ResiRest - Duiven

Gert Goossens

A wonderfull and sereen experience in the middle of the Bali fuzz

A little bit to late we arrived at our meeting point being the village temple of Pura Desa. Ni Made Nari and her mother welcomed us and together we drove to their house in the middle of the small village. We had to climb some steep steps entering family Nari's house. In fact it wasn't one house but a care with a number of not very big spaces where the Nari familiy members live. In the middle of this there was a beautifull family temple. Ni Made told us the family do their prayers together twice a day in the temple. Because it was already dark when we arrived we didn't manage to take some good pictures of the temple. The whole entourage was simple but so sereen and peaceful.

Cooking time!
Ni Made's mother showed us the small kitchen in where the magic had to happen. Next to the gas stove we saw a beautifull collection of fresh veggies and fruit. Mother and daughter already had some things prepared like the dessert of fresh Watermellon and Papaya. But as pointed out on the booking voucher we finaly could fold up our sleeves and help Ni Made and her mother with cutting veggies, boiling chicken and so on.

Well we soon discovered cooking in Bali is quite different like we do this at home in the Netherlands. Taking time to make everything out of fresh ingredients - even the sambal - is quite a contrast with how quickly we prepare food at home. Often with pre-prepared ingredients. Where we often focus on having our meal prepared quickly in Bali people take the time and focus is on quality and taste. We also discovered some new ways of preparing ingredients we often work with at home. For instance we stir fry already cut chicken. At Nari's we cooked the chicken, pulled is to mall strips. The strips were fryed in oil with as a result delicious crackling and crispy chicken meat.

The very best part of our coocking experience
Once all the ingredients were cut, cooked and baked we assembled it on banana leaf that were lying on a plate. Ni Made pre-prepared this. There were also little cups made of banana leafs to put the side dishes in and ofcourse the desert. We realy had a very tasteful meal we will not easy forget. In fact we are going to try to make it at home once we are back home. Just as we solemnly promise ourselves to take more time cooking. Future will tell if we succeed on this.

Andries Van Eijk

Arya sudiana

Machiel Mulder