Monday May 16 – Cooking Class – Ubud – Dinner at Murni’s Warung

Laura and Catherine were up and out early to go to a Balinese cooking class at Paon Bali Cooking Class (http://www.paon-bali.com/) . They were met at the villa, taken to the market in Ubud to shop for the ingredients and then driven to a traditional home in the village of Laplaplan, just outside Ubud. They had a fabulous time and really enjoyed themselves. They said the premises was spotlessly clean, the facilities in great shape, and the class was expertly organized. They brought me back the recipes: clear mushroom and vegetable soup; basic yellow sauce; chicken coconut curry; chicken sate (minced chicken grilled on bamboo sticks which Robin, Peter, and I made at the Bali Dream Café); vegetables in peanut sauce; coconut and snake bean salad; steamed fish in banana leaves; deep fried tempe in sweet soy sauce; and boiled banana in palm sugar syrup!! Mmmmm, all sounds delicious!! 

Meanwhile, I stayed at the villa: sorted out my photos, did some writing for the blog, and responded to emails.

Later in the afternoon, Laura, Catherine and I went in to Ubud to shop and do some siteseeing. Catherine is a great shopper. She sees something, tries it on, and buys it!!! Laura and I tend to hum and haw for a while thinking about it before either cancelling the thought, or making the purchase!! Catherine got a great little dress which I am sure she will get a lot of wear from. There are definitely two levels of shopping here; first the cheap tourist stuff, and then the higher end stores, either selling locally made products such as beautiful Balinese lace, or imported products such as Nike, Polo, Tommy Hilfiger, etc. 

For dinner, we went to Madi’s Warung, in a beautiful location on the side of the river gorge just as you cross the old bridge going into Ubud. The food was OK, but was reasonably expensive, and didn’t stand up to some of the other places we have been.