Cooking Class

Last week I discovered that the school I'm going to has cooking classes during the weekend. What a great way to learn a language! And also, if I don't manage to learn the freaking language at least I learn how to cook a little! I signed up right away and it sure was worth it. I'll start out with two classes this and coming weekend, and I think I will go on. This was just a lot of fun.

today's mission was the Sixuan classic "YuXiangRouSi", which roughly can be literally translated into "fish smelling meat shreds". The dish of course does not either contain nor have anything to do with any fish. Names of Chinese dishes often has nothing to do with they contain, making it difficult for us poor foreigners. The dish is made of pork shreds in sweet in a sweet-and-sour sauce, together with various shredded vegetables and lots of different spices and herbs, all first boiled and then fried in oil. It's very tasty but it can't be eaten too often because of all the oil. It is a classic for foreigners and one of the first dishes one learns here together with the standard "GongBaoJiDing" and "MaoPoDouFu", which we by the way will cook tomorrow.

The teacher is a proud cook and explains every aspect of the cooking very detailed. She is just as careful with the appearance of the food as the taste and smell. As the traditional Chinese woman she is, she harshly criticize the girls and encourage the boys. She praised my poorly cut vegetables, though I have to maintain that in the end they turned into something pretty edible. When we had finished our dishes the teacher pointed out the two creations she thought was the best, and then also had to point out the poor fellow who in her point of view had done the worst!

And no, that wasn't me.