It's a center for training in the hospitality field -- hotel management, cooking, serving food -- as Inle Lake/Myanmar tourism is expected/hoped to grow. Apparently, 50 hotels are going in at Inle Lake over the next few years, although plans and actual number may vary based on the economy.
Oddly, the first section we walked into was basically a home for Burmese cats. As a dog person who can
Then we walked along the bridges over the water to the next section, which is a small acquarium section. that had fish and other creatures (include eels!) from Inle Lake, as well as a display of the fishing equipment used on Lake Inle. As Garth Brooks would sing, it's a hard way to make an easy living.
We walked around back and saw a banana tree (insert Minion here! -- Buh-Nan-Nuh!) with the young bananas growing out of the banana flower. We've only been to Mexico and Costa Rica in Central America, but even there had never seen the banana flower.
Then we came upon the cooking school part of the trip, which was main part of the day. We had a 2.5 hour class in which we were going to make, and eat, our own lunches with the help of the chef trainees. It was like one of those cooking show competitions. And I was destined to be the biggest loser (dramatic foreshadowing).
Anyhow, first we went down and picked the fresh vegetables we would need from the their garden. Farm to table, etc. So, not only were the students (who are not charged any tuition) learning to cook, but they also learned how to grow their own vegetables. We picked multiple copies of probably six various vegetables and herbs, including carrots, mint, and hot peppers (they had hot and really hot varieties -- as a profile in courage I went with the less hot kind.)
Then we went up to a big room where they had ten cooking stations set up, with two burners, pots, pans, utensils, spices, and various meats. First we headed over to the dessert section, where they were making Myanmar chocolate cake (a bit dense for me, but Rich was quite the fan of it) and banana cake, which tasted pretty good.
We headed back to the cooking classroom, where we proceeded to make three dishes -- a Fish Soup with Roasted Rice Powder (and eggplant) and fresh mint leaf. While my student helper was good with a knife (which why I waited to leave the country before noting this next bit), she provided no help on how much spice to add. I would grab a heaping tablespoon (as advised by the guy running the show), show her, and she would nod her head.
Btw, don't ask what the fish was. . .some sort of white fish we've never had before and likely will never have again. We were advised not to use salmon in a dish I guarantee I will never make again. The recipe booklet they provided says it takes nine ingredients, but it seems like we were dumping random spices in quite frequently.
We were also working at the same time on Shan Style Chicken with Potato. Anyhow, it was the moment of truth. Our executive chef, Mr. Naing Win (a name that will haunt my dreams for years! Well, not really.) tasted each soup. A few after mine, he dramatically whirled, pointed at me, and said something I couldn't really understand. So I raised my hands in triumph, until it was pointed out to me that he said too much salt. Too much salt? I don't even like using salt -- I only added it because they told me too. And, I had only added as much as my assistant nodded to me, so I must say the bonds of cooking trust were broken right then and there.
Mr. Win picked Carol and Lynne's soup as being the best -- similar to what his grandmother made. I was happy for Carol -- she's a damn fine cook, and for her to have success in her first go at real Asian cooking is a compliment to her.
So, for the Chicken Curry, when it came time for adding the salt, I added just a pinch. And yet, when it came time for Mr. Win to taste, he whirled on me and said too much salt. That's when I realized he just didn't like me -- I had hardly added any salt. So I dramatically took the salt and threw it at him (no, that was my dream). I actually moved the salt to a side table.
This time, both Carol and Pierre won for the best chicken curry, so Carol was two for two (whilst Lynne and Pierre clearly made a good team in kitchen).
When we made the Intha Style Green Bean Salad with Roasted Peanut Powder, I vowed to boycott the tasting contest because god only knows what he would have complained about in my salad, but my chance to make a dramatic stand against him and his grandmother's cooking came to naught, as there was no taste context for the salad.
After he made a fried spring onion with tamarind sauce that I grudgingly thought tasted good (the temptation to say "too much salt" ran through my mind. We went upstairs to eat our creations, and my chicken curry with potato was pretty tasty to me. I didn't try the fish stew. Carol tasted mine, made a face, and noted there was too much salt, which I have to believe is probably right. My salad that I made? Delicious!
Carol basked in the glow of her twin victories, while I had a beer to console myself. She even bought some of the Shan spice, so I suppose there is more Asian cooking in my future. But I will leave that to her to do.
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