Thai cooking classes

[Janet]

I need help from you all. My husband has fallen in love with cooking Thai food. I would like to give him classes for a Christmas gift. They would need to be at night or on a Sunday. I googled Thai classes and there is one near us in the Oakland Hills. But it looks like nothing is offerred until way into next year. He would be willing to go into SF, Contra Costa county to Concord/Martinez, up 80 to about the Costo exit, and down 580 to San Leandro. Much farther and getting there after work would be an issue.

Any input would be helpful. I don't know anything about the chefs I googled.

Thanks

[Robert Lauriston]

I've heard good things about some of Chat Mingkwan's classes at Piedmont Adult School:

http://www.piedmontadultschool.org/c_...

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Piedmont Adult School
760 Magnolia Ave, Piedmont, CA

[Janet]

Thanks. I will check out the site and also see if they do gift certificates.

[wolfe]

My daughter took his vegetarian class and I was her guest for one session. We were one of the teams. The chef brings all the ingredients and the recipes and supervises the preparations. A lovely meal is had by all. Using his book my daughter and I prepared a multi-course banquet which according to my standards was a great success. No one got sick.

[david kaplan]

Kasma's Thai cooking classes are great. She conducts them at her home in Oakland.

http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com/clas...

She offers a beginner class on weekday evenings. This fall is all booked, and the spring series hasn't been announced yet.

[Robert Lauriston]

A friend who took some of her classes highly recommends them. Judging from the Thai food he's brought to potlucks, she knows her stuff.

[DezzerSF]

I've taken her beginning class and can highly recommend it. She's definitely not afraid of making the food spicy!

[charliemyboy]

Kasma's classes are great, and well worth waiting for. I'm not a natural at cooking but after taking Kasma's beginning and intermediate classes my own version of my favorite Thai dish is far superior to what my regular Thai restaurant offers.

The Spring 2009 classes will likely start in March, so if you're waiting until Christmas to give him the class it's not that much longer. The trick is to get on Kasma's email list which informs you when new classes are available and reply IMMEDIATELY after you receive the announcement to get your slot. Last year the announcement of spring classes went out in mid-September.

Here's the link to get on her list--

http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com/clas...

[Janet]

Thanks to all for your help and advice.

[chow_eb]

We've done all her classes and we recommend them highly. An earlier post mentions that they're booked for a while. That's because it's such a great experience. See if you can get on a waiting list. I hope both of you go, not just your husband, because sitting down for dinner after you've cooked all the dishes for that night is a real experience. The conversations between all the students and with Kasma is the icing on the cake. So to speak.