A 6.30am wake up call today!
Picked up at 7.30 and driven to just outside of Hoi An to meet Van, who runs The Green Bamboo cooking school. Today she taught us how to cook 4 dishes that we had pre chosen.

Me: chicken curry in a coconut sauce
Damian: morning glory (water spinach) and pork cooked in a clay pot
Emma: fried spring rolls with vegetables, shrimp and pork
Jake: BBQ chicken skewers

We were joined by Daniel, an aussie actor hoping to make it big in Hollywood in the next 3 years and whose brother plays for Southport (!) and another Aussie, Rebecca, an architecture and interior designer, married to a Danish singer song writer who has just recorded his first album...very nice people.

We were all taken to Hoi An market by Van to buy all the ingredients for the dishes we are going to cook from scratch. Such a different experience going with a local! We tried lots of different herbs, the fish mint leaf was particularly interesting...tasted just like fish! Everything is just soooooo fresh and cheap! The chicken that we bought for my chicken curry and Jake's skewers was slaughtered early hours today, as was the pork for damian and Emma's dish, and the prawns for the spring rolls caught this morning. All the vegetables and herbs again sooooo fresh. Fresh ginger and fresh garlic smell and taste very different to what we buy in Waitrose. The coconut cream used for my curry could not have been any fresher... we saw the woman crack open our coconut, give us the juice and then use a machine to take out the coconut flesh itself which again we bought . I later squeezed all the extra juice out of the flesh and used in the curry. Those coconut cream cans we currently use at home suddenly lost all their appeal!

An interesting observation we also made was how the market vendors be they a fishmonger, a butcher or selling fruit and veg were ALL women! All the locals shopping were also all women!

Shopping all done, back in the minivan to take us back to Van's house. This was a lovely house she and her swedish husband built 3 years ago . The downstairs area is the dining room and the kitchen which is set up for the cooking school she set up 2 years ago.
We all set to work cooking! We each have our own working "space" around the Island. Everything is set up and Van's instructions are very clear . Even Jake had his own area and was cutting away! It was great fun in a very relaxed atmosphere. Van is very calm...we will be on the look out for Vietnamese fish sauce when back in London!

The 6 dishes we all produced in 2 hours were amazing... An fabulous display of food on the dining table and of course the reward was being able to eat it all!
Needless to say all DELICIOUS!!!!
My curry was just soooo yummy! The fresh coconut we used gave it a very different taste compared to anything we are able to make at home.

It was a fun morning /lunch time and a great experience cooking a different type of food, using new ingredients and in someone else's house. Emma and Jake loved it...

2pm. Cooking done and since in Hoi An, remember it's clothes and shoes paradise, Emma and I just had to have an hour to ourselves! The boys find a bar...
Yes, we were measured for a few more things, all to be picked up tomorrow :-)

5pm. Back to the Hotel for a quick swim in the pool.

Dinner tonight at our hotel. BBQ by the beach ...

Got CNN news on in the background again as I type, BBC world is playing up (argggghhh) . They just interviewed a commuter complaining about how London traffic is at a standstill as everyone is making their way to the stadium for the opening ceremony! Oh dear !

We are going to set our alarm for 3am to watch the opening ceremony :-)
Fingers crossed BBC is up and running by then here!!!! Go Team GB!

Px