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!