My fourth time in Bali, so I set out to do things I hadn’t done before. Yoga at the Yoga Barn was lovely; what a complex! Juice bar, healthy green menu, and a wild variety of classes. Enjoyed Yin Yoga, and walked back feeling mellow. Tuesday I took the Lebong Cooking class. Yowsa! Picked up from the hotel at 8, off to the local market with full lecture on Balinese cooking and its mainstays.
Then off to the family compound with class led by a professional chef who works at the local Aman resort. Insert here: movie with information about the family compound and how it works.
Anyway, ten of us were in class and hands-on experience. It was like being in a cooking show, because he’d say “soak the rice overnight”, have us wash it, cover with water, set aside….and then, Voila! rice that had been soaked overnight appeared. Hah!
the mainstays: garlic, shallots, birds-eye peppers, turmeric and galangal:
finished dishes included…
tomato sambal:
chicken sate:
sprout, fern tip and coconut salad:
and Ayam Bakar Bumba Bali (sauteed, grilled, braised chicken with curry sauce):
After all the cooking was finished and our splendid feast was ready,
he explained the offerings made before each meal, and the matriarch of the compound made the offerings. Really great to understand local life and the meaning/timing of all the offerings that are on buildings, streets, and statues.
Tuesday night was the 3 year mark of our first date, so Lance and I went out to a highly rated restaurant, Locavore. A tasting menu of small plates. We ordered the smaller, 5-course meal, but they brought us 3 or 4 before they even started the menu! I had a wicked good mint-y cocktail:
and we enjoyed the beautiful presentations and unusual flavors. Here’s one of our favorites, pillows stuffed with something I can’t remember, floating on a bed of seaweed:
Wednesday, Evelyn and I drove to see a well-known healer. A fun and interesting experience. Here is a movie of his process, assessment. Interesting.
and the treatment:
Thursday, the whole group went on a half-day bike ride. We started with a tasting at a coffee plantation, where we sampled luwak coffee – the kind that gets pooped out and was featured in the movie “The Bucket List”, if you don’t know – and then were driven to a high elevation. The 2-hour downhill ride was so fun – I wanted to keep going, but we made a few stops for photos, and one of giant spiders on the roadside – don’t show Lisa!
visiting a working rice paddy and bathroom breaks.
and the requisite group photo of the happy travelers:
Last night all together, as Ashley, Mark and Kate left that night to go their various ways, and we prepared for the early morning pick up and drive to the harbor for the 2 hour ferry to Gili Trawangan.