Your majesty is coming for lunch!

The title of this blog represents how I felt today. I must say the Balinese people excel at making you feel welcome! The private driver for Waka di Ume picked me up at 8:00am. I was introduce to Puspa, and she announced that she’s the one teaching me, today. Atmasari works in administration, my mistake. The driver drops us off at the Ubud Market. Across from the market there is a Temple, and there is a gathering of men preparing food, she explains they are preparing food for tomorrow's celebration, which also happens once every six month according to the Balinese calendar. I asked what was the different between the Roman calendar and the Balinese. Theirs is 35 days, New Year is coming up and as you would expect here, a very special event. Which I invite you to follow, March 15th. It is called Nyepi. On March 15th it is a big party all over Bali, something like New Year eve, people dance and drink. Nyepi day is the next day, which is a silent day. The International airport will be close, no one is allowed to drive, fly, etc, or to come out of their house. Also, no one is allowed to speak a word! This will be an interesting day for a foreigner. But tomorrow the ceremony is to honour Sabuh Pis, and Sabuh Mas, Pis for money and Mas for gold. The men are preparing Sate sticks made with pork. I took a picture of this unique gathering of men all sitting on the floor of a temple preparing food for a huge crowd. It is kind of hard to keep up with all these ceremonies, there is for shure no dull moment in Bali! Then, she hands me a shopping list of fresh items we must buy for the cooking class. I am the only one to attend the class. The market is wet and a bit muddy today, as it rained last night. Right away, I liked her, we are like best friend right away. We start with buying some offering baskets and a special one for the Mas and Pis offering. I bought three and offered her one. This offering is to bring more money and more gold into our lives, and my life sure could use more of both! She showed me the vegetable section, which was very helpful, as I go to Asian market all the time, and still find vegetables here I have never seen, like water spinach, and a different kind of fern, red spinach and so much more. Next, is the meat and fish, which she admits the sanitary condition or not for a first class hotel and we will not buy any meat or fish here, the hotel as better and safer supplier for their kitchen. Ouff! When I saw the list, I taught I would have to buy the fish sitting in some kind of juice, right on the plastic tablecloth, that is probably never sterilized! I saw the breakfast meal they have every morning, I am not sure I would trade my cereal for that, but it is definitely healthy. It consist of some rice cooked with vegetables, hard boiled eggs cooked in spices, fried tofu and some liquid spice mixture. They also have an energy drink, that looks like green slime, she says for them it is like jell-o, accompanied by a pink rice gelatin.They mix both together in a glass and drink it. She kindly offer me to try, but I thought it might be too early for me! I did agree to try the rice with vegetables, and it is cool how they use nature here. She scoop the rice mixture into a banana leave made into a cone, than staple the leaves together and here’s my bowl. I never did get to tasted it, as we forgot. Next, is the fruit section, just as fascinating. Now, I will get answer to all my question. Remember, I was telling you about a fruit that looks like a snake skin, well it is actually called snake skin fruit! Later on, in the traditional Balinese kitchen she showed me, the tree of the snake skin fruit is use to make a grater, pretty amazing, it looks like someone nailed a bunch of nails into this piece of wood, but it is actually natural in the wood. They use this to grate nutmeg coconut and more. Than we go to the spice lady, we buy lesser galangal, galangal , fresh turmeric, coriander , pepper, shrimp paste, Chilly pepper, candle nut which is in fact Macadamia nut , salam leaf, ginger, garlic, shallots. Then she said she wants to show me Balinese traditional costume. There is only one way to shop in Bali, in the morning, for them the first customer is good luck, and that is when they are ready to give you a real good deal. On the way to the second floor of the market, which by the way is huge (3 floors) we saw a lady selling gold. First time I see gold here, it is silver everywhere. Apparently tourists like silver better. I did read before coming here, that the craftsmanship here is unique and pass from generation to generation, nothing comes out of the mold here, it is all hand made. A beautiful ring cut my eye, mounted with a beautiful star ruby, my preferred semi-precious stone. The gold on its own, is a piece of art! The gold is a different color than the ones we see at home and is litter, like India’s gold. That is because it is 21karat. She really wanted to sell it to me, the price was a fraction of what it would cost in Canada with a 10karat ring. Puspa explained to me that is was important for her to sell the ring today not tomorrow as the ceremony for gold is today. Than she pointed at the offering basket, wow, this woman had big hopes, a huge basket filled with offering even the smooked wing of duck! But I didn’t have enough rupies, and she would not take American money, Puspa tried to assure her I was giving her the correct amount of money and the money was actually better than rupies. She was too afraid, so we didn’t make a deal. So, in her desperation to sell me the ring we went from a price to a Balinese price, almost half less! Even if I didn’t buy anything, we had fun Puspa was all over the gold and she said she was a diamond girl, she commented that she needed a sugar daddy that her husband would not buy her diamonds. I was stunt by such a statement and ask if Bali actually had sugar daddies, she laugh some more, no, I heard about it from foreigners! I also had to negotiate for a sarong, the one I wanted was too expensive and explain I could get this for lot less in Canada, first time something here is more than back home, she said it was ceremonial qualityl and for her to buy it at Balinese price, it was $100.00. I declined and bought a beautiful piece of silk for $40 instead. I also, find that the most beautiful sarong are the men’s. I was starting to hope I didn’t buy a shopping class but a cooking class. Ouff, we are walking out, not without buying the most amazing fruits. Dragon fruit back home, is $7 a piece, here I paid $1, she made the lady give me back change! So I paid .80 and bought some Rambutan, they are so delicious. It looks like a lychee but with long red hair. Inside is a bigger lychee, juicy, sweet and so fresh!
Once at Waka di Ume, she takes me to the restaurant, on a beautiful terrase overlooking the paddy fiels and overlooking at Ubud. She offers me a coffee. This must be the best coffee I ever had, here the coffee is strong, not bitter at all and so smooth, it feel s like liquid chocolate with a coffee taste. I asked her if the coffee is from Java she said no Bali, special coffee for us! Then, she goes on to serve other customers while I sip my coffee. I was surprised to find out she was not allowed to sit with the guest.
We walk toward to paddy fields and I am thinking, where is she taking me now? She is giving a tour of their organic garden. The kitchen is outside, beside the garden and an exact replica of the traditional Balinese kitchen.We are right at the edge of the paddy field. It was so beautiful and, I got all emotional, it brought tears to my eyes, I felt so privilege to experience this. I feel the urge to become a Japanese tourist and snap ahundreads of photos, this is just too exclusive, too unique. The tools, the kitchen, the clay containers. I feel like a kid in a candy shop. And, we are having such a good time. The chef comes over, is name is Made Cakra, pronounced just like Chakra. There is so much to learn here, I am not sure a lifetime is enough, imagine a month. They always write their name with the family names first, than the first name last. When it is a men, there’s an I in front of the man, when it’s a woman it’s a NI, when you correspond with someone, if you don’t know if the name is for a men or a women those initial make things clear. This would be helpful in the Western countries, with such names as; Carol, Rene, Claude (The French are the worst for this). So , I apologize to my driver, which I thought his name was Dewa, his names is actually Ngurah, which now I cannot remember or pronounced! So far, I have too much going on to elaborate on the last names, which is almost another lesson on its own and will keep this for a further posting, as I am sure my days will not be all as exciting as this past week. Cakra hands me this beautiful leather menu, with a dozen pages, that is the directive and recipes for all 4 dish I will learn today. On the menu; Wong Soup (spicy clear mushroom and vegetables soup),Bumbu Kuning (the basic sauce for everything), Sate Lilit (Grilled minced shrimp and tuna served with vegetables and peanut), Kolak Pisang (Boiled banana in coco nut milk with palm sugar, fruits and coconut). As he was feeding the fire with wood, I asked what kind of wood this was and he said, Tamarind. I express that I love Tamarind and would love to learn a dressing made with Tamarind. He made a phone call, next I know someone is bringing over some Tamarind paste and he will show me a dressing. Unfortunately, I forget the name and it is not on my menu, but I will e-mail Puspa to find out. With my little menu book, I also have half dozen more recipes. We had so much fun, and their cuisine is what a call food with a soul. The Bumbu Kuning is so good and so easy to make. But you need the Balinese Mortar and pestle to do it. Probably weights around 100 lbs and it is pass from generation to generation. It is a very impressive tool. For everything I made, I was than invited to sit at a cute table above the rice fields, and them at my service. Again, they were not allowed to sit with me, so for the other dish I just sat with them in the kitchen and we eat together. And chat some more, they had a few famous people doing this class. The most amazing dish is the Sate Lilit, you can experience this staple of Bali in almost just any restaurant. It looks like lollipop and they thought this was funny, it really looks like a lollipop! Again this dish is made in the big mortar, we puree the tuna and the shrimp with the ingredients and the sauté Bumbu Kuning. At home a blender would do the job , or better a food processor. Than we make like meat balls and form them into a lemon grass stick or bamboo stick. We grilled them on a real Balinese B. B.Q which is pretty basic and we make the coals from the Tamarind wood. So good, I end up coming home with a dozen lollipops. Than the desert was just as heavenly.ade with boiled bananas and palm sugar, which is the healthiest form of sugar humans can have. It is similar to “sucre a la crème “from Quebec! After dessert, we made the tamarind dressing and ate it with fresh vegetables. Very good, although, slightly on the hot side. At the end, I am ended a certificate, that is worth framing it is so beautiful and with my picture on it! Then, they drive me back home. Puspa has offered me to teach how they make coconut oil, right in her kitchen. I cannot refuse this kind of offer. Here, they make the coconut oil every time they need it, always fresh. Coconut oil is also the only oil that is healthy for cooking. I actually talk about this subject in my book. Before I leave, she made me put my rings and my neckless with hers in the offering basket, we took pictures and exchange prayers.
Once at my hotel, I just have time to settle my bill, Ngurah is right on time at the time we had agreed. Now, settle in my new place, I feel like I am in a palace. My room is so nice and private, with a beautiful balcony overlooking at the ravine, which nice chair and a table. Best of all, I have light here, I can write outside, there is a nice breeze, this is so refreshing. I learn today that West Bali is hotter than here, I don’t think I ever want to go West Bali, I can barely manage this kind of heat, and we are in rainy season, imagine summer! I have a real closet, a fridge in my room, beautiful comfortable bed and a real table to write so good light. The other place was so wired weird, at night I had to walk around with my flash light. Dangerous task, going down the steep stairs, in the middle of the night. Here, you drink lots of water , so, you go pee more often. as, I was leaving, a woman came to the front desk, she was white not Balinese, I asked the young men at the desk, if she work here, he said yes, she does sacro facial therapy, he said why, she has very bad ebergy, he cracked up laughing, you psychic! Yes, very bad energy, you are good! Maybe that's what it is, people that come here, are here to try to be happy in life, but they think that receiving a bunch of spa treatgment will heal them from their heavy lugguage! It seem everyone is, I dealing with issues. But I am happy I came here, if I had not come here, I would off never met Mr. Taylor! I will have to get use to the array of birds and je ne sais quoi, making all these sounds, we are after all, in the jungle here. Thank god, I don’t see Monkeys here, after a few encounters with monkeys in Sri Lanka, I am glad there is not one in sight! You constantly have to chase them away, they come to your room and just help themselves, when you scare them, they want to attack. I also found out, I wasn’t crazy, there is a nocturnal bird here and a few, I saw one last night, I wasn’t sure if it was a giant moth, a bat or a bird. Puspa, told me it was a bird. |This place also has a shuttle that take us in the middle of Ubud of at Monkey Forest Road, where the monkeys are. The place I had originally booked with the lady I met, is on that road near by the monkeys. But after walking and going back to the place to see the room again, I knew this was not for me, not matter how cheap it was. It is very noisy and crowded, it is even warmer there. A few people told me, the monkeys do hang around. That’s it from previous experience it seemed like Monkeys follow me. So, I am happy to be in my palace, I truly feel like a queen today. This place is alive! Good vibrant energy, weird tourist here all say hello!People are smiling, and I hear them from my balcony, signing as they walk by. I am happy in my new PalacePuspa told me, here the men do the dishes, one more reason for me to move here. I still hope, that this place I saw yesterday is met for me. I wish my husband could fly here, now, to come and see it. But this is no place for wheel chairs, as he still hasn’t fully recovered from his injuries, Bali, as much it is beautiful and welcoming, is not a place for wheel chairs, as everything is scattered around, going up and down stairs everywhere you go. Most places are buildt around hills and ravine.
To complete this day, I want to mention how respectful and grateful Balinese people are, yesterday I received an e-mail from Ngurah (Dewa) thanking me for my kindness, and poor me, I don’t know what kindness he is referring to? The lunch, my trust in him, or something more subtle? In return, I thank him for his kindness, as here they are honest about the taxi fares and everything you ask them. I wish I could do something for him. Today he explained to me his wife is 11 days pregnant, I am not sure how one could know to the exact day, but they went for special treatment today, so they have a boy. I guess here, success is more achieved by a complete family than money. Apparently here, they have special treatment to ensure, it will be a boy. I thought the sex was predeterminated at the moment of conception, but you never know ,a bit of magic here can go a long way! I truly hope they have a boy. All the best to them.