For the best seafood on the island, any Balinese native will point you toward Jimbaran Bay. We hopped in a cab one night and headed to this gorgeous sandy beach which is lined with seafood restaurants where you literally hand pick your dinner (this is far beyond my vegetarian mind can grasp). Sasha loved it and definitely over indulged (see photographic evidence below) at Kampoeng Restaurant.

The following day, we were picked up at 6am from the hotel and went to a local market, where we met up with our cooking class and instructor from Bumbu Bali. Heinz von Holzen is the Swiss man who runs the show – and we (especially Sasha) loved him. We were gone for 9 hours and loved every single second. We shopped in the local markets for fruit, vegetables, meat and fish, all the while learning about the local Balinese culinary customs. We headed to Heinz’s bed and breakfast, where we spent the latter half of the class learning how to prepare 20 traditional Balinese meals. We were both in awe of Heinz’s passion towards food and left inspired to recreate the dishes we made in class (and devoured after). It was one of our five favorite things we did on the trip. I recommend anyone traveling to Bali to take this class!

Sunset at Jimbaran Bay

Loving the soft white sand on my toes

Sasha working it

Sasha at Kampoeng Seafood where we ate dinner

Deciding which poor lobster to eat

Weighing his dinner for the night

Please see Sasha’s snapper, shrimp and lobster (eyes bigger than the belly)

The most gorgeous sunset

Heinz showing us the local spices

Gorgeous colors in the market

A local Balinese woman preparing rice religious offerings

Bali bananas are all this tiny

Traditional Balinese flower offerings that you will see everywhere on the island

We used plenty of these gorgeous peppers in our cooking class

Another local Balinese woman prepares another type of Hindu offering

Getting ready to get his hands dirty

Preparing the vegetarian peanut sauce salad

The vegetarian end result (heaven on earth)

Certified Balinese chefs (i.e. we have a certificate!)

Sasha demonstrating the hardships of the sulphur porters of Indonesia (read more here)