Saturday, November 15, 2003

 
We travelled once again to Toberua Island ... and someone put one of those nice chairs out on one of the jetties.



We arrived in time for lunch, which was some pan fried snapper for Ritsu and I had the thai beef salad, both very good. The crab meat / fish leftover with pumpkin croquette which was the appetizer was ok .. but insiders just could make out the recycle-character too easily.

#posted by Peter 12:34 AM

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Thursday, November 13, 2003

 
Long time no cute cat picture :)




Amazing to see how well the two get along now .. most of the nights they both sleep in our bedroom, but Misha is getting antsy around 2 AM and wakes us up by digging her claws or teeth into our feet ... so I either wake up by pain or by Ritsu's screams ... So, the other night I just threw her (Misha, not Ritsu) out of the bedroom. Not that she gets the idea that feet-biting results in getting food or having the door opened. Nietzsche behaves very well and sleeps a lot. He also likes watching movies with me. That they sit on that orange couch is rather rare, but they held that position so I could take pictures ...

For dinner we met with Robert, Hillary, Edo and Marly at Fiji Malthouse and we all had a fun time.

#posted by Peter 2:38 AM

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Wednesday, November 12, 2003

 
Today a panoramic picture you would hardly find on a postcard or in a travel guide, but this is the day-b-day Fiji: So, here we have the MH Superfresh Supermarket up in Tamavua. (click for bigger version)



As reported before, MH (Morris Hedstrom) has a bunch of supermarkets and other stores around the islands, probably the biggest store chain in Fiji. Others would be R.B. Patel and NewWorld.

Superfresh is very nice, fairly big and seems to have the best selection of fruit and veggies of all the MHs. On the downside, it has no AC, so you find the chocolate in its own fridge. On the picture, the yellow thing is the actual supermarket, while the mall like structure next to it houses a bakery, an ATM, a liquor store, a video place and some chinese take out place.

As you can see, we do not always have blue skies :)

#posted by Peter 2:12 AM

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Tuesday, November 11, 2003

 
I discovered something new to cook with: Oysters. In search for seafood I found that Cost U Less actually has frozen oysters (something that I find a bit weird somehow) ... but having read some interesting recipes, I was intrigued. I love raw oysters and had them in New York, and recently in Australia ... but actually cooking with them??? very new concept. Too bad that Ritsu is allergic to them, so I can only cook them for myself. So today I took 8 of those guys, wrapped them in bacon, stuck them on a scewer, drizzled some tabasco and pepper over them, and baked them till the bacon was crisp. Very tasty indeed. Only that I kept the oyster aftertaste for hours was a bit funny.

So, next I will try deep-fried or an oyster burger :)

#posted by Peter 2:08 AM

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Monday, November 10, 2003

 
Tonights cultural entertainment was presented by the japanese embassy. A musical group called "Bamboo Symphonia", playing Okinawa style music on all bamboo instruments. It was very beautiful, actually pretty packed, first half was okinawa classics, second half original songs of the group. Very entertaining.



#posted by Peter 2:04 AM

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Sunday, November 09, 2003

 
And how was your weekend? I know that William was taking some trip (i guess to celebrate his birthday), the rest, just like us, seem to have had a nice, quite, lazy weekend ...

For sunday brunch I had prepared 5 days ago an egg recipe which i think is usually an easter or passover dish usually, i know it as "Sol Ei" .. where Sol means a salt water marinade and Ei is egg ... i was trying to find recipes, but the closest I found was "pickled eggs" .. and they all use vinegar ... it is my understanding that vinegar dissolves the eggshell ..




So, how does it work? Well, fairly simple ... hardboil as many eggs as you have space for in some tightly sealing glass jar. Try to move the eggs around while boiling to ensure that the yolk will end up in the middle. after 15 minutes cool down. Then boil water (about 1.5 litres for 10 eggs) adding salt.(and here is where my mom's recipe stops) ... other recipes suggest adding bay leaves, peppercorns, mustard seed, chili slices .. i guess it is up to taste ..

After boiling that and letting it cool down, put the eggs in a glass jar (plastic ok, metal no) and pour the liquid over the eggs until they are all covered ... Now the hard part: store for at least 5 days in a cold, dark place (fridge?) ... It does look pretty pretty ... could be a nice party gift .. :)

Now .. how do we eat those suckers? Cut in half, carefully remove the yolk and pour into the muld any of the following condiments (depending on taste): salt, pepper, oil, vinegar, mustard (these are the basics), advanced: olive oil, balsamic vingar, wostershire sauce, tabasco .. basically whatever you like. Put the egg yolk back on and shove the whole thing into your mouth ... :)

Later we went to cost-u-less for some shopping ... and then to the movie theater to watch "Intolerable Cruelty" .. and it was quite entertaining, and there is a great slapstick moment at the end that had me laugh very hard. I have never been too enticed by films of the Coen brothers .. and the words "romantic comedy" usually specify the worst genre possible (for me) .. but the was actually a non-Coen dark comedy ... it was not a typical 2/14 dating movie .. it had some really mean/funny things in it .. i liked it ... now i need to watch the DVD to understand what Billy Nob Thornton said in his thick texan accent.

Dinner was chinese leftovers, weather was fine again, no rain, cats are ok, sleeping more every day and night, now actually sharing Ritsu's yoga mat under the bed ... as we say in Fiji, "Life Sucks" :)

#posted by Peter 2:38 AM

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