Hello once again lovely people, thanks for the lovely comments (and thanks muchly for the effort involved in reading and writing on a blackberry Sar, tis muchos dedicated and appreciated!)

So where was I, right I remember waxing lyrical about how much I loved Hoi An, having ordered my coat and thinking about heading out for dinner! Well we went to a place called Cafe 43, which has been recommended by lonely planet etc, it's down a ramshackle street but the trip was worth it because of the amazing, spectacular food! We sat outside in the hot, hot heat and Lee had the sautéed pork with yellow noodles and I had the grilled fish in banana leaf, we shared fried aubergine and sank a couple of tigers too. Oh.My.Lord this food was amazing, the cafe is mainly outside with plastic chairs and paper tablecloths so it ain't fancy but the food was immense. As we were eating, we spotted a little sign in the background offering cooking lessons for $5 per person. So, we immediately signed up and that's what we did this morning!

We woke up about 9ish - having a little lie in because if we were cooking at 10am we thought it would be good to skip breakfast and sleep some more! We walked out of the hotel to bright, bright gleaming sunshine. Now this surprised us as although it has been hot, hot, hot here there has been little sight of blue sky and the sun has been hidden behind thick cloud. As it had been like that on arrival and ever since we weren't sure whether it was a bad week or whether that was just Vietnam weather. We are pleased to report that it is not, the sun shone all day today, so we got the chance to top up our tans (hurrah!) but not before our cooking lesson.

We arrived at the cafe and were installed at one of the tables with a stove top cooker, two chopping boards and two fierce looking knives! We had to choose three dishes to learn and we chose the fried spring rolls (these are nothing like the ones from the Chinese!) the sautéed shrimp and cashew nuts and the grilled fresh fish in banana leaf! The lady taking us through each one was brilliant, she showed us how to cut very, very finely and introduced us to veg we have never heard of before (taro? and choco?!).

We started with the spring rolls which are about the size and thickness of a bloke's thumb, so substantially smaller than at home and like a billion times nicer. We write down the recipes and methods so I'm going to write them out as part of this blog a) so people can try them out if they wish and b) because we will probably lose the piece of paper before we get home! So here goes:

Fried spring rolls - ingredients

1/2 a piece of Taro (still not sure what this was but it tasted yummy and the lady said potatoes would do!) 1/2 a large carrot 1/4 large white onion 1 strip smoked tofu 4 spring onions Rice paper 1 teaspoon garlic (finely chopped) 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 1 teaspoon sugar A little salt 1 egg beaten

For the dipping sauce: 1 small hot chilli - diced 1 teaspoon garlic (finely chopped) 1/2 teaspoon sugar Fish sauce (looked like soy sauce) Juice of 1/2 a lime

Method:

Finely chop the taro/potato, carrot. onion, tofu and spring onions into matchstick type strips (Lee got told to cut them thinner - hee hee!), put the strips in a bowl. Add the tsp of garlic, the pepper, sugar, salt and mix well (we used chopsticks to do this, but I imagine a spoon would suffice!)

Take the rice paper (its round and you chop off one of the rounded edges to make semi circles, put a small heap of the veg mixture onto the bottom of the rice paper (I got carried away with one or two and created 'the daddy' a spring roll which dwarfed all the others and even burst a little bit!). Roll the mixture into a roll, about halfway stop and fold in the edges like you do when wrapping a present. Stick the loose edge down with the beaten egg and then place finished spring rolls into a pan of oil (it was a frying pan about 1/2 full of vegi oil and you needed to bring the oil to a fairly hot temperature before starting.) Turn the spring rolls and when they are brown take out and place on kitchen paper (give them a good shake to get rid of excess oil too (we did ours with chopsticks again, but beware they are slippery little suckers!)

To make the dipping sauce put all the ingredients in a bowl - and stir - job done (my kind of cooking!) The eat until you are so stuffed you can't eat any, anymore!!

Ok on to the next, now I think this will be the hardest to recreate at home, it's the grilled fish in banana leaf. For this you need!

Ingredients: Foil and 6 banana leaves (surely Tesco will be stocking these any day now!) 1 whole tuna fish (steamed for 2 mins) Ours came complete with starey eye and rather viscous little teeth, I didn't even feel sorry for him he was a nasty looking little beast and he tasted delicious! 4 pieces fresh turmeric (she told us it was saffron but it was like a battered looking carrot and on looking on t'internet tis definitely fresh turmeric - turns your fingers awful yellow!) 8 stalks of fresh lemon grass 6 lemon leaves - she bobbed out the back and cut ours off a tree!

For pepper sauce to dip it

1/2 teaspoon pepper 1/2 teaspoon salt Juice of 1/2 a lime

Method

Chop the turmeric, lemon grass finely and beat to death in a pestle and mortar until it is a chunky texture and bright orange. Lay 3 banana leaves on top of a large sheet of foil, lay out some of the turmeric mixture on the bottom and sprinkle across equally some garlic, salt and pepper. Pop your vicious tuna fish on top of the mixture and add more turmeric mixture, salt and pepper and garlic. Chop the lemon leaves finely over the top and add 1 tablespoon of oil across him and put the three banana leaves remaining on top - pack him in as snug as a bug in a rug so the foil is on the outside, then they put him in a something which looked like a trap, a mesh on a hinge with a handle which you chuck the foil parcel on and then place directly on the hob, moving him back and forth for 20 mins - then serve! Dip the amazing fish into the dipping sauce (another chuck the ingredients in the bowl malarkey!) and enjoy! Watch out for bones though!

Finally, the last dish we did, was so simple, took about 10 mins and probably the easiest to do at home, so I'll be wanting feedback from all you people on how your own attempts have gone!

Ingredients:

1 tomato - quartered and then each quarter chopped in half 1/4 carrot - sliced 1/4 pineapple - sliced 1/4 white onion - chopped into quarters 1/4 choco(no idea what this is!) - answers on a postcard please! Sliced handful of cabbage (not sure what type they used but pak choi would work well and available in all good supermarkets!) 1 small bowl of cashews 200g prawns in about 3 tablespoons water (raw)

H'okey doke hold onto your hats cos this goes fast! Add 1 teaspoon garlic, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 2tsp sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt to your raw prawns and stir well. Chuck 2 1/2 dessert spoons of oil into a pan, add a further tsp garlic and cook until just brown. Chuck in prawns and cook for 2 mins, chuck in onion, carrot and choco (whatever that is!), cook until onion translucent, then add tomato, pineapple and cabbage - cook for ten mins then chuck on a plate, throw on the cashews and there you go heaven on a plate!

Once we had created our masterpieces it was lunchtime, so we did what chefs do - devoured our creations and man they were tasty and so easy too!

So, tummies full and very proud we meandered back to the tailors next to the hotel where I had a fitting for my coat which is looking fab-u-lous! We placed orders for a dress, a top and a pair of trousers for me and 2 pairs of trousers for the Bee We have to go pick them up at noon tomorrow - you never know I may order more! We then had a lazy debate about where to sunbathe, pool or beach. The pool won because it's just outside our room where the beach is 2km away! so that has been our blissful day, tis a hard life we are having don't'cha think! We've chilled on the sunbeds over the lagoon below, sipping ice cold tiger and slipping into the icy pool for a refreshing dip when the sun got that touch too unbearably hot. Tonight's very difficult decision centres around which of the many beautiful riverside restaurants do we eat at tonight?! Sorry I'll stop showing off too much, but man I could get used to this! We are doing a second cooking class tomorrow (we had already booked this one but couldn't turn down the opportunity to learn the immenseness of what we ate last night - hence the two classes!)

So I am off to rouse my sleepy husband (I left him dozing on the bed with strict instructions that he be showered and dressed when I return, I'm just downstairs in the lobby) I've been gone about an hour but I have not seen hide nor hair of him and suspect I will catch him still napping when I get back! Ooh update he has just arrived, freshly washed, dressed and hair straighter - I humbly apologise for doubting him! I shall update again soon people, try the recipes and let me know how they go!

Huge hugs and kisses

from hot and happy Kat & Lee xx (the next MasterChef's!)