filling them with offerings of incense, candles and maybe coins. People float these down the river as a gesture of getting rid of bad luck and as an offering to the water goddess. 

At the same time, for the Yi Peng festival, people release white paper lanterns called Khom Loy into the air. With this you release bad luck and can also make a wish. These are the sort of iconic fixture of the festival and they are mesmorizingly beautiful, but extremely hard to capture well in a photo. It also leaves you feeling a bit bad for the environment. We did help some friends launch one and on the last night we added our own lantern to the madness.

The skies were cloudy so there were no stars, it's only lanterns in the pictures below.

We interrupt your lantern festival to offer some delicious bugs...grasshoppers, cicadas, cockroaches, silk worms....anyone? Anyone?

Back to the lights then..

 

As the nights got later, people were more reckless with fireworks and the lanterns. We saw fireworks veer off into the crowd and Matt had hot wax (or something) drop onto his shoulder from the sky and leave a mark. People would let go of the lanterns too early and they would go sideways into the crowd or fall straight into the river. We saw one group of three drop two into the river, somehow burn one on the sidewalk, and release the fourth beneath the only string of lights on the bridge. Unfortunately, I think they were American... 

Here are some other lantern fails..

And some not so holy lanterns, plus a few tall ones.

 Bottom right is a really big one, maybe five feet by five feet.

The sky was still littered with lanterns late into the evening.

More soon!

xx ELM