TBK cooks around the world

The new Poochies Kitchen- Philippine cookery classes in Puerto Princessa

I was delighted to hear from my good friend Gracie Melchor that her cookery classes are starting again . She sent me the photo above and the details below of her new venture. I thought I would write a blog about Poochies Kitchen as Gracie has been a great help with my retirement in the Philippines.

The new classes will be held in the Morning or the afternoon and ,as before, there will be classes for Pinoy food and for Taiwanese Cuisine.

Yesterday they had a dry run and they made some amazing food:

This is Agnes who helped Jhoanna find the Blue house for me

Back in 2020 I stayed at LVF Cabins in Santa Lourdes on vacation and asked if there were any Philipino cookery classes to help e prepare for my planned retirement in the Philippines in 2021. They recommended Gracie at Poochies Kitchen and Jhoanna and I had a fun time making Torta Talong, and various other dishes, which we then ate before being presented with our certificates.

Back in 2020 at Poochies Kitchen

Making Shanghai Lumpia with Jhoanna

Sadly COV 19 forced the cooking classes to stop as Foreigners were not allowed into the Philippines. Bapco had already sent all my belongings to Palawan before I realised I could not get here so I asked Jhoanna to rent a house for me and unpack everything ready. Back then we thought the ban would only last a few months. Grecil stayed at the house in Banco Banco with Jhoanna and I arranged for Gracie to have cooked meals delivered to them daily. A month later the house owner decided to sell up and Gracie looked after my furniture until the ban was lifted. Then Jhoanna searched for a bigger house and with the help of Agnes found the Blue House and arranged to have all my belongings moved from Gracie's and Jhoanna's Boarding house and I finally moved into the Blue House in May 2022.

TBK and Gracie

Since I have been here I have become a Suki ( regular) at Poochies kitchen having her delicious pies ( chicken or beef) delivered, as well as fish and chips ( heaven on earth) and , for special occasions, her beautiful Leche flan , Mango Cheesecake and Strawberry chiffon cake.

I have learnt many other Pinoy dishes from You Tube or being taught by friends like Joshua, Corlene, MK, Jeboy and Jhoanna . However I always promised myself that if Gracie reopened her cooking classes I would go on another course. One is never too old to learn new things.

I first started having cookery lessons on vacation in 2016 in Cambodia, which I repeated in 2019. The hotel I was staying in , Sarai resort and Spa in Siem Reip (https://www.sarairesort.com/ ) ran the classes but here there was one chef and me! The second time they set the "classroom" up in the hotel courtyard so all the arriving guests could watch me cook- someone asked if they were filming " Master Chef Cambodia!"

I have this canvas print of my first cookery class in Cambodia hanging on my kitchen wall here in Palawan. Each Cookery class does things differently- some you are taught in groups ( Poochie takes 4 people at a time and in Malaysia there were 6 of us , 2 in Vietnam, 8 in Thailand and so on) and some individually. With some you get a little booklet of the recipes, and others you get access to their website after the class where you can download the recipes and your photos of the event. Most take photos for you and some give you a gift afterwards ( apron, potato peeler etc)

The recipe cards from Cambodia hang on my kitchen wall

One of the other things I do after the class is to ask the Chef to recommend a suitable recipe book from their country. I now have a huge collection of recipe books from around the world and some ( like the one from Malaysia) not only have the recipes but the history of the dishes , old pictures and wonderful stories of cooking in days gone by.

One of the recipe cards from Cambodia

Another little tip is sometimes when you try the recipes back home you have difficulty finding the ingredients so as I left Cambodia I bought a selection of Khymer spices to use when I got home.

My cookery class in 2016 in Vietnam

In some countries they make the class a full day event like in Vietnam where the Chef took us to the market to buy the ingredients ( very useful to learn what to look for to ensure the food is fresh etc ) and then we returned on a boat down the Mekong River before having cool refreshments and starting the class. In Vietnam my fellow student was an American Lawyer who loved food and photos. He was hilarious and even bigger than me. We looked very stupid in our small aprons and Chefs hats. He had a theory that they tried to make the tourists look as stupid as possible.

The picture from their website reminded me that a class is a good way to bond with the family or for a team building event

You can find out more about the Hoi Ann cookery classes here:

https://tropicalspicegarden.com/home/cook

Being a lawyer he also pointed out they only gave us a certificate of attendance not competence!

The Tropical spice garden cookery school in Penang, Malaysia

I attended the Tropical spice garden cookery school in Penang, Malaysia on my birthday and the day started with a tour of the Spice gardens learning about the different spices and their uses both in cooking and medicinally which was fascinating. There were two couples attending this class with me so the excellent chef kept coming to help me. I would highly recommend all the classes I have attended and have included their websites if you want more information.

https://tropicalspicegarden.com/home/cook

As well as the formal classes I had lessons on Pakistani cuisine from Anis in Bahrain who taught me how to make Butter Chicken Curry and Rasmalee. My neighbour there, Mital , taught me some Gujerat cuisine and Rehanna Gardiner taught me about the Kerala Cuisine and gave me a copy of her mothers recipes and a selection of her spices before she left Bahrain.

The cookery class Wanchai and I attended in Chaing Rai

Finally Wanchai and I attended a marvellous cookery class in Chaing Rai near his family home. Again we went to the market, selected, as a group, what we wanted to cook and then bought the ingredients and returned to the cookery school. They prepared a welcome drink and snack for us and took our photos and we all introduced ourselves. You always meet a diverse range of people on these classes from around the world. You can read more about this class in an earlier Blog:

https://thebritishkabayan.blogspot.com/2023/06/tbk-remembers-learning-to-cook-in-north.html

Details of the cookery school are here:

https://www.thaicookingclasschiangrai.com/

So all that remains is to wish Gracie good luck in her new venture and I will share with you my experiences when my friends and I here get a chance to attend.

As we approach the end of the year I urge you all to put learning another cuisine on your New Years resolutions for 2024- it is so much fun. My friends love trying the different dishes I cook from around the world.