Hue

13 June

This morning I had a cooking class in the home of a local woman who showed me how to make 3 dishes traditional to the area: Bun Thit Nuong (rice noodles with pork), Nem Lui (mince pork skewers cooked on lemongrass sticks) and Banh Khoai (rice pancakes).   There was a minor problem when the cooker ran out of gas, and we had to relocate to a portable electric hotplate.   Only one pan would work on it, they did not know why and my guide did not have enough English to undarstand an explanation of induction cooking and the iron content of pans!

The food did get cooked though and was very delicious.  Some of the ingredients might be hard to get in Australia, most could be substituted but I am not sure about the flour for the rice pancakes.

The trip to the cooking lesson had been a bit of an adventure itself, as the class was on the edge of town and I took a motorbike taxi, which gave me a good look at some of the various temples and pagodas as we passed, and we also went through an old cemetery which had some rather overgrown graves with elaborate headstones.  The trip back I took a taxi which was far less fun.

After deciding to take a short nap, and actually having a long one, I headed down to the river to take a few photos of the boats, and them some night shots.  There is a bit of a market along the river, and everything is lit up.   I finished off with take away for dinner – Banh Mi with the lot for just $1.17