St. Anthony's Sri Lankan Restaurant

About a month ago, I went for a hike through Sandringham and I ended up in Kingsland.  I have a few pictures taken during my hike, and I'll post those sometime, but today, I want to show you the cafe that I visited at the end of my hike.  

I spotted this sign. What caught my attention was the name. Since the dominant religion in Sri Lanka is Buddhism, (over 70%) I was surprised that this cafe was named for St. Anthony.  I decided that I would see what sort of refreshment they had to offer a hungry and thristy traveler.  

Altars to any number of gods are common in restaurants here in Auckland.  
In this restaurant, they show their reverence to God with statues of Jesus and Mary and by displaying an open Bible. 

The ground floor has almost no seating. I head upstairs.  

It's very nice up here. 

 Here is additional seating...

...and even more in this next shot.  

This little room is just a few steps down from the main room. I wonder why? What's the history of this old buidling? 

Well, it's time to get down to it. Let's see.....

I don't want much, but the cassava catches my eye.  How many guys from the U.P. of Michigan get the chance to eat cassava?  

 A pitcher of cool water after a long hike.  Casava chips with sweet chili dip on a banana leaf and iced chai.  Sitting upstairs in a neat old building in Kingsland, New Zealand. 

I think I'm part way to Heaven already. 

 Looking out the window next to my table. 

I told you some time ago that I like stairways. 

I'm on the train heading home and admire some artist's creation.      -djf

Bonus feature: 

I'm adding this particular quote today, not because it has anything at all to do with this post, but because I happened to read it today (2-23-20) for the first time in a P. G. Wodehouse book from 1960, Jeeves in the Offing, and I liked it. Who wouldn't?  Here it is...

I'd always thought her half-baked, but now I think they didn't even put her in the oven.

It's chestnut season.

Chestnuts are delicacies for princes, and a lusty and masculine food for rusticks, and able to make women well-complexioned.     John Evelyn, 17th Century Diarist

"Well, shoot, if'n the chestnut is all of that, I might as well pick me up a sackful or two.  There's a couple a big trees over yonder that's droppin' 'em by the bucket full.   'Course, there's a passel of other folks walkin' under those trees ever' day, so I'll have to look sharp to get my share."   D. Foster, 21st Century urban rustick

I had a really good chestnut year. So far my daily pickings have totaled 16, 20, 42, 50, 41, 39, 30, 22, 10,18 and 48. (nice sine wave huh?)  Competition for the existing crop has increased, and I may not get many more. I've used all that I have harvested though.  I have just a few photos to show you.  

 Right from the tree

 Roasted chestnuts, just peel and eat. Jeanne's favorite way to eat them. 

(They kept raw chestnuts on a table at our pension in Madrid (1973) for us to snack on and we bought roasted ones from vendors in the street) 

One easy way to process chestnuts I found was to boil them in just enough water to cover and then grind them until fine in the food processer.  The result is this puree.  

I also added sugar and vanilla to the mixture, cooked a bit more and ground it even finer. The result has a pudding-like consistancy. 

 My plain boiled chestnut puree

 Corn flakes with sweetened vanilla chestnut 'pudding' and strawberry yougurt

 Chestnut flat bread

(one cup white flour/1/2 cup chestnut plain puree) 

Vanilla chestnut pudding with custard and whipped cream

Chunky chestnut and feijoa sauce with candied melon and brandy syrup swirl

Acorn, chestnut and feijoa sauce. 

Yes, I'm back to cooking with acorns....

Since I already had chestnuts in process, I decided to pull out some of my frozen acorn meal and combine the two. As it happened, Jeanne was clearing out our freezer at the same time and found two small containers of feijoa sauce that we made last season.  The combination would be perfect I thought.  

I have learned something more about acorn meal. In the past, I have complained that it is gritty, even after having been cooked. Problem solved with this batch. I ground the meal for a third time, using a mortar  and pestle and got it really, really fine. That was the trick. When I cooked it up, I was surprised at how much water I had to add. It kept getting too thick. The acorn meal was finally fine enough to absorb the water and cook to a smooth consistancy.  

What I'm showing you above is the result. It has the tang of feijoas. I also threw in a handful of raisins just for fun. The chunks you see in it are larger pieces of feijoa. Nice and fruity. 

This will be my breakfast every day until it's gone. Talk about healthy. "Hey," all you vegans out there, "Let's see you beat this."                           -djf

I am adding this note to the end of my post because Jeanne reported to me, when she read it on her screen, that this last section was in a smaller font. I have tried to adjust it, but was unsuccessful. It stayed small. I don't know why. Some glitch in the system somewhere. Thanks for your understanding.  -df

Update:

I am including one more picture. I just finished making this chestnut butter. It is Good.  I'm very pleased that it turned out so well. 

This is 'crunchy' chestnut butter. It's very spreadable, slightly sweet and nutty. I've already tried a CB&J sandwich. It's a winner.  

From Holiday Haven to Waipu Cave

The Waipu Cave. It taught me something.  A couple of somethings to be honest.  

I had become relaxed about cave exploration. Understandable, I suppose. The Waitomo Caves we saw a number of years ago were no problem at all. Of course, they had lights and wooden walkways, steps and platforms throughout their length and even a dock, from which we were loaded into boats for a journey through some more subterranean caverns and then out into the river which issues from that cave system. 

Same with the Kawiti Cave. That one was much shorter than Waitomo but also offered  special lanterns and had walkways and stairs that moved us tourists right along.  

Then there were the sea caves. I have been in a bunch of them. Some of them, many times. As long as the tide is out, exploring them is really easy. They all had a nice sand floor and required very little effort from the spelunker. And you knew that if the tide was tickling your toes again, it was time to leave. 

The Waipu Cave was another sort altogether. It is an unimproved cave.  It has neither lights, nor walkways nor level sandy floor. It is au-natural and proud of it.    

To enter, you climb down into a hole in the limestone cliff face and discover than the sloping rocks inside take you down to a steam at the bottom that you must hop across on the little rocks that stick out, or simply splash through it. All around the stream is wet clay that I found very slippery.  The far side seemed a long way off and it was here that I realized I could go no further. Oh, I could have, but it might have been foolish.  

The boys and Allie scooted past me, negotiated the rocks with ease, popped open their smart phone flashlight things, and disappeared into the darkness. So did a bunch of other people.   

Well, I thought, I had come into the cave anyway. I was far enough in that most pictures I might take, even with my flash, would have to be electronically 'doctored' before the detail could be seen. This would have to be good enough for this 68 year old.

Allie told me later that the cave stretched at least 300 yards back, and had some amazing places. The boys told me that at one point, the roof disappeared into the darkness above and the opening was full of glowworms. Wow.

My pictues today were all taken just inside the cave, mostly down at the level of the stream. As you will see, I added light to most of the pictures and the result is rather grainy. I still like them. I hope you do too.

From this angle, the opening is huge. You climb down from the top right side. The stream exits the cave on the lower left.  

On any given excursion, Amiri is usually in the lead. He is a soft-spoken young man, not given to flamboyance, but definitely an adventurer.  I'll never forget the way he lead our group from tree to tree on our redwood walk.  

https://fostersoe.blogspot.com/2017/05/our-voyage-aboard-redwood.html

The scene below as we approach the stream. 

There he is again, across the stream, waiting for the group to follow him.  

'Breath deeply the scent of a cave. Its odor carries hints of its mystery.  Accept its cool caress.'  

The River Styx?  Almost looks as though it could be. 

Almost out of the cave again. Picture taken with no flash.

Flash on

My flash turned this rock golden.

Natural light at the entrance.

The stream that exits the cave flows off.  More about that later...

Jeanne, in the meantime, while we've been underground, has been walking some of the trails along the cliff. 

When I was a kid in Wakefield, we lived near a hill with cliffs not too unlike these. At one point along a particular cliff face, a poplar tree had grown straight up in front of it. At the point where the tree rose above the top of the cliff, the tree was only about a foot away from the edge of the cliff. Bill, Wayne and I would stand at the edge, reach out and grab the tree, and slowly slide down the trunk to the ground. We thought ourselves very innovative. 

Amiri poses beneath a giant boulder that has come off the hillside, appearing to support its weight.  

Here, the stream that flows out of the cave has cut a very deep, but narrow channel through the rock. 

Amiri is on one side and Allie and Arram stand on the other. Arram cautiously peers into the depths of the chasm at their feet.  

Amiri makes a leap back to the others. The distance is not great, but the depth over which they're leaping makes the jump exciting.

Arram jumps in the opposite direction...

He qualified in the first round of the long jump competition at his school on Sports Day this year. He's got this.

...and Allie follows. 

Amiri, rather than jumping back over yet again, had taken the trail up to where Grammy watched and then walked with her back to the parking lot.  

What a fine time we've had in the last few days.  

What can I say about such a holiday?  Allie always finds interesting and fun things to do. Sometimes in the past, she has filled our days with activities and events. This time, she allowed us plenty of open time that let us savor the quiet and seclusion of our cliff-side hideaway.  Both were satisfying. What a daughter we have. 

And the boys. I don't think they realize what good travelers they really are.  I have been so proud of them so many times these past days. The way they accept the hours of driving. The way they can order in restaurants. Their continual good natures. Their willingness to try new things.  

Jeanne and I return home impressed and recharged.

I came home with stacks (figuratively speaking) of pictures.  I weeded out quite a few that were out of focus or otherwise lacking.  I've shown you many of the rest of them in these five posts.  

I speak now especially to my family. Most of you are still busy with earning a living. You may not have all the quality time you'd like to have and checking out my posts takes some of that precious free time.  I hope that you can look at our adventurous life here in New Zealand and dream about the time when you too can retire and discover to what adventures your particular life will lead you. 

Fred, you just made the big step and and you and McKenzie have just made a big change. I wish you all the best as you settle in to your new home. You have escaped the frozen lands.  

Keep watching everyone, lots more pictures and stories from around Aotearoa to come.          -djf

A piece of Aotearoa history, and a surprise visitor at our Holiday Haven, 2020

Early, early morning over The Nook.  

The boats are staring to wake up and get underway.  

The two boats on the right spent last evening connected at their sterns and a two-boat party was enjoyed.  They separated when the party was over and moved to their present locations to spend the night. 

Jeanne and I decide to walk down to the beach. No swimming for us. Nor crab-hunting for that matter. We just like to look around...

Not our house. We think this one might be where the owners of our holiday house now live.

This is the beginning of the trail back up to the house. I'd guess that it's about a quarter mile long. 

A bit of bamboo.

 Do you notice anything about the piece of land, covered in mostly brown, directly across the bay?  

How about now?  Jeanne and I both recognized it as a Pa, or Maori fortified site.  The terraces are a giveaway. 

That is actually an island called Motukiore but from this angle it's hard to tell that it is separate from the peninsula behind it.    

Jeanne and I were sitting on the deck when this little guy joined us. We had left the front door wide open for air flow through the house so he took full advantage. 

It turned out that he belongs to the owners of our house, who now live in the property next door to us. (picture above?)  It would be about a 5 minute walk on the road and I'm sure this little guy has made it many times.  

We're leaving to start our journey home. Along the way, we'll stop at the Waipu Caves.  

(No, they didn't leave me behind. That is actually Allie and the boys going off to buy Chinese takeaway, but I'm pretending it's us leaving because this is the end of my pictures at the house.)

We've made it back to paved roads again and are currently passing this little cove. We stopped here one evening after dinner and hunted crabs. We hit the mother lode. At one point Allie had 29 tiny crusty crustaceans in her hand. 
There was also a young couple in a van doing what's called free-camping here. They just parked their home on wheels well off the road and spent the night. The guy was grilling steaks over a tiny hibachi.  

I think I ought to name this place Crab Cove.   -djf