**Bali for 3 whole days!

BALI!

Beautiful Bali! Always a destination we look forward to. The ship docked here for three days. During that time I was able to take a cooking class and meet some new friends.



Our cooking class took place in one of the best restaurants in Bali, Bumbu Bali. The instructor was the owner and chef Heinz von Holden. He has written many cookbooks. We made Nasi Kuning, Black rice pudding, different kinds of spice paste, pork in sweet soy sauce, chicken satay with coconut peanut sauce, been and fish satay, vegetable salad in peanut sauce, rice cakes, sweet corn with grated coconut, fried rice with noodles, fried bananas, roast chicken, minced chicken in banana leaf....

About 10 people signed up for this class which lasted a little over 6 hours. Everything here is made with fresh natural ingredients. I have taken Balinese cooking classes before and let me tell you they are labor intensive. Spices, vegetables and fruits are fresh within 24 hours of being picked.

This class was amazing. I have been talking about it for two days now. Everything we learned at home has been put to question. Cooking here is done by science. Why? Why do you put salt in the water before you cook vegetables? Why do you cook meat at 350? How do you cook rice? Why do you do it that way? Who told you this? What temperature? How long? Why Why Why..... and no matter who answered a question, the answer was wrong and it was explained the why of it all.

We were taught so many things. Tasted so many kinds of peppers and taught how to use them.. Differences in freshness. If a pepper is just picked, or 24 hours old, or a week old, or in a jar..... which was frowned upon..... If you cook a pepper whole vs bruising it....use the seeds or not? How to make banana fritters.... How do you cook them? Why? Everyone said put them in hot oil.....WHY? How do you tell the oil is hot? Who told you that? And the class experimented. He cooked the fritters in low cool oil and brought the temperature up slowly. The batter remained crisp and will stay crisp as opposed to Chinese quick fry like sweet and sour pork where it is crisp for about 10 minutes then goes soft. It's all about science we were told. I was wrong about everything. BUT the kind of teaching and learning made you think about everything and made you want to go home and start cooking again.

So now I need to go home and buy a scale and a pressure cooker. He said use the pressure cooker daily. Your pressure cooker should never scream..... Use less water and a lower temperature. If your kitchen smells wonderful the food will not taste good because the flavor is going all over your house and does not stay in the food. He explained how to keep flavor in the food. How to make a moist roast chicken. How to use spices- lots of grinding with a mortar.... Lots of spices and ingredients in Balinese cooking....lots of peppers.... It was a great class.










Next to meet elephants! I had to ride an elephant. I remember a picture of my Mom on an elephant... or was it a camel? Anyway, I had to do it because she did it and I wanted to be just as adventurous in my Grandkids eyes as she was in mine. So off I went to meet the big guys.




The tour was to an Elephant Safari park where endangered elephants are taken in and cared for.
My elephant was Mumbara. She was 14 years old, big and tall compared to the other elephants. She was a pretty girl. Every elephant here has one guide who from the very beginning becomes their one parent so to speak. They stay with the elephant for life. Mumbara only works with her one guide. They build a relationship and get to really know each other. Both elephant and guide have good and bad days. :) She is stubborn on her bad days and refuses to do things.

The ride was about 30 minutes. I sat on a bench like chair on top of the elephant with my feet on her hairy dry cracked elephant skin. She needed some good cream. The ride was jerky as she plodded along at a slow elephant speed. We followed a path through the park and the last part was through water. Mumbara only stopped twice, once to let go of about the equivalent of two bath tubs full of urine .... and once to let go of about 5 coconut size ..... well she had a good breakfast I would say. My guide and I waited patiently for her to finish so we could move on. Elephants are vegetarian.




After the walk with Mumbara and her guide, I fed the elephants. They are strong! They really grab the food from your hand, sometimes refusing one and dropping it and sometimes taking everything at once from your hand. I had no control at all over the feeding.









I was able to get close enough to sit on ones lap.... this was after she got out of the water which left me with a very wet back side. :) Another one picked up a wreath and put it over my head then tapped me on the head when he was done. It really made me laugh. They give great strong hugs too. It was so very cool to be this close and personal with the great elephant.







Elephants can paint, play soccer, play basketball, play with hula hoops. They really are bright animals and so much fun to be around.
















Our last part of the day was visiting a bird sanctuary. Beautiful birds every where.

Last day we are on a private tour and have just stopped at The Four Seasons in Ubud overlooking some beautiful gardens and a rambling stream. Ship leaves at 5 so got to be back. Tight security coming in to The Four Seasons including car being checked for bombs.... High Alert here in Bali but we are the only ones having lunch here at the moment. Probably too early for most.