Against the backdrop of palm trees on Kamala Beach in Phuket, Thailand and the dazzling cityscape of Bangkok, corporate dynamo turned yoga teacher and Yellow Mat Yoga Founder, Siha Collins encourages her students to join her on a personal journey of self healing and manifestation. Alongside Courageous Kitchen’s Deputy Director and resident Thailand guru, Christy Innouvong, they’ve designed a perfectly packed itinerary of health, service, food, and fun. Together they invite you to join them on a spiritual and cultural awakening where you’ll be able to discover parts of the world that are widely untouched. Their goal is for you to escape the strains of everyday life and take the time to focus on yourself, re-center your thoughts, and restore your peace.
‘The word ‘seva’ means the art of selfless service’
Their philosophy for a well-balanced lifestyle, paired with love of service marries perfectly in their yearning for creating global citizens and living a life of purpose. In Hindu, the word ‘seva’ means the art of selfless service, whether that is transferred through fitness, food, or travel, we want to inspire you to live your best life by fulfilling your deepest passions. In addition to volunteering with a local charity, we’ll take a traditional Thai cooking class, have dinner with Bangkok’s hottest influencers, enjoy a day at the spa, and wake up every morning to sun salutations and meditation.
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[product_hero layout=”center” full_height=”0″ background_size=”auto” product_id=”1124″ heading_text=”Reserve Your Spot Today!” description_text=”Against the backdrop of palm trees of Kamala Beach in Phuket, Thailand, join Siha Collins, founder of Yellow Mat Yoga and Christy Innouvong, Director of Programming from Courageous Kitchen for a curated 10-day exploration of wellness, service, food and fun”]
Trip Includes:
9 nights accommodation at luxury resort and hotels
Daily breakfast, lunch, and dinner unless otherwise indicated
One Hour traditional Thai Massage at Upscale Spa
Roundtrip Airfare to Phuket + in-country private transfers during group activities
Volunteering with a local charity, Courageous Kitchen
Two Boat Trips: Sunset Dinner Cruise + Daytime Island Hopping
Local Guides + Translators
On-Site Medical Clinic (at resort location)
Sightseeing to local temples and markets
Rooftop Cocktails + Dancing
Swag Bag w/t-shirt, map, snacks
One-on-One Coaching from Health + Wellness experts
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2018 Be Courageous Retreat Price:
Double Room Pricing Starts at $3695
Single Room Pricing Starts at $3995
Only $500 deposit to secure your spot.
VIP Packages Available Including:
Deluxe Spa Packages
Private Life Coaching
Muay Thai Boxing Classes
Traditional Sak Yant Tattoo
Elephant Sanctuary Visit
Personal Photoshoots
Surfing Lessons
Medical and Travel Insurance
Trip Excludes:
The retreat price does not include airfare to Thailand, tips, luggage fees, and medical or travel insurance. Participants must be 18 years old with valid passport at time of travel. While there will be vegetarian options at every meal, we cannot guarantee 100% vegan meals at this time.
Check out the photos from a recent class where Courageous Kitchen welcomed our largest group yet!
We were contacted by the Deakin University faculty for the Food and Nutrition Sciences Department. The teachers were organizing a study tour to Thailand and looking for a special cooking class for thirty people. Although we don’t normally host large cooking classes, the group was really open to learning more about the community we’re supporting.
So instead of our usual cooking class setting the Deakin students arrived in the community we’re helping in Bangkok, ready to get messy cooking with our students. We divided the young adults from Australia into 5 groups, pairing each of them with one or two youth from the community. The youth led each group in making several recipes such a tom kha soup, pad thai with shrimp, and even a handmade sticky rice dumpling dessert!
Big thanks to the Deakin University students and faculty for being so willing and flexible for our first large group cooking class. Not only was this a great experience for our community, but the faculty from the university committed early to helping us buy better equipment for our ongoing classes. We’re more than grateful and hope to welcome more groups for similar experiences in the future!
We’re happy to share some photos with you from a recent Courageous Kitchen activity. A few of our students were invited to setup a fruit smoothie bar in the Intercontinental Hotel Group (IHG) headquarters in downtown Bangkok. The students woke up early and traveled more than an hour to get to the hotel. There the staff welcomed us into their office, where they planned to have a special lunch to kickoff the IHG Foundation Week, which aims to promote charities in the region and get their staff around the world thinking about giving back.
For our students, many of whom have never eaten in a restaurant or stayed in a hotel, this was a special experience. The staff welcomed them with new t-shirts, notebooks, and a quick briefing on the day’s plans. They were tasked with setting up a smoothie bar in the office’s break room area overlooking Bangkok. They quickly organized themselves into two stations, with specific tasks like collecting money, running the blenders, or asking their “customers” which fruit they preferred to have in their drinks.
The smoothie bar was a fun challenge for the students and since everyone who had a smoothie gave a small donation, they also raised some funds too. However, that wasn’t all IHG had planned for them. Led by two of the staff, Ben and Elena, the students then filed in to travel back to the hotel lobby where someone special was waiting. When the group exited the elevators into the grand lobby, they were met by Executive Chef Rolando. Chef Rolando is in charge of all of the kitchen for both the Intercontinental Hotel and next door sister hotel, Holiday Inn.
After a quick introduction, we followed the chef first into the room service area of the kitchen. The look behind the scenes wowed the students and the size of the production was massive. From room service we entered another area responsible for catering for up to 1000 or more guests at one time. To put this in context, Chef Rolando walked the students into one of the behemoth banquet rooms and talked about the giant numbers of staff and things we take for granted like eggs that the hotel uses in one day.
From the chocolate statues in the buffet line, to breathtaking views on the 37th floor, and the exclusive areas of their fine dining restaurants, the students loved their kitchen tour. In the end we visited about 5 kitchens, looking both in the dining area and behind the scenes. The experience was enthralling for our students and we believed will help them to imagine a grand future for themselves in the kitchen or doing food related services.
Thank you to everyone who supports us, allowing us to do inspirational activities like this one. A special thank you to Ben, Elena, and Bangkok’s IHG office.
If you’re new to Courageous Kitchen, you can help by giving a small monthly donation so we can continue to serve youth in Bangkok and give them them skills and inspiration to last a lifetime!
All photos courtesy of volunteer photographer Kelly Miller.
In light of Hurricane Harvey, there’s been some changes with SouthEATS. Many of us were personally affected by the disaster, so after a long week of deliberating, our team has decided it’s best to postpone the event. However, for those of us that will still be in Austin we would like to invite you to join us for two casual events:
Saturday, September 23rd, 5-7pm (Open to the public)
Happy Hour on the Observation Deck at Boiler Nine
We will be providing some light appetizers, cash bar available.
Boiler Nine is family-friendly.
Sunday, September 24th, 5-9pm (RSVP only)
Private Family Dinner catered by Chefs Yia Vang, Jen Phanomrat, and Seng Luangrath
Tickets available here: southeatsfamilydinner.eventbrite.com
Venue: Wanderin’ Star Farms (12665 Silver Springs Road)
On behalf of the CK team, we do hope that you can understand our decision. We are disappointed but know that the urgent need to help restore Texas is much more pressing at this time. If you’d like to donate to the victims of Harvey, we’re asking that you help us send non-perishable items to Central Texas Food Bank as they are providing relief to thousands across the state.
Our sincerest apologies for any inconvenience this has caused. Please notify your networks or any personal contacts you’ve invited of the cancellation. If you have already purchased your ticket, you will be receiving a private email by the end of the week.
We love the people we get to meet in our Bangkok cooking classes. We limit the class size to less than 6, so over a few hours the personalities of all of our visitors start to come out, as do ours. While we welcome many newcomers to Thailand, we also occasionally have guests who are returning visitors, or looking for a cooking class in Bangkok that will allow them to pick and choose a custom set of recipes to try. Sometimes the recipes are Thai dishes our guests love to eat, but often the requests are a special dish to challenge their cooking skills, or knowledge of Thai cuisine.
All of the food tasted surprisingly great considering the simplicity of the dishes. They were also very accommodating of our recipe requests, and in most cases, added a little bit of a twist to our request in a way that allowed us to experience a new dimension of Thai food. Highly recommend!
– Brian, Courageous Kitchen Guest
In a recent class we were joined by two spice loving guests, Brian and Min. The couple of Thai food lovers requested a spicy seafood curry, so our team quickly began to brainstorm what would be best to teach them. The day before their class we experimented with a Thai dish called ‘gaeng kua‘ in our kitchen for the first time. The name may not be very well known, but if you’ve ever had a Thai red curry with pineapple, then you’ve likely had a variation of this dish. The most popular version of this in the US, is often served with large chunks of barbecued duck.
Fortunately, the dish is much easier to make than pronounce. You need to make or buy a quality red curry paste for the best result, but beyond the typical Thai seasonings, the recipe below does not require many exotic ingredients. Try your hand at making this noticeable spicy seafood curry. We love it with squid, mussels, and shrimp, but encourage you to try it with the protein of your choice.
Pineapple and Seafood Red Curry Recipe
Pronounced Gaeng Kua Sapparot Talay in Thai or แกงคั่วสับปะรดทะเล
This recipe serves 1-2 people.
Erin shows off her finished pineapple fried rice, a variation of this recipe with seafood and red curry paste.
Ingredients:
400ml Coconut Milk
1 tbsp Red curry paste
1 tsp Salt
1 tbsp Palm Sugar
1 tbsp Tamarind juice
100g Seafood (squid, shrimp, or mussels)
50g-100g Pineapple (Sliced thin and about 3-5 cm long)
Garnish:
1 large mild chili (Serrano or similar)
1 small handful Thai sweet basil leaves
This Thai curry is delicious with shrimp, but you can add any or all of your favorite seafood to this delicious curry.
Directions: 1. Heat up the wok and add coconut milk over medium heat. 2. When the coconut milk bubbles, add your curry paste. Stir until it mixes well. 3. Add pineapple, cook 2-3 minutes. 4. Now taste for the sweetness/sourness of the pineapple. Add your seasoning to taste. (Note: You can leave out the tamarind if the pineapple is already very sour.) 5. After adjusting the flavor, add your seafood and additional coconut milk if needed. 6. Remove from heat after your seafood is cooked, garnish with Thai sweet basil, and slices of large mild chili.
Thanks for reading! If you found this recipe useful, download more of our Courageous Recipes!
