cupcake class at Koto....

Tuesday I di.d a cupcake class for the staff and students at Koto.  I made rose and lychee cupcakes and Doan made his carrot and walnut.  Then I demonstrated buttercream icing techniques and used some of the royal icing flowers that we made last week.

I think it's better if I just show you the pictures....

these are the carrot and walnut ones....

and these are the rose and lychee.....

 and after I finished the students got to have a play......pretty good eh?

It seemed to be universally enjoyed and the cakes were very nice indeed....you know it's a funny thing....I just can't understand why I'm not losing weight.....yeah right!

Bike ride to nowhere over the Long Bien Bridge.....

On Sunday Rosemary had suggested we try riding over the Long Bien bridge.  She'd been told that once over it you would be in the countryside with miles of traffic free roads to ride along.  So we gave it a go...the bridge is a railway bridge with lanes on either side for two wheeled vehicles and the very rare pedestrian.  It was a fairly nerve racking ride for Rosemary who is very new to cycling so she just kept riding while I would stop and start to take photos when the inspiration grabbed me.

this was only one of many football games we saw on our ride...a Sunday morning past-time like other a lot of other countries...

there were arable fields under the bridge

this gave me pause until I saw that it was from a previous bridge...scary...

the wind nearly took this poor woman's load right off the rack on the back of her bike...

looking down....

Chuong Duong Bridge off in the distance...

Chuong Duong is for cars and trucks...

Long Bien is only for two wheelers and the trains...

 Once we got over the bridge we cycled round and tried to find a way to get onto the dyke so we could ride alongside the river.  A very nice man directed us to a laneway which led to this lovely lookout.

there were actually steps leading down to the river bank but the bank was too rocky for us to ride along so we gave it a miss...

The ride was rocky but not that long so Rosemary suggested that we do one circumlocution of West Lake for exercise.  I had my camera with me so took the chance to grab some shots on our way round.

hard to believe that something so flimsy can carry a person...

the outrageous gates of a hotel...at least I hope it's a hotel and not a private house...

the building that belongs to the gates...

I just love the embellishments...

the pagoda is now decked with lanterns in advance of Tet...

I just love the splashes of colour the lotus lanterns add...

a beautiful but very cold bride willing to suffer for a great photo....

After our epic non-ride and our 14km circuit of the lake we both felt a bit sweaty and decidedly hungry...time for lunch.  Later Rosemary was kind enough to treat me to an acupressure massage at a place near her home.  She'd found this place a while back when her knee was playing up and they'd really helped.  The massage was strange; I'd never had an acupressure massage before, but I certainly felt the benefit of it later.  After our massage we adjourned to the cafe on Yen Phu to enjoy some yummy Vietnamese yoghurt, mine with sticky rice and Rosemary's with coffee.  While eating we discussed the pros and cons of a manicure/pedicure and came down in favour.  So that's what we did...now my digits are pearly pink and trimmed to within an inch of my life. 

I finished my day with a visit to my favourite Bi Tet restaurant and I'm now watching the brilliant Boardwalk Empire...you wouldn't be dead for quids...right?.

Saturday at Hanoi Cooking Center and Sunday 23rd...the bike ride to nowhere...

The Hanoi Cooking Center and The Bookworm  (the other business that shares the space at 44 Cho Long) put on some fabulous entertainment to celebrate Tet on Saturday.

the beautifully carved prow of one of the floating restaurants on West Lake...

 After Rosemary and I finished our obligatory weekend morning bike ride (twice round West Lake - with stops for photos, see above, and a cuppa with Luyen Shell at Donkey Bakery) we trundled along to Cho Long Street to check it out.  A string trio was playing some lovely music as we enjoyed our lunch...I felt a bit sorry for them because they had to play in the courtyard and it was far from a warm day.  By the time we'd finished our meals the 'entertainment' had arrived.  There was a man making banh chung; the traditional sticky rice cake that is an essential part of Tet here in the North of Vietnam. 

beginning the wrapping of the cake in banana leaves...

the cake contains sticky rice that has been soaked overnight, green beans and top quality pork with enough fat to add some flavour...

after wrapping securely and tying with bamboo strips the cake is boiled for about 8 hours...

 The finished result is a glutinous dish that once unwrapped must not be cut with a knife - very important! - the bindings from the package are split into very fine but strong threads and used like a cheese wire to cut the cake into eight triangular portions.  I'm actually going to Mr Hung's house on 31st so that his mother can instruct me as to the production of banh chung...watch this space!

 Another man was making gorgeous little 'stick' figures with sticky rice dough...a bit like play dough but much more malleable and they harden eventually. I was particularly fascinated by his incredibly dexterous modelling techniques.  I wish I could mould icing the way he moulded the sticky rice dough.  I've got a couple drying out in the hopes that they will make it home to Oz with me in February.

the only tools he used were a knife and an old plastic comb with teeth missing...amazing...

Tracy's little girl Franke with here sticky rice toy...

the texturing on the rose petals and the tigers extremities was done with the comb...

I just think they are so cute, and each only took him about 5 to 10 minutes to make...so fast...

we can't decide if it's a mouse or a cat...whatever - it's cute!

they were charging the grand total of 10,000vd per toy...that's 50c each...

 
The final prong to the cultural trident was a calligrapher who produced beautiful flowing symbols on traditional hand made paper.  Rosemary went a bit mad and ended up buying 4 for family and friends.  I asked for the symbol for the kitchen god but he couldn't do that so I got Good Luck and Good Health.  For all I know it could say 'the owner of this scroll is a moron' but I don't care because it looks just lovely.  It's anchored top and bottom with bamboo and has a wee chain to hang it on the wall.  It'll be a lovely reminder of my time here.

the young man is actually a student, he can sometimes be found working outside the ground of the Temple of Literature...

his traditional garb really added to the whole atmosphere...

the banners were selling for 30,000vd ($1.50)...I hope he was working on commission because he did loads...

the hanging banner on the left with the two symbols is the same as mine...lovely isn't it?

What an action packed day...and it wasn't over.  That evening we took in a movie at our fave place on Hang Bai.  The film was called Due Date with Robert Downey Junior and the fat guy from The Hangover.  Rosemary hated it.  It was a typical Hollywood piece of junk with two of the most unsympathetic and un-likeable characters you could imagine but I have to confess I laughed like a drain all the way through.  There were distasteful jokes about all sorts of juvenile stuff and a running gag about the fat guy's dead father's ashes.  The action sequences were so extreme and hair raising that I couldn't help myself from cheering and shouting along with the rest of the audience ...maybe in my old age I'm  into a regressing mentally teenage boy...I'll be skateboarding and playing online war games next!

Coffee marshmallow and crazy cakes....

Two days of making stuff that I've never done before...marshmallow and fudge.  The marshmallow worked perfectly but the fudge turned out to be the chewy kind not the Russian fudge I was hoping for...ah well, you can't win 'em all.  Here's the marshmallow...

It was so soft and smooth, melt in the mouth...and so easy...

Today I was asked to give a class on celebration cakes and no-one turned up! 

It ended up being Doan and I for the first 45mins, then Thu; one of the kitchen trainers arrived...wow...three of us!  Thu then got on the phone and harassed two more people into coming which is possibly even more humiliating!  Bit of a dissapointment but hey, if no-one wants to learn then I get more time off!

I did two versions of the same little two tier cake, one for a wedding - white on white...and the other an over the top birthday cake using the royal icing flowers we'd been practicing last week.  I used the RTR I'd made last week to coat the cakes and was really pleased with the result...not perfect but pretty smooth for the first go.

 

Wild and crazy and a lot of fun....