Judy promptly dragged us off the hot street into a cool cafe where we say Gill firmly ensconced with a local beer in hand. We joined them with much deserved beverages as well. We were exhausted from a rushed power walk into town this morning - apparently 10 minutes , for us 35 minutes - to get to our long awaited for cooking class at Morning Glory. The cooking class was superb as wonderful as Kari Liz's daughter had extolled .
When we arrived at the cooking class we were embarrassedly late by 5 minutes, we apologised to the lovely couple from Mossvale NSW who were waiting. I thought we would be whisked off immediately on our market tour to observe local ladies and restauranteurs fighting over the freshly picked, plucked, made or caught produce. But no, we sat there in the sweltering heat in the dimly lit restaurant until approximately thirty more bedraggled 'Westerners' had joined us.
At 8.35 our market guide Lu (who incidentally was dressed in jeans and a fleecy jumper, topped with a native hat) took our group of seven down some crowded side streets until we reached the produce markets. She showed us the vibrant vegetables fruits and herbs it was a prime time for me to add to my knife and kitchen took collection. Four tools later, we were in the fish market where we saw tubs of fresh live seafood, I particularly loved the look of the fat squid but alas they were not on Lu's ingredient list.
At the cooking school which was in another restaurant across the river we were encouraged to walk around to have a look at the cooking demonstrations taking place and have little tastes of things, my favourite being beef wrapped in betel leaf on a rice noodle bed with a lime and chilli dipping sauce. W were soon herded up the stairs into an air conditioned cooking class room . The room was set up with work stations which accommodated four people, as we were the first group we were lucky to get seats right at the front of the room. Everyone trudged in and the chef Miss LuLu came in, she was 34 years of age and told us she had been working for Miss Vy for 18 years and was now the head chef at this purpose built cooking school. We made four dishes, a clear broth with pork quenelles wrapped in cabbage leaves ( everyone else used prawns), lemongrass marinated chicken skewers, green mango salad and my favourite the HoiAn pancake, which was a crispy rice and mung bean flour delight walled with fresh herbs in rice paper!
After we had eaten all that we had cooked plus a lemon grass ice cream we walked back down across. The bridge to collect the items we had ordered to be custom made. I picked up my new shoes
which fit perfectly then we collected Liz's new green handbag . As we ventured forth to collect the bags I had ordered for my daughter we come to the part of my retell when we were reunited with Judy and Gill!
So after the four of us had caught up on our various adventures we decided to book dinner at the Morning Glory Restaurant as it was our last night. We had attempted to get a table for the past two nights but it was always booked out so this time I thought, why not be sensible like everyone else and book for us. The only available table was at 8pm so we booked it in and went to collect my two ordered bags which were unfortunately not ready because they had run out of leather in the desired colour, after choosing another colour and being assured it would be ready after dinner we caught the free shuttle back to our hotel agreeing to meet with Judy and Gill that evening,
Once 'home' we went down to the pool to join ten other holiday makers in the hot human soup. It was as Liz said 'at least wet'. Once refreshed we went up to our room to have a little rest on the rock hard beds until dinner time. We went down to the lobby to catch the free shuttle into town, chatting to the lovely young couple from NZ as we waited. Our first stop in town was an unplanned one and I ended up crouched on the ground haggling over crystallised ginger - the Vietnamese type is so much better than that in OZ so I ended up with four packets. Luckily the bags were ready and we sped off to Morning Glory. There were multitudes of people being turned away and ten people sitting on roadside chairs waiting incase of no-shows. After pointing out our booking and a quick interchange on the walkie talkie by the maitre di, Liz and I climbed the spiral timber staircase to the next waiting area, this being the waiting area for those whose whole party had not yet arrived. I went down to wait for Judy and Gill which was lucky because they were a bit lost and I spotted them from a distance.
Our dinner was lovely, I chose the eggplant flower which I had seen at market garden and the three others ordered the same prawn curry which Liz's daughter had recommended. We opted to have dessert at Cargo Club ( yes it was the fourth time we had been there and the staff now knew us) . Gill was very restrained but the rest of us were not, I ordered the chocolate truffle cake which was sumptuous I virtuously washed it down with green tea .
Since it was our last night we bought floating candles from a little girl in traditional dress she was a tough business woman and totally ripped us off but we paid for her cuteness. Judy's good luck candle was promptly run over by a disgruntled boat man whose services we had politely declined. Luckily after my game of charades Judy was given a free one. We sadly parted way at the taxi rank across the bridge, the ladies went off to their hotel and we went off for a mini shopping trip. Liz showed considerable restraint and only purchased two of the famous HoiAn lanterns, I however thought that five lanterns were necessary. We finally caught a taxi and once home at the hotel collapsed on our respective beds.
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