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Published: December 8th 2009
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Friday 30th October 2009 - after Steve and Maj left us Tuesday night, we spent the next two days catching up on some much needed rest, and riding around on the motorbike checking out the streets of Hanoi and Guitars for Luke to buy - he bought one! He is sooo much happier now he has it - it was a bit frustrating for him at first cause once we got it home, it didn’t sound how he wanted it too - so he got some tools to fix it up. He’s right back into it now, and sounding better than ever - well I think so - he’s now tossing up whether or not to buy an effects peddle.
I got a sms, on Wednesday 28th October, from Kasey saying that her & Robbo got engaged last night - I am sooooo excited for them. - Even more excited that I get to be a Bridesmaid! 😊
We arranged to do a Cooking Class today - Friday 30th, through the Restaurant we had my Course Graduation Dinner at - Highway 4 Restaurants. We met at the restaurant; met the two other girls, Sally and Tamsin, in our class
and the Vietnamese Man who was running the class - my brain has misplaced his name. Part of the course included a tour through the food markets - it was on the way to the Restaurant we were doing our class at; Highway 4 Restaurants have a few branches.
There are these cycle-taxi’s around the more touristy parts of Hanoi, The Old Quarter mainly, a Vietnamese man has a bicycle attached to a cart and us foreigners sit in the cart and take photo’s while the man rides us around the city - I always look at the Westerners who pay for this and think how mean it is that they want this ‘ride’, kicking back with their cameras while the poor man behind them peddles away.
From our meeting point at Highway 4, to get to the markets, our Vietnamese Trainer had arranged for these cycle-taxi’s to take us there. I must admit I did get into ‘happy snap’ mode and secretly wanted to ‘hiiii-ya’ (crack the whip sound) my man to take over Luke’s cycle-taxi - I started to get a bit of a complex about my weight cause he seemed to be struggling to peddle
- but eventually the time came when I took over Luke, just as we pulled up at the markets.
The walk through the markets was good; everything is just so fresh and lush. The veggies are beautiful, and the seafood is all still alive, in big buckets of water with fresh water being pumped in. It’s funny when a fish jumps out in front of you; the stall runner quickly gets up from their seat and puts it back in the container. The market walking paths are pretty narrow, I don’t know how motorbike riders manage to ride in, and dodge another rider going past them without knocking over a stall or another person - it all just seems to go really smoothly.
We arrived at the Restaurant, and were presented with Chef Jackets and Hats to wear for the course. It was so much fun! We were in a pretty tiny room with three sets of tables and chairs, and in the middle of the room was a ‘work station’ for our cooking. There were only two work stations, so Luke and I had to share, and Sally and Tasmin shared. The Chef and Kitchen Hands came
out - the Chef couldn’t speak English, so our Trainer Translated.
The first dish was Banana Flower Salad - we wanted to make this dish as we’d tried it at my Graduation Dinner and loved it - Luke especially. After we cooked it, and realized it wasn’t as healthy as we’d hoped with a few table spoons of sugar in the dressing, we got to sit down and eat it. Absolutely delicious!
The next dish we made was Cat Fish Spring Rolls - and while we don’t really eat Cat Fish in Australia, these Spring Rolls are absolutely amazing. We also had this dish at my Graduation and it was my favorite. We had to prepare the Cat Fish; get all the water out, and coat it in flour, which my trusty kitchen hand, Luke, did for me: Chef Sarah. We both rolled the Spring Rolls, and again, got to sit down afterwards and enjoy our talent. These were unbelievably tasty, all that’s in them is a bit of fresh Dill, some Mayonnaise and the dipping sauce really compliments (my new Chef talk) the Spring Roll - it’s a combination of Wasabi, Lime, Sugar, and Oyster Sauce.
The third, and last dish, we cooked was Shrimps Sautéed with Cashew Nuts. It was my chance to shine with my Wok Action, as I had to cook it all. Thankfully there was a Chef, a Trainer, and Luke there to tell me what I needed to do. After I slaved over the Wok, for all of about 5 minutes, we were able to sit down, again, and savor over the yummy dish.
After we’d finished we were presented with our Certificates, I was so proud. We all got photo’s in our Chef outfits with our Certificates. We received recipe cards from the Restaurant, which are great, and also got cards with ingredients in English, then in Vietnamese - so helpful.
After that, Luke, Sally and Tamsin started taking off their Chef hats, and Jackets, I wasn’t sure why cause I thought Restaurant 4 had given them to us to keep, and I was secretly getting excited about cooking at home and wearing my Chef outfit, Luke just quietly said ‘WE DON’T GET TO KEEP THEM SARAH’ - so I sulked and took it off.
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