Avondale

It was like going to the islands of Polynesia. Samoa especially. Okay, okay, maybe not really, but I tasted a number of island foods and they were cooked, I saw them, by people who wore traditional island garb; lava-lavas to be precise. And what a treat it was to have the opportunity. Let me tell you about it.

Ever since I started enjoying free train and bus travel, just after my birthday last year,  I have  been exploring some of the western suburbs of Auckland. Today, I decided that I would get off the train somewhere new; in Avondale and do some exploring there. I walked around Avondale for a couple of hours and discovered that apparently, many people from Polynesia have made their new homes here. I base that observation on the number of Polynesian and specifically Samoan cafes and takeaway places I saw. 

I'm just off the train here, looking across what appears to be one of the main round-a-bouts in the suburb. Notice the stones used for the planter area. Those are volcanic and are a very common building medium around here. Besides bricks that is.   

I've always seen this giant spider from the passing train but never knew what the story behind it was. 

Sorry my photo doesn't allow  for easy reading. It says that Avondale was the first place in New Zealand where Australian Huntsman Spiders were found . It's thought that they came in on loads of lumber. The town has adopted it as a sort of mascot and put this sculpture up to honor it. (It is not a dangerous spider, well, to humans anyway. If you're a bug, watch out.) 

Lets take a walk through town. I'll show you the menu boards from a couple of the takeaways, some of the sights, and finally, I'll show you some foods that I tried. 

First of all, notice the sidewalks. All over town, this same pattern of brickwork is repeated. I guess it's not surprising that bricks were used. New Lynn is the very next stop along the train route after all and you will hopefully recall my posts on the brick works of that city. Also, notice the Polynesian and Diamond Takeaways in the picture. I took the following pictures from their menu boards.    

 This is the first time I have ever seen roasted pig heads listed on a menu board. 

This salt-beef is brined but I don't think the same spices are used as those used in corned-beef.  

 I believe that this dish is the same as the Palusami (Fijian) that I've bought a couple of times in a can. If you took spinach, or better yet, collard or turnip greens and cooked them in coconut milk or cream, they would taste something like luau, or palusami. It's actually quite a rich dish because of the coconut milk.

I tried this dish once at a buffet restaurant. I did not like it much. I'm passing on it from now on. 

The yearly Diwali Festival sign caught my eye. Diwali is the Hindu Festival that signifies the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, knowledge over ignorance, and hope over despair.

I took a short-cut between two streets through this little park.  

Wouldn't you know it. The sun disappeared behind the clouds just as I walked through the park and took these pictures. The colours would be more vibrant in the sun I'm sure. 

I wish I could show you the true colours of these flowers. They were amazing. Something kind of metallic about them. 

 Nice library.

 This is the Avondale Racecourse. I'm standing at the fence on a corner off the backstretch. 

Looking to the right. A tractor for moving the starting gate.

 Looking to the left. I can imagine the horses thundering around this corner, kicking up clods of sod as they go by.

 This I think is a bicycle training/riding course.

One of the many historic buildings in town.

Avondale has inserted plaques like this one in the sidewalks all through the town. I lost count of how many I saw. A person could spend quite a bit of time studying history as he walked the streets.  

Located just across the street from the Hollywood Cinema.

I'm on my way back now to the train and I'm passing a little shop that sells groceries including taro and cassava, and baked goods. I'm going to pick up a few items to try from a couple of the other shops.

 I wondered what umu vela means. I discovered later that it refers to an above-ground oven that is used to cook food. 

I ordered a tasting sized portion of salt-beef, povi masima
I found the meat a bit salty for my taste. As you can see, there is a very high percentage of fat. This was taken from a large serving container keeping warm on a steam table and is representative of all the pieces I saw there.  I wonder if the popularity of salt-beef among the island people came about because the early sailing ships carried it?

This portion cost $4.00. About $3.00 American. 

What? No ears?

In 1973 on our honeymoon in Madrid, I saw several places that offered grilled sheep's heads. I never tried it. When I saw the menu board listing a pig head today, I thought of how common this must be on the islands, but I hesitated to commit to buying one. Then I asked the price. The lady told me $6.50. I was surprised to say the least.

I had to try one. I brought it home and discovered that there was a bit of very good cheek meat in there. Yes, most of it was fat, but as an experiment, I'd call this a success. Don't know if I'll get another, but I'm glad I tried this one. Like the salt beef, I may not like everything I try without reservation, but by trying an item, I am experiencing a little of another culture, and that is important to me. I think the picture alone was worth the price. Seems to have a smile on its face. (I don't remember any of the Spanish sheep smiling.)

(Reminds me of the cow (?) in the Restaurant at the End of the Universe from the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy. ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAF35dekiAY

I found that these are roasted in an oven. (umu vela?) In fact, I had to wait about 10 minutes for this one to come out. They brought out 8 or 10 more of them at the same time as mine and placed them on the steam table.  I noticed that the other takeaway place, just two doors away, also had a big stack on them on their steam table.  This was at about 11:20 a.m. and they were clearly getting ready for the lunch crowd.

It makes me think back to all the years I used to go to lunch while at Khoury Inc. and had Chinese, or Mexican, or burgers. Never imagined that I'd see a roasted pig head on anyone's lunch menu. What an amazing adventure I am on. How lucky can a guy get?  

 My next stop was across the street at Taste of Samoa. 

I bought a banana cooked in coconut milk or cream and some sort of cake-like thing. The banana cost $1.00 and the other item was $2.50.
The banana was a green one and not sweet at all. Starchy. I'm not sure but it might be what we call a plantain in the States. It was okay, but not very exciting.  

This is a green banana and coconut item. I don't know what to call it really. It is very dense and filling. I think they might call it a pudding. It is also slightly sweet and quite nice to eat. I would buy this again. I think one of these could keep a person going all day. 

I once e-mailed to my family about one of the classes at Summerland Primary. The class was about the normal size here, about 25 kids. The number of languages spoken at home by the kids of that class made it unique however. There were 22. Can you imagine? What a melting-pot. What a challenge for that teacher. 

The number of immigrants here is amazing. What it does is lead to very interesting  suburbs. I can go to Newmarket and visit a whole block of Asian stores of every description. I can walk over three blocks and visit France. (Maison Vauron) I can hop off the train in Avondale and be in Samoa. Thai, Indian, Malaysian, Turkish, Vietnamese, Japanese; the list goes on and on of the restaurants and shops that are everywhere. A person really can travel the world by roaming the suburbs of Auckland. For someone like me who spent his life yearning to travel, it doesn't get much better than this.    -djf