Cooking in Ubud

Market education

Balinese grape

Steamed ground chicken with coconut and spices in banana leaf

Buoy was such a champ trying everything and being tough through the spice (despite it being mild for our sake it was not without spice). Boo is so good about looking at the best of things, at the end of the evening when she had been able to eat next to nothing of the completed dishes I said we could try making them at home without spice she lit up and said “Yeah!! Because I LOVED everything, I loved all the flavors, I just didn’t like the spice.” Champ

Satay

Chef at work

Sayur mie vegetable and noodles

Dessert dumplings, rice flour dough with palm sugar insides

The family that cooks together…

Taste testing the satay (heavily flavored with lemongrass and mixed with 2to1 coconut to ground chicken.

Focused girl slicing shallots

Marion eating mochi like steamed dough filled with palm sugar. Maybe only thing that was the spice level she could handle

Alys using giant mortar and pestle to mash Bali paste

These pictures are all a jumble and I’m having a time with the format so I think I’ll just say alas. From all the pics I assume all can tell that we had a blast. I particularly loved how intent and into it the girls were. They were attentive and respectful, excited and willing to try it all without complaint at all the right times. Sigh, heartswell.

We also got a stop at some rice fields with a bit of education (though as we had watched a video on rice production/farming for “school” we were pretty well prepped). Another stop at a local market for more familiarization with foods we’d be cooking with and also just so we could see the market. It is a bit different from the grocery at home. We were introduced to Balinese grapes which Marion has decided she LOVES and snagged ourselves a few more sweet sweet mangoes (they have yet to be topped in my book).

The cooking was great, such fun when ingredients are provided and prepped for you (sure we helped with the chopping and smashing but really…) and you sure can get a lot of dishes done in a shorter amount of time!

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