Hanoi Cooking Class

For our first full day in Hanoi, Ruth has booked us a cooking class so we can learn more about these delicious dishes and try to make them ourselves.

I started the day with an egg coffee, which tastes like tiramisu and has the caffeine power of a cappuccino. That should be enough to get me through the morning. Then we did some more shopping since we are in the middle of the backpacker district and every corner has wares for sale. I got a cool track jacket to look like “Ninja ladies”, in a tasteful green. I also got a small issue with my camera fixed, and the nice guy wouldn’t accept any money for the trouble.

We booked Apron Up Cooking Class for the afternoon, and started with a walk through the local market. We picked up fresh herbs, and although I was wary about some of the meat handling I decided that we were going to cook it long enough to not be worried.

We made pho noodle soup, fried spring rolls, spicy papaya salad, bun cha (pork meatballs) and more egg coffee. I learned some helpful techniques for cooking spices to be more aromatic, separating yolks from the whites, and how long it actually takes to make pho.

In the evening we went on a walk to a vinyl store, looking for “political hip hop.” We found a French album called Dry Guillotine, which I think certainly fits the description, and also got a compilation of Vietnamese soul from the 60s.

We walked by Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum, hoping to see the guard change. But I was wearing shorts, which were deemed insufficiently respectful, so we weren’t allowed into the grounds. Instead, we stopped at train street again, and sat further back so I could get a shot of the crowd instead of worrying about the integrity of my legs.