Prawns: clear bodies, head inline, firm
Fish: clear eyes, no smell, flesh returns when pressed
Meat: 'wobbly' texture, meat is same colour when cut
After the market tour we got on a boat and went up river to the Red Bridge reasturant and cooking school. It was a nice ride, about an hour or so on the water. When we arrived we were treated to a complimentary drink (lime-tea punch: orange & like juice, tea, 7up and grenadine) and a tour of the herb garden. I knew some of the herbs and unfortunately I wasn't able to make notes on the many uses of each herb.
We then headed to a small pagoda and started our cooking lessons, our demonstrating chef was a lovely lady, good clear instructions and a good sense of humour. What we cooked today was
- Hoi An Pancake (rice water, prawn, pork and herbs)
- seafood salad, Vietnamese herbs in pinapple boat
- shrimp fresh rice paper rolls
- rice paper
- Vietnamese eggplant in hot pot
- tomato flowers & cucumber fan (decoration)
- peanut/fish and sweet & sour sauces
- steamed fish on vegetables (not demonstrated but tasty)
Our guide was really helpful and gave us an extra recipe booklet for the full day course which included
- Pho
- Lemongrass shrimp in banana leaves
- Claypot fish with fresh dill
- Grilled chicken and banana flower salad
Afterwards I headed back to the hotel and met Nicola before e headed to our first fitting. I am really happy with the way that the dresses, aoi dai and suit vest have turned out. There were some minor changes to make them slightly more fitted. And the shoes are fine with some minor changes to the fit. All of them will need softening when I get home, but I'm happy that all of these will last for many years. We just had a quiet night and a light dinner while I caught up on my blog posts
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