Windwalker's Mountain Post: Cooking School

We are in a beautiful hotel about 20 klicks down the shoreline from China Beach. Outside we see and hear the sea. The breeze is constant and here we have found rest. Arriving Sunday afternoon, we entered our room and both fell onto the bed. We awoke about 2 hours later--each from a seeming blackout. It is very tiring going from place to place, just the two of us with a guide. No hiding. No time-outs. The upside is that we are learning a lot.

It is a bit daunting to look at the jungle-forrested mountains, the rivers, and rice fields and not think of what a terrifying time it must have been to be a U.S. soldier, fighting in a war against a people and a culture totally unknown and unfamiliar. And for what? The Vietnamese farmers wanted only to grow rice and their families. The Vietnamese politicos wanted their own country. The American government allowed neither to happen. We came over two mountain passes to get to Da Nang. At the top of one, our guide pointed to a mountain far distant. " There," he said, "lies part of the Ho Chi Minh trail. It runs 1,000 miles from Hanoi to Saigon, and totally? It is 10,000 miles."

"The first U.S. air strikes occur against the Ho Chi Minh trail. Throughout the war, the trail is heavily bombed by American jets with little actual success in halting the tremendous flow of soldiers and supplies from the North. 500 American jets will be lost attacking the trail. After each attack, bomb damage along the trail is repaired by female construction crews."

We pass through Da Nang with a side trip to China Beach. "March 8, 1965 - The first U.S. combat troops arrive in Vietnam as 3500 Marines land at China Beach to defend the American air base at Da Nang. They join 23,000 American military advisors already in Vietnam." (http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1965.html)

As we enter Hoi An, one of the most ancient cities in Vietnam, we turn our thoughts to resting and our cooking class. In the morning, after a good night's rest, our guide delivers us to the Red Bridge Restaurant and bids us good-day. We have a welcome drink--papaya smoothies. Soon we are together with six others and a guide takes us to the local market. Happily this is an informational tour. The ingredients for our class are already purchased. We learn about vegetables, spices, fish, chicken...amazing stuff. At the market we buy two small 1 cup coffee makers, and some spices. When we finish, our guide puts us on a boat and we are off to the cooking school.

Now, we are a group of about twenty. We end up at a beautiful spot along the river and have a tour of the herb garden. We then wash hands and are shown to a large outdoor room. There are bout 20 chairs, each with a clipboard and a pen. The clipboard contains menus and recipes. Flanking 3 sides of the room are 20 cooking stations, each with a one burner "stove" and whatever other materials we will need. In front of us is a demonstration table and over that is a mirror, lest we not be able to see the cook. The cook! His English is wonderful, his talents to sing about, and his sense of humor is amazing.

Menu:
1. Seafood salad with Vietnamese herbs served in half a pineapple...a warm-up demo to put us at ease. "cut pineapple in half...like this, trying not to cut finger...shocking to guests."
2. Fresh rice paper rolls of shrimp...nice demo of making rice paper wrappings (batter onto cotton cloth over boiling water...). Take off with bamboo stick, put on plate, add shrimp and herbs, roll like you roll joint...simple. Now you go to station and make...and we did and they were delicious.
3. Hoi An Pancakes...rice batter again...add to oil in pan...let sizzle, add shrimp and other veggies. Stir, stir so the batter becomes loose in pan, then flip like so (he flips the pancake with a nudge of the pan, we ohh, ahh--groan when we realize we're next)...it comes out OK, most of us use spatulas to flip.
4. Vietnamese Eggplant in clay pot...first chop all ingredients...then start with oil, garlic...do not burn garlic. People will not like...we use clay pot. Know why? Keeps food warm, but mostly, if you cook in regular pot it's ugly. No one will want to eat what you cook. Use clay pot...use regular pot your family will hate. Then family will starve. Better to use clay pot. So we did and it turned out...delicious.
5. Food Decoration...oh god! Just what we dreaded. Cook takes 1/2 cucumber...removes seeds, makes a series of angled cuts down cuke, then folds every other cut into a loop...beautiful. We are miserable at this. Knives are dull, disaster. The Aussies next to us do miracles just like teacher. Next? Peel tomato in one long, spiral strip...no look at pretty girl, no talk to friend, no answer phone as you peel tomato...now wrap peel back and see? He has a rose on top of a peeled tomato...needless to say, we are dunces. Pam gives up half way. I finish peeling with my peel in three pieces. I wind it up, tuck the ends Into one another, looks like flower after a hard rain.

After that we take our clay pots and go to the outdoor eating area where we have beer and several of the professionally prepared dishes we just cooked. Our clay pots are just great and we have several ideas for party where friends and family can make their own rice paper hors d'oeuvres...what fun it will be.

After we eat, a boat comes to get us. On the way back we stop and watch a man and a woman net fishing off of an old wooden boat. When we return to the ancient market, we walk to get a taxi...on the way we buy some lanterns. We get a taxi and come back to our hotel. In the bar we sit and have wine and talk about what great fun the day has been. Now we are resting some more. Our guide comes for us at 8:15 a.m. And we are off for Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). Sweet dreams.

Da Nang helicopter base