Cooking and Sweating in Vietnam

This morning I took a cooking class at the Vietnamese Cookery Center where they taught us how to make five traditional dishes, including bo bia spring rolls, sour fish soup with vegetables, caramel fish in clay pot, steamed rice with coconut juice, and for dessert, green bean sweet soup with seaweed.



My too-skinny bo bia spring rolls with Chinese sausage.


Our instructor and chef, Pham Thi Dieu Dai and translator, Tran Thi Kim Tuyen.


Sea bass pre-marinade...


The sour fish soup with vegetables and pineapple.


Voila!


After the class, we received a cookbook with the recipes of the dishes we learned to make, plus a geeky certificate of completion and a souvenir bag of black pepper from northern Vietnam.


I trekked on over to the Vietnamese Massage Institute where they specialize in teaching blind Vietnamese people the art of massaging. An hour-long massage cost about $2.50 U.S. (yes, I know...insanely affordable that it should be illegal). The massage, well, was quite an experience! Once the masseuse reached my head, she mainly massaged the area between my eyebrows and one particular point on the top of my head. Then she would gently pound her fists on my forehead. She also talked to the other masseuses in Vietnamese through the walls most of the time and at one point, I could hear someone burping over and over again. The only word I understood in the whole conversation was "Mexico."



I stumbled, post-massage, to Sozo Cafe for an ice cream sundae.


One of the highlights of the day was coming across Hanoi Gallery, which sells originals and hundreds of reprints of Vietnamese propaganda posters. I spent way too much time looking through every single one...



One of my favorites...an original priced at $600.


A swarm of motorbike riders during rush hour...


including a family of four on a bike (not that uncommon to see)!


The mayhem at Ben Thanh market this evening.



Dinner at Thu'c don where I tried Banh Khot (moulded rice cakes)--thick half-dollar sized pancakes (made or rice) with shrimp, chives and basil, wrapped in lettuce, and served with a tangy sauce.


And Goi Du Du Tom Thit (green papaya salad with shrimps and garlic, plus peanuts).


A crowd watching the Brazil vs. Netherlands World Cup game.


Boys playing a game where one boy stood at one end and tried to catch the ball (or to block it?) that another boy kicked.


Look at those foul-smelling durian! I told myself I'd try it before I leave...ergh.