Vietnamese Cooking School

Yesterday we took a cooking class that was a whole lot of fun. It was a small group of 9 people and we started at the Hoi An market to buy all of the ingredients we would need for the day. I'm so glad we went with a guide, because the market is really overwhelming. Here are a few pics that don't do it justice. I didn't take any pics of the meat section because I just had to look at the ceiling or floor the whole time. But Buddy snapped a couple, included below.

This vendor sells various types of rice noodles :

Here are some fruits & veggies & eggs. There are tiny quail eggs, medium sized chicken eggs, and big duck eggs:

Here is a shot of one of the covered areas - there are fish vendors in the foreground, veggie vendors in the back:

And the disgusting meat photos from Buddy:

While in the meat section, this old woman with crazy eyes and a BLOODY mouth was walking around and looking at us. This is not her, because I kind of panicked when I saw her and just hauled ass out of there as quickly as possible without taking a photo.

Buddy thought she was chewing on raw meat or something. But we've since found out that it's actually a type of plant that some of the old Vietnamese ladies chew that gets them high...with a side effect of looking like a complete psychopath. (It's called Betel plant: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betel ). 

After purchasing our ingredients, we went on a 45 minute boat ride to a small island next to Hoi An called Thuan Tinh Island:

We then transferred from our motor boat into a couple of canoes to row into the village. I took most of the pics with the good camera, so I can't post them yet. But one of our boat mates took this for us:

I really want one of those pointy hats, but can't figure out how I would pack it home. And Buddy won't let me wear it on the plane.

After we got to the village, they showed us how the rice husks are separated from the rice itself and let us try it out:

Then they showed us how to make rice milk, which was really cool!

Next we walked to the cooking school, which was an outdoor area with a set of tables under a giant bamboo canopy:

The chef was hilarious, even without knowing English. Gestures can really get you a long way here.  She taught us how to make Vietnamese spring rolls with peanut sauce, Banh Xeo (!!) which is the yummy crispy rice pancake that we love, a vermicelli salad, and finally Pho! All of it was delicious and we got the recipes and two sets of cooking chopsticks to take home :-)

It was a really cool day!