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Hello, everyone.  This week's post is mostly about New Zealand, or Aotearoa.  I've compiled just a few facts that I've run across and I'll throw in a few pictures to keep it more interesting. I'll end with a very American bit that you may not know much about either.   

New Zealand has more cars per person than any other country in the world.  

That surprised me. Wikipedia says that a few places, like Guernsey, a bailiwick of the U. K., located off of Normandy, France, has more, but they have a population of 67.  In my book, that doesn't count. 

As far as 'real countries' go, NZ heads the list with 1,086 cars per 1,000 residents. The U.S.A. comes in at only 908.  

Jeanne and I had intended to buy a car when we decided to stay here long term, but changed our minds years ago. Now that we are living in this retirement community, we are doubly glad that we don't have one. For one thing, the buses and trains are free for old folks, and the cost of a spot in our below-ground carparks is enormous. 

Hmmm.  Allie, Amiri, Arram, Jeanne and I all have only one car between us. That means somebody else out there really owns a bunch of them. I bet their yard is congested.

    

Over 150 locations in New Zealand were used in the filming of LOTR movies. 

I know that not everyone is a fan of those movies, but we were, and are. 

I took these three pictures at Hobbiton.  

We were also lucky to walk along the path in Wellington that was used (I don't know exactly where) to film the sequence at the very beginning of their journey where the four Hobbits hid from the Nazgul.

The ambulance service here is run as a not-for-profit enterprise.  

St. John Ambulance, because it is not for profit, charges a fee of only $98.00 for a run to the hospital.  They do rely on memberships to allow them to do such a thing. They ask for a donation of $75 per couple per year.  And with your membership, if you need a run to the hospital, you are transported free of charge.   

  

New Zealand gave women the right to vote in 1893.

The U.S. didn't get around to it until 1920. Of course, England didn't give women the right to vote on the same terms as men, with a property requirement, until 1928, although they could be elected to Parliament in 1918. Doesn't make much sense, does it?  

The word Kiwi can refer to the people of NZ, to a flightless bird, and a fruit.  

Citizens of New Zealand call themselves Kiwis. 

This is a kiwi photo that I found from the National Geographic    

I don't think I need to show you a picture of a kiwi fruit.  Those, happily, are all over.  I don't know though, whether the gold and red varieties are available world-wide.  

The sun rises here first. 

That also means that birthdays and the New Year get a head start on the rest of the world.  

These shots were taken on the morning of April 10, 2024. (Of course, it was still the 9th in the U.S.A.  

I love looking directly into the sun like this picture allows me to do.  
If I were going to be an astronomer, I think I'd want to study the Sun. It would be enormously interesting, and just think, I could do it during normal working hours. I wouldn't have to stay up all night on some freezing mountain top.  

 

There are more vending machines in Japan than the entire population of NZ. 

Actually, that statement that I found on line might be a bit out of date. I think it is now pretty close to equal. One article I saw said that Japan has well over 5 million machines. I just looked up the 2024 population of New Zealand, and found it to be 5.25 million.

Hmmm.  I wonder where my vending machine is?  I hope it's next to Jeanne's.    

Finally, to end my post for today, I want to tell you about Scrapple. Nothing to do with Aotearoa of course. This is the Pennsylvanian Dutch meat product that they call Pennhaas. (According to Wikipedia.)  

I had never made it, or even tasted it for that matter, and I thought, when I ran across a video about it on YouTube, that I ought to give it a go. I didn't take any pictures of the process while I made my batch, but I can describe it briefly.  There are lots of steps, but it's quite easy to do. I enjoyed myself tremendously, and my final product turned out great.  

• Buy some assorted pork. I used a hock, some tongues, and a little bit of liver. I added two large onions, plenty of garlic, a large jalapeno, dried sage, paprika, and a bay leaf. Then, lots of  black pepper. (In case you're interested, it was 70 twists of my pepper grinder.) 
• Boil it all for about two hours in water to just cover, then take the meat out and let it cool. 
• Strain the broth and save it. I also kept the onion and jalapeno and added them to the meat in the next step. (The chopping part) 
• Pull the bones out of the hock and skin the tongues. Chop everything else.   
• Put the meat/onions/jalapeno in a food processor and blast it until it's like ground meat. 
• Measure your broth. I had six cups. For that, I added 7/8  to 1 cup of cornmeal and boiled for 20 minutes. (I could have gone to a full cup and it might have turned out even better.) 
• Then I added 1/2 cup of white flour and boiled for 10 minutes.
• Next, I added back in all the ground meat and boiled lightly for 10 more minutes. (Stirring that very thick mixture was quit a job.) Add salt/pepper to taste.  
• I lined a glass cake pan with aluminum foil and poured the mixture into it. 
• When it was cool enough, I refrigerated it overnight. 
• I cut it up into squares, wrapped and froze most of it.  

Jeanne pronounced my attempt to be very tasty. 

If you're interested, here is one of the video's I saw that got me interested in trying it. If you watch it, you'll notice that I did things a bit differently than Sam did. I'm sure there are a thousand ways of doing it, but they all have pork, corn meal and flour and some sort of spices in common.

One thing I noticed about Sam's presentation that I strongly disagree with. He said early on that it would take 2 gallons of water to cover his meat.  Then, he said later, that he used 5 cups of the broth. I think that is a terrible waste of flavor. If he had too much broth, he should have reduced it. It would have been even better.  But who knows, maybe he did something else with the excess broth.  

I just barely covered my pieces of meat and used every bit of the stock.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSq8NHhRAsY

Well, I  hope that you feel slightly more informed now than you did at the beginning of my post. 

I just looked up my monthly 'hits' on my blog's statistics page and found that last month I had 4,802 and so far this month I've had 575. I wonder if any one of those that will read this post during the rest of May might try to make scrapple because of it. If so, Sam would be pleased.  

-djf

This was Tuesday, April 30, 2024

I'd like to share a bit of our 'today' with you.  It was a pleasant one. Sometimes Jeanne and I find that we don't sleep quite as well as we would like. Old age seems to do that to a person, but last night we both slept fairly well, and woke up ready to go.  

And many days are just ho-hum. Today was a cut above the rest and so it's a good one to review.

Over our breakfast coffee and smoothie, Jeanne suggested we have some ribs for dinner, and that decision had the effect of ordering the rest of my day. I had purchased the pork ribs a few days ago, imported from the U.S.A. I noticed, and I asked the butcher to cut the long rack into thirds.  I had planned to do them not in the oven, but on the stove top. We don't do ribs very often. They are a special treat and they were on sale besides.  

I had a bottle of beer, two bottles of BBQ sauces, and one of a Filipino spiced vinegar that I particularly like. More about this amazing vinegar later.    

I think that ribs cry out for a carbohydrate side that you can use to extend the savor of the sauce. That side is really good bread, for dipping, and that necessitated a run to Daily Bread, a wonderful bakery housed in an old bank building in Point Chevalier. I am happy to go all that way because the bread is unsurpassed and the buses are free for us old coots to ride. Bus 11W dropped me off just across the street from the bakery.    

I am the proud owner of a tote bag that I've refilled with their bread many, many times. 

I bought two ciabatta (bottom 2 shelves) and a baguette. (top)  

There were other choices as well.

Often when I buy bread in such a place, I am reminded of the days, decades ago, when we would drive to the Huron Mountain Bread Co. in Escanaba or Marquette, Michigan. Not long ago my sister Mary told me that she had stopped in at the Marquette location for a loaf of their sour dough.  Made me jealous. 

You may have noticed that the bottle of vinegar in the picture just above is almost empty.  After I dropped off the bread at home, I headed for Da Hua market to restock. The vinegar is called Suka Pinakurat. 

 Here it is on the shelf.

And here is a closeup of the bottle.  You can see how dark it is. It's coconut vinegar with onions, garlic, chilies, and spices. I'd say medium to hot if you want a level of heat. I use it sparingly because Jeanne doesn't like too much vinegar, but even a little adds a zing.  

Here are my ribs with sauce added. Low and slow was the mantra, whether on a grill, the oven or the stove top.  

Then, it occurred to me that since I had plenty of room in the pot, why not add some other meats as well and turn this into several meals? I could even freeze some if we wanted to.  

Therefore, I added some lamb neck chops and drumsticks a little later in the cooking process.  

After the meat was done, I uncovered the kettle. With Jeanne's blessing, I added a little more Suka P. and some of my homemade hot sauce, to 'enliven it.'  I then allowed the sauce to reduce for a while.  It turned out to be superb, if I do say so myself. Just the right amount of 'bite.'

Finally, we had our dinner.  This is my plate.  I probably should have arranged it more artfully, but, it is what it is.  Good thing you can't smell it, it would drive you crazy.  

Jeanne's cole slaw was perfect of course. I added another spoon of it to my plate after taking this picture and then some additional sauce. 

We generally eat dinner in front of the TV. To accompany this meal, we watched an old episode of Agatha Christie's, Poirot. We love those.  

We did have lots of meat/sauce/bread/cole slaw left over and will repeat our dinner menu exactamente again tonight (Wednesday) evening. 

So, that's my post. Have I made you hungry I wonder?  I hope so.  I know that I've made myself hungry by writing this up today, on Wednesday morning, and lunch is still a long ways off. It serves me right, I guess. 

(And btw, I'm adding this short paragraph two days later. We got a total of 7 meals from this BBQ. Two dinners for each of us and three lunches. That was efficient cooking.)  

Since I'll publish this on Sunday, May 5, 2024, and we in NZ are about 18 hours ahead of many of you, I can close by saying May the 4th be with you, and it will still be timely.     -djf

   

Of late, the quiet is expanding.

I find myself choosing not to hop aboard as many buses and trains lately as I once did. I find myself running through a list of destinations many mornings, and mentally ticking them off, one by one.  'Nah, too hot today, too far, looks like rain, takes a train and a bus, been there, done that, nah, nah.'  

I'm not sure why.  It's true that the city planners, in their wisdom, have redesigned the bus system, making it harder for me to use. (though still free)  I suppose it's more efficient in terms of riders per bus per kilometer per hour, but I liked the old system better. Or, I suppose, I could blame it on the upgrades being done to our rail system.  The past summer has seen a lot of work on rails and sidings and so on which means I couldn't always count on the trains running if I had wanted to ride them.    

I have been finding it increasingly pleasant to linger over a cup of coffee in the morning.  Jeanne often has her phone in her hand as we sip and reads a few of the headlines.  We discuss them sometimes, but mostly shake our heads in disgust, both at the newsmakers and the media.    

Then, when Jeanne heads down to the gardens, I clean up the kitchen from breakfast, and sit down at the computer to upload my latest batch of pictures, check for incoming emails, add a bit to my ongoing blog post, write some emails of my own, play a hand of Free Cell, or otherwise amuse myself.  It's surprising how quickly the time passes.  Then, in lieu of choosing a travel destination, I check Jeanne's grocery shopping list, and head to the store.  I will probably also decide to take a walk somewhere in our local area.  I still walk about an hour every day, but that's a lot less than I'd walk if I went exploring somewhere.  

Enough rambling.  The end result of my laid back lifestyle is that I have fewer photos of the new and exciting. This post will reflect my mood lately.  It'll show you daily stuff that I recorded very recently, comfortable stuff.  

"Oh, look, a cloud with a hole in it.  That's been on my bucket list for a long time."  

As always, a sunrise

Today I walked down to the Taste of Samoa shop for some sort of dense cake and custard-like topping, (which I dropped coming home. No real damage to it except it got scrambled up a bit), and what they call pancakes.  Very much like giant donut holes.  (One of the best food bargains that I know, at 5 for $1.)  

A fall picture. That's our entrance just ahead to the left.  

The scaffolding on the far side, from us, of The Palms.  

This is a kumara. It's like a not-so-sweet, sweet potato.  Jeanne wanted to test how they'd do in our gardens and this is one of the first out of the ground. The yield will be impressive if the rest of the patch mirrors the first digging, and I think it will.  Very few people here realize how much produce she is responsible for.  There is a large crew of volunteers that help, but she has personally planted practically all of what is currently growing and harvests a large part of it as well.  

These are the Madeleines, who entertained us recently. Phenomenally good. They sing songs from the 1940's, 50's and a few newer besides.  

Here's one of their promos from YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrxZxRBCEXg

Another fall scene.

Finally, a quiet, kind of moment in time picture.  See you next week.      -djf

Good bye to Arthur's Corner

The time has come.  The long-awaited renovation of The Palms is upon us. I'll no longer be able to climb to Arthur's Corner and take pictures from that ideal vantage point.

The scaffolding and wrap will surround the building and the automatic door that led to the third floor of The Palms will no longer give me access.  It will be this way for at least the next 18 months.  After that, glass will enclose the building and I'll have to shoot through it when taking my photos. Not preferred. 

This photo is compliments of Jeanne, who took it from our balcony. I'm shooting the photos you'll see immediately below. 

They've just replanted the flowers facing the front gate, (on the left side in this picture) in our central garden. 

We're enjoying cool, crisp, delightful air this morning.  The Tasman Sea is about 10 miles west of us. I can smell it.  

Let's get ready and start zooming in. The color is rapidly developing. 

 

My bird handler released the homing ducks at the perfect moment.  

You know that I have to include at least one close up. 

The Sun is getting very bright now, don't want to damage the optics, let's pull back a bit with the next one.

As it continues to intensify, I back off even further.

To conclude this post, I've pulled back the view the sunrise almost to our starting point about a dozen pictures ago. A final view and a fitting tribute, I hope, to my outdoor studio at Arthur's Corner.    -djf

"And now for something completely different." Monty Python's Flying Circus

No, I don't intend to do a Pythonesque sketch in this post. I thought I should make that clear from the beginning. I don't want to mislead you.   

But in fact, this post is going to be very different than the last weeks was, and it's frustrating that one has to be so careful these days to give credit where credit is (I guess) due.   

I think it is unfortunate that television shows are allowed to steal perfectly good phrases, such as the one I've used for my title, that the rest of us might need to utter, in conversations, in letters, in technical journals, or in the titles of posts, without worrying that we are infringing on copyrighted material.  

I think it's most unfortunate that just because they decided to use those words on TV one day, the rest of us can no longer say it without looking over our shoulders, and living in fear that the copyright cops, or similar thugs, might be sneaking up, about to slap us with a writ, or injunction or something equally meddlesome.  And which would probably sting besides, if they slapped us with it hard enough, especially, I suppose, if it were wet. Therefore, I've decided to rename my post.  

My new title is:

And now for something completely indifferent.   

I think my title is now more descriptive of my post anyway, since I intend to discuss various versions of a pudding I have been experimenting with lately. I think that even the most tolerant of you will be indifferent to my subject. The rest of you when you read it, might want to slap me with something wet, and that stings.  

But here goes. 

It's feijoa season here.  Our village trees have been producing abundantly, and I've been dropping gold coins, practically every Monday, Thursday and Saturday, into the money box attached to the produce carts in the Atrium, and taking home a bag of them.  

I think feijoas are the perfect fruit with which to make puddings.  They are firm enough not to disintegrate when you boil them and tart enough to stand up to the bland components that I choose to add. I also drizzle in just a little Golden Syrup or honey to all my puddings, simply because I want to.  

This first pudding is one I've made before, feijoa and acorn.  I've written about this combination before as well. The acorn is much better when it's very finely ground, otherwise, even with all the boiling I do, it stays somewhat gritty. This pudding turned out very smooth. 

I'll start with the steps leading up to the final product.  

BTW, that is a NZ pumpkin in the background.  You will not find orange-skinned ones here.  

The flesh is orange.  The rind is extremely hard.  Carving this kind of pumpkin would require a hammer, chisel, and reciprocating saw. Further, the seed cavity is quite small. 

Those are average-sized feijoas.   

The texture of the outer part of the fruit reminds me of a pear.  The inner part is somewhat like a tomato, in that it is soft and seedy, although not as soft as a tomato, and it tastes nothing like a pear or tomato.  You'll notice too that they have a tendency to discolor, much like an apple does when exposed to the air.  I think that is part of the explanation for the color of my finished puddings. They tend to be darker in color than the raw fruit.  

I cut them in half and then scoop out the insides with a teaspoon.  

This is my acorn meal before the final grinding. I have kept it double-wrapped in the freezer for years now and it is still perfect. The trick is to get it extremely dry before freezing. (Acorn meal is 7% protein.)  

The finished pudding. The pieces you see in it are the feijoa parts that have not broken down. 

This pudding was a success.  

This is my second pudding. Instead of acorn meal, I used grits.  I liked this one very much because the taste and texture of the grits came through, sort of, anyway.  And I like grits. 

This next one has oatmeal added.  I buzzed up the oatmeal very fine in Jeanne's Magic Bullet and also added a few raisins to the mix, because I like raisins in oatmeal. This one might be the best one of the bunch(So far, anyway).  It, like the others, is very good cold.  Now, before you ask how could cold oatmeal be good, you need to make some of this and find out.  You could substitute rhubarb.  That's tart too and would work perfectly. Apples would work of course, it's just that they won't be as tart and I think the tartness adds something to the pudding.   

You don't need a recipe.  Get your pan of sauce ready to go and add whatever carbo you want to it and the appropriate amount of water.  Then, simmer away until you think it's done.  Just keep watching it, you might have to add more water.  

This one is made with rice.  I again used the grinder to pulverize the rice and I again added raisins to this batch.  It was still warm when I took this picture and it is getting thicker as it cools.  It took a lot of water, probably at least 3 times the amount you'd use to cook dry rice. 

For my final pudding, I pulled out all the stops.  

This one has a small amount of finely ground barley, and 2 1/2 Weet-Bix biscuits. It has raisins and pumpkin and sunflower seeds. No, it doesn't have chocolate, despite its appearance.  

 

Here it is.  

I have to say that I liked all of them. 

The acorn was my least favorite, texture-wise, but that was because I think that it was an unfamiliar food. I value it the most however, because of what it represents; a huge nutrition storehouse and a long, now mostly lost history of human consumption. 

The grits were comfort food.

The oatmeal the same, and with the raisins, it was even better. 

The rice reminded me of Chinese Congee. I have tried several of them. They are available in little singe serving cans in markets here, and most even provide the diner with a tiny, snap together spoon. My pudding is much thicker than the congees I've tried. They come in lots of different flavors, red bean being the most common, or even plain rice. 

The barley and Weet-Bix was my hands-down favorite. It's just so full of good stuff. I found that the Weet-Bix completely disintegrated and with the cooking, came to give the pudding a really interesting smoothness.  

Finally, I thought I'd show you a feijoa 'shooter.' It's Jeanne's favorite way of eating them.  You get an explosion of juice and flavor this way.  Very pleasant and somewhat addictive, especially if you have someone else peeling them for you. The one on the left is from our village and about an average size. The one on the right I bought from the market. It's the biggest one I've ever seen.         -djf