Bali Trip: Cooking up a feast and fabric

We had a choice between a Balinese Spa Day or a Balinese Cooking Class so my mom and I chose the cooking class.  We started off at a traditional market and walked around where the locals shopped. It was interesting to experience the sights and smells of the traditional market compared to the ones in more touristy areas.
Balinese fruit stand 
Offerings for sale
beautiful colours of flowers for the offerings
Then the teacher took us to her family's compound where she handed out recipes and walked us through a feast of delicious food.  We first made a a base curry sauce that we ended up using in most dishes.  It had so many different flavours, some familiar to us and some new.  We chopped, ground, sautéed, and soon we were enjoying a delicious feast for lunch.  The cooking class was a great way to try some local dishes that we wouldn't have necessarily tried in a restaurant.

how to ground chicken Bali style
Hard at work chopping
The group ready to enjoy our feast
Our wonderful teacher and chef
We had some free time in the afternoon, so we headed  back to Denpasar to stock up on more fabric.  We had to make sure we filled up our luggage allowance!

  The following day we went to one of the Hoffman batik factories.  Hoffman is a very popular brand of fabric known for its quality and beauty, so it was really neat to see the fields where it all happened.  The workers there were so friendly and treated us like celebrities.  After watching how quickly they scrunch up the fabric and squirt it with dye, they took a break to take a group picture with us.  
Group picture with the workers
Listening to an explanation of the process
The batik fields
Laying out fabric to dry
Adding the first layer of dye (with a water bottle!)
Scrunching up the fabric
Dyeing a roll of fabric
Quality control - they cut a small piece of each roll to keep in their library in case there are issues later
Making swatch cards
After our morning at the factory we had a very relaxing lunch at the beach, though I think by this point we were all getting a bit tired of eating egg rolls, rice, and noodles!
enjoying the water





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Baw Baw Blog

Image
A couple weeks ago Phil set out to climb Mt Baw Baw again with a couple like-minded (read: crazy) bike friends.  We drove out with Les and met John and Glenda at the primary school in Drouin to start the ride.   The crazies started on their ride while John and I headed off to explore the area by car. Phil, Glenda, and Les at the start About 10km in to the ride, as they passed the Drouin West primary school, Phil realised that that was the place he meant to start, and now an already painful 80km ride had become 90km. John and I stopped at the Noojee Trestle Bridge and took a leisurely walk across.  Then we headed on to the "town" of Noojee and saw the sights - the water wheel that no one knows the origin of.  Then we enjoyed some lamingtons while we waited for the tiers to catch up.  They arrived and took a few minutes' break, then set out again on their adventure. Noojee Trestle Bridge Noojee Water Wheel John and I then drove to Tooronga Falls an...
Read more

Tanna, Vanuatu Part 2

Image
There was a wonderful snorkelling spot called the Blue Hole a short walk from the resort so we went there a couple times and frolicked with the fishies.  The weather was perfect and the water was warm so it was a very relaxing few days. The Blue Hole Fish in the Blue Hole More fish in the Blue Hole Blue starfish we found in the rocks Pretty sunset at the Blue Hole We also took a small boat up the coast to a place called the Blue Cave.  The boat trip in itself was worth the journey as it took us along unspoiled coastline for some amazing views. The coastline from the boat near the Blue Cave We got to the Blue Cave at low tide which made the opening just big enough to snorkel through.  Inside the cave was huge and the bottom was covered in clean white sand so it made the blue water of the cave spectacular.  A small hole at the top of the cave let a shaft of light through.  It was quite a spectacular place t...
Read more

An Aussie Birthday Party

Image
My parents arrived at the beginning of April and we took the opportunity to have an Aussie Birthday Party for my mom.  We invited her Aussie friends over for dinner and they enjoyed the chance to catch up.  My mom met these friends through a painting convention they teach classes at in Vegas.  Year after year she kept taking their classes and they became great friends.  The convention is now a yearly tradition for them, and they fit in plenty of fun before and after.  They had just been over for a visit in March, so it was nice for them to get together and laugh about their trip without all the distractions.  I made an echidna cake for dessert that went down a hit, even with the very American peanut butter filling.  After the party they spent a few days with Janice and Ted and then had a visit with Karen and family before heading to Kangaroo Island with us.  All in all it was a great way to begin their visit over here.  Gail, my dad, and...
Read more