ANITA COOKING SCHOOL, KUTA BALI - OCTOBER 25, 2012

ANIKA's COOKING SCHOOL, KUTA BALI - Thursday Oct 25, 2012

What an amazing day this turned out to be at ANIKA's Cooking School!  The 6 of us were ready and waiting for our pickup at 7am in the Aston Bali lobby when our van arrived - Suz, Linda, Michelle, Carrie, Terry and I. Unfortunately Pete was still feeling very much under the weather and unable to join us but Suz was feeling somewhat better and squared her shoulders and came along - she simply did not want to miss the opportunity. It was a beautiful morning, and our driver Noman, took off at a very fast pace "we must be at the Kuta market by 7:30am"  No problem, in spite of all the hundreds of motorbikes weaving in and out of the traffic, we made it through the rush hour and made it alive crossing the road to where our male cooking class teacher was waiting for us.

We joined with 3 ladies and 1 man from Aussie (for one lady this was her 3rd trip back to Bali and Anika to take the cooking class - a good sign), and soon our chef was leading us through all the stalls in the market (fruit, vegetables, meat, chicken, baskets, offerings for the shrines, spices, fresh fish, dried fish) and explaining in detail about everything that was in there that the Balinese cook with and that we would be working with today!  Some of the items are only available in Bali, but he also gave us names of substitutes we could get in Canada or Australia.   They use 5 kinds of ginger in Bali!! When I didn't recognize the ginger that we get in Canada - he said, that's because yours is dried and wrinkled when you buy it in the grocery store - ours is fresh and plump!

Also, he told us the various natural remedies provided by much of what we were seeing (snake fruit will constipate you if you eat too many, ? nut is a laxative, nutmeg is a hallucinogenic and if you eat 3 you will die; turmeric has antiseptic properties and is used in iodine which is why it is so yellow!)  It was a very fast tour but so interesting - we also looked at the large shallow mortar bowls, made from black volcanic rock, used for grinding all the spices and vegetables to make the Balinese dishes - 25,000 rhupia ($3 USD) for a small one - but he assured us this would not be big enough and we would need a large one (too big and heavy for our luggage!)  We then piled into 3 cars for the short ride back to ANIKA's Cooking School and what a pleasant surprise that turned out to be.  

ANIKA's cooking school is inside a walled compound and feels very relaxing as you step inside - flowering shrubs, small swimming pool, trees and the entrance on the ground floor to the Guest House (55,000 rupia per night).  We walked up two short flights of stairs to a beautiful area where there was a very long table set for us, along with cooking and cutting tables.  We met another three gentlemen form Aussie (Perth and Darwin) bringing the total to 5 men and 8 ladies.  The Aussie guys told me their wives had no interest in coming and had sent them off on their own - they all loved cooking!

First we were served breakfast: hibiscus juice, water, and three small sweetmeats with coconut.  After washing our hands we were talked through all of the vegetable and spice ingredients for each dish that we would be cooking, and we were all assigned a spot to stand with a VERY sharp knife, and under expert tutelage we cut and chopped all the ingredients.  Certain items get chopped one way or another depending on which dish they are to be used in.  This took awhile - some of us being much more proficient than another in the simple art of chopping (without taking off fingers in the process!)  Next step was to grind many of these ingredients (mostly spices and tomatoes) together to form various pastes and sauces - well - what a long and hard job this was!  There were 6 bowls to grind and so we traded off, some more than others, when our arms and wrists got tired - which was often!  But smelling the pastes afterwards - delicious!

Now came preparing to cook - the first was the satays - small pieces of pork and chicken threaded onto fresh bamboo sticks that are first soaked in water so that they don't catch fire  when cooked on the coals.  Then small pieces of fish with its' sauce into fresh banana leaves, again to be cooked directly on coals - the other local man that worked at Anika's was busy with the fire behind us.  Next was the huge woks with coconut oil? where we cooked the vegetables and mixed in the spices and pastes that we had made - there were another two local ladies overseeing this process to ensure we stirred and flipped and did everything correctly.  It was a lot of fun, not stressful at all for those of us who don't consider ourselves to be good cooks, and we all got to share in the dishes from start to finish.                  

Around 11am we were finished, and the dishes looked fabulous and smelled delicious - now came the best part - we got to eat everything we had made!  After photos of all of us proud Balinese Chefs with our accomplishments spread in front of us, we sat down at the large table and shared this wonderful meal. Truthfully I was quite amazed that I had participated in preparing these dishes that looked so amazing and tasted wonderful - the best traditional Balinese dishes that I had ever tasted!  Needless to say we ate well but only ate about half of what we prepared, no doubt the guests at Anika's guest house get the benefit of the meal that was left.

Our class cost $65 each, so after paying and purchasing a black apron embroidered with ANIKA's cooking school logo we were driven back to Aston Bali arriving at 2pm and sharing the experience with the others who had not gone to Anika's.  We had planned to utilise the Spa facilities at ANIKA's but the Spa was not as appealing as the fabulous Spa at the Aston Bali and I think several of us were ready to get back, hit the beach and relax for the afternoon.  What was left of the afternoon flew by and after a swim in the pool it was time for a shower and change for the evening's activities. 

Many of us shared our personal sundowner preference including Gin and tonic, wine, beer or cocktail of the day while relaxing at the outside deck of the main lounge gazing out over the gardens, pool and ocean before heading into dinner. Dinner was delicious and presented very artistically - looking just as good as it tasted!  After dinner while some folks headed back to their room to sit on the deck and enjoy a night cap while enjoying the views over the moonlit ocean and beach, others headed back to the lounge for a glass of port or brandy night cap, or tea and cookies.  Each day here in Bali has been so special, something new to see or do, and enough familiarity to be very comfortable doing nothing but the same as the day before!