Day 22 - Yangshou - Henley cooks up a storm !

There is only so many times one can walk the touristy area of Yangshou called West St and compete with the tourist throngs both Chinese and European so at Marysia's suggestion the boys with Marysia undertook an afternoon Chinese Cooking course

Those that know us would most likely be flabbergasted as Kev's version of cooking is deciding what meat to throw under the grill and what veggies to mix up in his famed Veggie mush - as my cooking skills are not much better it was with a little trepidation that we headed off with our  Chinese guide Mona to the Market

Wisely deciding to go Vegiterean for the night (this is after all the region where dogs and frogs feature on the menu) we selected an impressive array of vegetables and with our Israeli cooking colleagues headed off to the countryside to cook up a storm

Our first lessons included how to tie an apron (Kev failed) and how to look most fearsome with our primary dicing and slicing weapon - something like a machete (Kev passed !)

With some basic cutting and cooking instructions we set about preparing a 5 course meal of dumplings, book choy, eggplant and a number of other veggie dishes using a supper heated wok and an assortment of sauces and spices.

Id positioned myself wisely opposite Marysia so when instructions were being yelled at us I could do some in house cheating !

The real beauty of Chinese cooking is that cooking under heat preserves the nutrients of the tasty veggies, add in some spices and sauces including garlic and ginger and we soon had a beaut array of Chinese courses for consumption !

With Kev having successfully prepared his first ever meal all providers on his well established free loader circuit can now look forward to a night of cooking under the Henley roof !