Being in a country with such amazing food as Vietnam, I had to try and take home a few secrets - and the best way to do this seemed to be a cooking class.
Before we could start cooking, we went to visit the local market to buy ingredients. In Vietnamese markets, it's all about freshness. That's why prices are higher in the morning, and fish vendors have water bowls with live fish that are only killed on demand.
We didn't buy any fruits, but the colors and presentation were amazing. Note the huge green grapefruit in the middle, and the colorful dragonfruit to the left.
The restaurant was very well prepared for cooking classes. They had two tables set up, one for cooking, with utensils and ingredients neatly laid out, and the other for eating, with cutlery and drinks. While we were eating the first course, the helpers cleaned the cooking table and set out everything we would need to make the second course. Cooking can be so relaxing when you don't have to worry about cleaning up!
The first course we made was a vegetable salad rolled in a mustard leaf and topped with prawns. We also made a sauce to dip the rolls into, consisting of a mixture of kumquat juice, fish sauce, garlic, chili, and sugar. Yum!
We also made fried rice balls stuffed with pork, and rice noodles with BBQ pork. The food was very, very good, but unfortunately none of the three courses was simple enough that I would dare to replicate the dish at home. I think the amount of preparation that the kitchen helpers did for us would easily double the preparation time, and then you'd also need stuff like pots of boiling oil and a barbecue.
After the cooking class, I went on to visit the museum of history. They had exhibits starting from the paleolithic age up until the 20th century, stopping just before the Vietnam war. The museum was quite interesting, but not particularly well done, and photography wasn't allowed either.
My next stop was therefore much more to my liking: the Saigon art museum was located in a wonderful colonial building, and the artwork was presented in small rooms off a corridor that circled a large courtyard. Many of the exhibits were similar to what was presented in the history museum, with only a small shift of focus from history to art.
This, for example, is a Khmer statue of Buddha from the south of Vietnam - a good indication that I've finally arrived in a country that is not predominantly Catholic ;-)
The artwork presented in the museum ranged from centuries-old Buddha statues to abstract modern art, and covered pretty much everything in between.
Nearly all the exhibits were done by Vietnamese artists - I can't remember ever to have seen work by a Vietnamese artist in any museum I've visited. Isn't it fascinating how a country can produce outstanding art, but nevertheless be all but ignored by museums worldwide?
