And then there was Bali - OMG

Wow,

So I had the major good fortune of winning a work award to go on a trip to Bali with a select few colleagues, and oh my gosh what a wonderful time. Never having been before I wasn't quite sure what to expect, only views I had had in the past were 3rd hand and then all got decimated with the Bali bombings. Everyones view then was do NOT go to Bali it's far too dangerous.

Well I so glad in a way that the original destination of Thailand was this time having it's problems, and BT took advice to change to Bali. Just an AMAZING country, amazing people and amazing scenery/sites/smells and the FOOD = holy moly, the FOOD!!!! As a right foody this place had my attention immediately. The usual complete hotch potch of cultures creates the most amazing food experience, but as usual I found get off the beaten tourist track and explore ore local and the experience becomes all the more rich.

Who would have thought that when they give a little sample bag of spices and you get cloves, cinnamon etc. and you have that little sniff of the combination and hey presto I have Christmas and mulled wine pop in my head. Very strange experiences. So I kept eating and then asking the chefs what was in the dish and scribing the ingredients, and yes I have attempted a few dishes - one being a favourite which was this sweet corn soup we had 1,000 metres up a volcano in the rain forest in a sort of tree house. Three bowls of that later, spiced up by this amazing condiment - WOW!!!!! So much so that I feel obliged to share that one with you here now, try it it is AMAZING!!!!!

Depends for how many of you there are of course, but just divide this up. This is the one I guessed at for Haruko, Katelynn, Annika, Ollie, Mary and Retchie and I and we had a load left over BUT everyone I think had empty bowls.

So for that many I did the following;

3 litres of chicken stock

2 cans of sweet sweet corn kernels only

3 eggs beaten

3 finely chopped cloves garlic

1 packet/tub/container of fried shallots

5 spring onions sliced, including all the green not just the white bit

3-4 celery stalks, use the young stuff in the middle if you can including the leaves and thinly slice

10 pitted and sliced kalamati olives

Bring stock to boil, throw in sweet corn, garlic, spring onions, celery and olives. Bring back to boil and turn off heat and add shallots fried and egg - let the soup spin after a stir as you pour in the egg. Then salt and pepper to taste and hey presto.

Now that alone is nice, BUT, then add the condiment which is as follows - this to taste as this is quite spicy, but I LOVE this alone with other things and it just really goes with the soup.

2 stalks lemon grass finely chopped

4 shallots (large or small red onions) finely chopped

3-4 pad thai chillis (yep the hot buggers) finely finely chopped

Squeeze 3-4 limes in there

Couple table spoons of fish sauce

Salt & pepper

And hey presto - pop that in the soup and your mouth will be dancing! Try it, it really is superb! I thought not being up a volcano in rain forest in tree house would lose some of the taste experience, but no this is a good one!!!

So now to some amazing pics of this beautiful Isle which is part of Indonesia and 95% Hindu, where the majority of the rest of Indonesia is Muslim. Amazing culture and lovely people it has to be said!

Enjoy!