New City: Hoi An

Hoi An is magnificent. It’s a small town you can walk through in only an hour or so, but it is so full of life! I’m so glad I took yesterday to rest up and kick my cold- it was worth it to enjoy Hoi An.

We took a long walk through the town with Quan showing us the places to buy good tailored clothing (this town has over 400 tailors!) before having lunch in a cafe. It was unbearably hot and I still wasn’t feeling well so I went back to the hotel via motorbike to rest for a bit befor

e a cooking class around 7.

Hoi An at night is kind of like the pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland, but way better obviously. It’s decorated by silk lanterns, boats on a quaint river, traditional food in gorgeous house-looking restaurants, and kids playing street games or riding bicycles. A few of us took a taxi to the old town and walked around a bit to find our cooking class. I had no idea what fun I was in for.

I have always been looking forward to taking some cooking classes here, but I wasn’t expecting to be so entertained by our chef and teacher, Han. Han is perhaps 24 and all smiles. You can tell she loves sharing her culture via food and doesn’t view her job as ‘work’ like we do in the States. She is effervescent!

After asking us to give her our names, she went back around the table repeating them to us (8 in total). She would make fun of us and offer snide remarks as jokes that were only meant for laughs. She could easily be a host on her own cooking show and get rave reviews.

The class was so much fun and very interactive. We cooked five dishes as a group: hot & sour chicken soup, fried spring rolls with pork, green papaya salad, fish in banana leaf, and aubergine in a clay pot. To date this was the best meal I’ve had and it was easy to make. Some of my favorite moments all included Han’s sense of humor. She was a very strict teacher and seemed to like her position of authority. For the green papaya salad you have to grate a large papaya in long strips, put it all in a cloth, and squeeze out the juices. Han asked Josh to complete this step and when he gave her a hard time she said, “Just do it strong man.” She also loved tricking us at the stove island- she’d give each of us an ingredient (fish sauce, veggies, garlic, or something) and ask us to put it in the pan, but then as we’d do it she’d say, “not now...” It became a reoccurring joke throughout the night. When it was actually time to add the ingredient she’d say, “hello pineapple. hello onion” and we were meant to throw it in the pan. It was so joyful and silly! I’m going to do my best to stay in touch with her, especially since she said she’d share more recipes.