Posts by Islander
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Great Barrier is the only place I've seen big flocks of kaka...as well as the rats & cats, there are also pigs - which get hammered by anyone who can handle a rifle (but they can still cause enormous damage.)
And as for the locals - hardy, amazing, amusing, very capable folk, some of whom can also be dangerous and/or irresponsible. There's a cahe of stories my whanau can tell - and the rock story is par for the course- choice! -
Kia ora steven crawford - no, Kai Tahu/Pakeha, but they really enjoyed the Barrier (and so did I on my only visit - caught my first snapper ever, for one thing...)
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Steven C - Great Barrier? Some of my whanau lived there for qurte a while-2004-2006? Some still there?
your funerals however seem not to involve immediate family?
Most of mine have, or friends I deeply love.
Gimme a wedding anyday-
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I've not been to many weddings (& they've all been family or close friends) but I have truly enjoyed the changes: to take just one of my whanau - first time, v. tradtional church wedding, v. traditional wedding breakfast etc.
But that was 30-odd years ago: for 3rd marriage (that has really lasted through sickness & health et al else) the bride strutted into the house most beautifully, accompanied by a recording of 'Sixxymuthaphuquer" (I might not have spelt this quite right); the celebrant sniggered uncontrollably, and the partying went on way past dawn, way into the next day & night.
I'd way sooner go to a wedding than a funeral however: there's been way too many of the latter over the past decade and a bit...and they have been, for that period, large free of religious input. Which is good, for me & mine.
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Stephen Judd - I understand that purveyors of surf clams are getting very antsy over cockles/tuaki being called 'clams'...it seems to be a very recent useage.
Raymond, I think I've tried almost every way possible to cook 'bait; I agree, milk-poached is excellent, and flour-dusted for a handful also good (actually, while it's a bit tedious, because you have to cook 'em in small batches, and take great care your cooking medium doesnt get too hot, flour-dusted is good for a haul too.) If I catch only a few (happened way too often last year) I'll briefly cook 'em in butter and pour the pan contents onto a slice of sunflower & barley Burgen bread.
Sashimi 'bait are a dismal failure.*'raw 'fish salad/ika ota/ kokoda (a really good one can be made with bled fresh kahawai)
*Piper (only tried 'em once (in Auckland) - ka pai!)done like Stephen's sprats-are you looking and learning Lockwood???
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*or just-done scallops with a leetle butter, sauv.blanc and freshly minced garlic (and white pepper, if you're that way inclined-)
*Fresh herring in Ansterdam yes yes! I discovered that there isnt a local equivalent-
*My Nanna's herb crowdie & coldsmoked salmon from the Waitaki on her quite fine oatcakes was very good too (never got past Aberdeen in my various short sojourns in Scotland-)
*And Raymond, hey as 'baiter to 'baiter, you ever over this side of the hill...we have to wait a wee while longer before the season starts (am busy relocating the spiders from the nets at the moment-) -
One of my neighbours - who has an exclusive carpark for Latvians - introduced me to a deliciousness from his birth country. Little brown very very dead fish.*
Unfortunately he neglected to warn me they are addictive...Thanks for that mate!
But he makes an incredibly good gravlax (we catch salmon fresh in from the sea here) and his lightly cured salmon eggs are to die for (so all is forgiven. Really. Just send us another little round tin or a hundred.)
*Smoked Riga sprats. Right up there with the best aged Norwegian brisling- -
Enjoyed your essay David, and the link (though that bloke knows buggerall about cooking birds...he's advocating a way of removing some of the salt that is inefficient, and his cooking method...o dear me! My birds, freshies or salted titi from a poha or bucket, are tender, with crisped skin, a real gourmet delight...)
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Greenbone is butterfish is marari is kelpcod is Odax pullus...greenbone because it has bones coloured a delicate bluegreen, and butterfish because it is absolutely delicious. It's an art to catch them because they only eat seaweed (and only one variety of seaweed -Ecklonia radiata) and I share my method of doing so only with young family.
*frostfish
is another I add to educating-Lockwood list (there's a really escoteric little book called "Hunting Frostfish With A Shotgun" - the gun to keep off the gulls (and other early beachwanderers I suspect...)
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O, and since molluscs and crustacea have happily been included-
*titi!
(Hurries away to make a sandwich with some remanants of last night's dinner...)