It was the best of meals, it was the worst of meals

Saturday morning, Aj. Prakop invited us to come into school to cook with her. In the hallway outside the English office, she set up an assortment of ingredients, plates and bowls from her office, and an electric pan. A handful of 6th graders - dressed in typical Thai-kid-on-the-weekend apparel of oversized t-shirts and colorful board shorts - bobbed in and out of the hallway, in between their Saturday "extra school" classes. They watched intently as Prakop explained each dish and put us to work on a batch of gaang kee-o wahn gai (green curry with chicken) and gloo-ay boo-aht chi (bananas and coconut milk).

do it yo-self Thai:

gaang kee-o wahn gai ...Green Curry with Chicken

1 - 1 1/2 cups of coconut milk

1 packet of green curry paste

raw chicken breast, diced

pinch of salt

splash of soy sauce

1 1/2 cup eggplant, diced. Keep soaked in water to prevent browning.

2 cups fresh basil leaves

1. Heat 1/2 cup of coconut milk and curry paste

2. Bring to a boil. Stir into a thick paste.

3. Add chicken. Stir in a few teaspoons of soy sauce.

4. Add another 1/2 - 1 cup coconut milk. Add water and salt to make a thin broth-like consistency.

5. When chicken is thoroughly cooked, add eggplant. Cook 10-15 minutes until eggplant looks "clear."

6. Add basil leaves and remove from heat. Serve over rice.

gloo-ay boo-aht chi (Literally: "bananas ordaining as nuns") ...Bananas & Coconut Milk

10-15 small bananas, sliced into small pieces

1 - 1 1/2 cups coconut milk

4 cups of water

1 - 3 tablespoons sugar

pinch of salt

1. Pour 2/3 cup of coconut milk and water into a deep pan. Heat and bring to a boil.

2. Lower heat. Add bananas. Cook until bananas are translucent and soft.

3. Add sugar to taste. (Thai style sweetness = about 4 ladle-fuls). Add a pinch of salt.

4. Add remainder of coconut milk. Remove from heat. Serve!

Anna conducted a brief interview with our head chef AP before we dug in:

In some sort of karmic retribution for an overly-delicious lunch, my dinner of shrimp tom yum soup Saturday night sent me into battle the rest of the weekend with a nasty case of food poisoning. (Things I Learned the Hard Way: 1) Seafood in Nan is to be regarded with caution during the rainy season). In my darkest hours, Anna brought on the TLC with a steady supply of tea, vegetable broth and our apartment's only copy of Vogue. Aj. Prakop and her husband ended up taking me to the clinic Sunday evening, where the Thai doctor initially assumed I was hungover (I guess that's a fair diagnosis for "tired and throwing up"). Eventually he understood my ailment, and for about $6 I was given 5 different kinds of antibiotics and other pills. Still unclear what they were, but they definitely did the trick.

I went into work Monday morning only to find that Aj. Prakop had already told 6/1 that I'd be out sick and they'd be doing art during English period... Her reaction to seeing me at my desk was more "OH NO!" than "Oh good!" With a smile she suggested I go home and "get more rest," and, not wanting to crush 6/1's dreams of watercolor landscapes, I snuck out before the national anthem came on.

Hey, it's not every day you get to play boss-approved hooky.