I liked 'My Kitchen."

I've talked about how I like to try new foods before. A bunch of times actually and you may be tired of hearing about my newest finds. I beg your indulgence here. 

Let me do a post about this really fun little Cantonese restaurant I ate lunch in today. I guess it would more properly be called a 'delicious' little Cantonese restaurant. 

I've also talked about how I like 'hole in the wall' places. This place had six tables. That certainly qualifies. Now, it's not quite as impressive as the Thai place right next door that has only three tables, (and small ones at that) but I wanted to try this one today. 

 Okay, to be accurate, there are two booths and four tables; my kind of place. 

 Sitting at my table looking out at the street.

 I had salt and pepper chicken, cooked in onion, cold seaweed, and hot black tea. The apple slice is my free desert. Yes, they served the hot tea in a milk bottle with a straw.  I was surprised to see it presented that way, but it worked. 

 I noticed these little rice dumpling things on a shelf next to the order counter. They were labeled 'alkaline.' They were $2.50 each. I couldn't imagine what the alkaline description meant, but I thought I'd have to buy just one to find out. When I ordered one, the kid working the counter told me that they were sweet and that I needed some syrup to put on them. "Well", I said, "if they're sweet, give me two of them."

Here is the first one unwrapped and drizzled with the syrup. The rice is very, very sticky and the syrup is good, but I couldn't think of what sort of syrup it might be. It had a rather unique, mild sweetness. 

I looked them up when I got home and got the low-down of what I had found. 

Duan Wu Jie (Dragon Boat Festival) happens each May or June, and these rice dumplings are made to celebrate this event. The rice is treated with lye, hence the name. They are called Gan Sui Jong. The rice is wrapped in bamboo leaves and steamed. Palm sugar syrup is commonly served with them, or, they can be dipped into the raw palm sugar and eaten that way. This is a popular breakfast item. 

I love to keep learning.     -djf

At the fish market

 I was in our favorite fish market the other day and noticed this ugly mug. Since I had my camera out anyway, I thought that I'd take a few more pictures and show you some of the other items that are offered. 

 Whitebait run periodically and are very popular made into a fritter. And yes, you eat the entire fish.

 Kina pots hold the gonads (male) or roe (female) of sea urchins. 

The tuatua have big heavy shells, but the clam is really delicious. Endemic to NZ. 

 I didn't get a photo of tarakihi, which is Jeanne's favorite fish. The boys like the lemonfish, which is actually a rig shark. Lemonfish and hoki are the ones used in most of the fish and chip shops. 

I hope you've enjoyed walking through the market with me. I love walking into this store on a hot day because it is always so delightfully cool. And this fish shop actually smells good. The fish are always very fresh and it is kept spotless. (Can't say that about every fish market I've been in)   -djf

And here is a bonus picture. I took it last night, 4/25/19, at about 11:55 p.m. It's your birthday moon Pat. 

2019 Wild West Food Fair at Summerland.

The words 'wild west' used in my title actually refers, not to the American Wild West, but to the ethnic foods of Auckland's wild west. And that is us. We live, as I've mentioned before, in the Western Heights.   

Although the weather appeared threatening, rain never bothered the hungry hordes who descended on Summerland's 'court' area. 

Long gone are the days when the boys would stay close to mom at this event. Now, they both look up friends and spend the time circulating the campus with them. Oh, they may wander past their mom or grandparents occasionally, hoping that some additional currency might find its way into their pockets from ours, but that's all the adult 'supervision' they need or want at this point in their lives. 

And we adults enjoy watching them growing up and becoming independent. The area is small enough that it's easy for us to watch their meanderings from our vantage points on the benches under the oaks, or at the outdoor stage seating. 

Here are some pictures of the event. 

 I don't know where the name comes from, but the object of course is to knock the coconut off its pedestal. 

Arram winds up to deliver a tremendous throw. That's his teacher from two years ago looking slightly uncomfortable being so near the impact zone. The prize in this game is the coconut itself. Unfortunately, although Arram's attempts were blisteringly fast, they didn't connect with the nuts. I was glad to see too that the wall didn't suffer any denting. They were bean bags after all that were being launched. If they had been balls, I think the bystanders might have been in danger from the rebounds.    -djf

A strange (her, or him) in a strange land.

New Zealand is the home to an assortment of unique creatures. The one you see just below is a weta. An insect of substantial dimensions. (photo taken from a Wikipedia article) We also have giant snails and worms. We're all out of giant birds unfortunately; they got eaten.  

I had my own experience recently with a large freaky creature
I was out in our back yard the other day when I spotted some other sort of fantastic critter. Definitely insect-like, but not, because it didn't have six legs. Looked like just four to me. I didn't want to get too close. You'll understand why. 

It is very oddly put together, but it can move fast, when it wants to. Take a look at this...........

As I was moving around behind it, it ran up the ivy on the side of the house.  Then, just as I clicked this, it raced (with a somewhat ungainly gait) upwards and diappeared over the top of the eaves. Hope it wasn't headed for our open bedroom window.  

 I'm in our bedroom now and there it is on the edge.

That's just too weird to be real.

 Success! I knocked it off and it fell to the hard deck surface. Appears to be dead. Talk about substantial dimensions, huh?

What an ugly head and look at those strange mouthparts. How would you like to have one of these attach itself to you? 
This is one for the record books I think. I'm glad I have these pictures of it.   

This has to be the only one of it's kind anywhere.*  Here it is from another angle on my desk.     

* The part of the insect-like, probably mutated, possibly alien, definitely ugly, creature was played by 'Woody,' who was discovered on Kaitarakihi Beach. He was trimmed, dried, finished with shellac and now resides among my collection of 'treasures.'   

I have no idea of what species Woody really is. I removed many roots or shoots that had been growing from 'him,' but since he was drift wood, and had had all but the stumps of these roots or shoots worn or torn away,  I couldn't tell what he started out looking like.  

 From the beginning though, he looked insect-like to me and I hoped to shape him into some sort of creature. Six legs didn't look good on him. They weren't arranged properly so he had to become four-legged.

Is this all somewhat silly for a 67 year old to be messing with? Nah, I don't think so. It feels good to use my imagination again after so many years of 'nose to the grindstone.'  Why can't old guys play a little again?   -djf

Ellerslie

I pass through Ellerslie when I take the bus to Martha's Backyard and I've noticed that it seems to be a really lively little place. While it's no more than a few blocks long, it's always been crowded with people shopping and sipping beverages in cafes along the sidewalks. I decided one day to stop and investigate this suburb of Auckland. I was glad that I did. It's a convivial kind of place. I discovered for example that it has one of the top ten butcher shops in the city. Come along with me to Ellerslie.

 I've just hopped off the bus. 

Here is my first look at the town from the sidewalk. Let's see what I can find.  

 This is a tiny place, but it's in the top ten of Auckland butcheries. Because of the reflection on the glass, you can't see the loops of dried sausage that they have hanging in the window. There must be a hundred feet of it, all coiled up. It is very good. Not spicey at all, but still flavorful. Jeanne says it has cloves and nutmeg in it. South African I believe. Interesting stuff. 

 I've walked to the far end of the town, about three blocks from the bus stop, and see this pedestrian bridge that crosses the southern motorway.

 Like so many other structures here in NZ, it is not simply utilitarian. It has been designed and built as a piece of useful art. 

 As you walk up the circular ramp, you notice that someone has even added a whimsical door to the Norfolk Pine that grows in the center of the structure. 

This is the view along Ellersie's 'main street' from the top of the circular bridge. 

Standing here, I realised that the feeling I got when I walked through Ellerslie just now was very like the feeling I remember when I walked through Florence, Wisconsin once, many, many years ago...Oh no...he's about to start reminiscing....

Oh what a day. Middle of summer back in '71. I was hitchhiking to my home in Wakefield after visiting with Jeanne on the farm for a couple of days. My last ride had dropped me off just outside Florence and I began walking along the three blocks or so that made up the whole of the downtown of this little berg. 
It was sunny and warm and I discovered that the town had installed speakers on many of the light poles along main street which were playing music. It was delightful. I had had a wonderful few days with Jeanne and her family, I was making rapid progress toward home due to excellent rides, and all was right with the world. I even discovered a little liquor store toward the edge of town that sold miniatures. I went in and bought a 125 ml. bottle of Tia Maria for Jeanne. (drinking age was 18 then) It seemed to me than that life with Jeanne in such a small town would be very pleasant indeed.  

Tile work around the bridge. Ellerslie has been famous in NZ for it's racecourse since 1857.  It is the main racecourse in Auckland for thoroughbreds and is 1,900 meters long.

 Ah, another claim to fame for Ellerslie. Top pie accolades in 2012 and they are still making the award-winner. Okay, gotta try it. It's made of chicken, cranberry and Camembert.

(It did turn out to be very good but I think next time I'll go back to my old favorite..plain old chicken.)

 There is a nice park in town.

And it was here I decided to sit by the fountain and enjoy my pie. 

 I wandered into some residential neighborhoods...I really like 'neat old houses' like this one.

 I returned to main street via a very well kept alley.

 So many murals here, of all sizes.

Here is an Indian restaurant that was just opening as I walked by. This is the outdoor portion. Do you recognise Gandhi and Mother Theresa?

The public restrooms. Many of the smaller cafes and takeaway places here don't have such facilities so public ones are very welcome. 

Well, that's about it for my tour of Ellerslie. Doing a little research about the town, I came across this interesting fact. I do remember hearing about this on the news, way back when.                                                                                                                                      -djf

 Copied from Wikipedia...
The Ellerslie Meteorite[edit]

At 9.00 am on 12 June 2004 a meteorite crashed through the roof of the home of the Archer family in Ellerslie.^[8] The meteorite landed into the living room of the house, bouncing off the couch and hitting the ceiling. The home owners heard an explosion and saw dust everywhere, but nobody was hurt. This meteorite is officially named the Auckland Meteorite, despite tradition demanding that a meteorite is named after the nearest post office. However, an Ellerslie Meteorite had already fallen in Australia.^[9] The rock weighs 1.3 kg and is estimated to be around 4,600 million years old.^[10] It is the ninth meteorite found in New Zealand and the first to hit a home.^[11] According to Auckland University experts, a meteorite that crashes through a roof is a very rare event.^[10] This meteorite received world-wide attention and an American collector offered the Archer family $50,000 for the space rock. The Archers declined this offer, favouring the public display of the rock in New Zealand, so that anyone interested could view it.^[9] The meteorite has been since on display in the Auckland Museum, where it can be seen in the Origins Gallery.^[9]

.....stayed tuned for the next post when a creature never seen before invades our yard!