This section is dedicated to (Le Cong) Yen - our cooking teacher. On short notice we had registered for a cooking class with the renowned Hoa Sua School http://www.hoasuaschool.com. The school offers these classes to raise funds for its hospitality training program for disadvantaged youth. We end up with a private lesson by one of Vietnam’s well-known chefs. Yen is only 26 but regularly writes articles for the family kitchen magazine and appears on TV. He takes us to the market to shop for fresh fish, chicken, tofu (we could even watch the production), vegetables, herbs and rice paper.

Together with Yen we prepare and enjoy a wonderful soup, 3 variations of delicious fresh (not fried) spring rolls (vegetables, vegetables with pork and shrimp and vegetables with beef and bean sprout), fried tofu with fresh tomato sauce, steamed and fried chicken with a unique tamarind sauce and crumbed fish with crisp vegetables. After lunch we cannot eat any more for the rest of the day until we enjoy the remaining spring rolls on our tiny little balcony in the evening.