ASIAN SEAWEED & NOODLE SOUP

Check out my latest video - a packet of noodle soup combined with fresh seaweed from the beach & herbs & spices to make a delicious & nutritious meal....

SMOKED FISH

I bought some salmon bellies [$4.00 a kilo!], & someone generously gave me a fresh schnapper on Friday [thanks Kerry!].

I scaled & filleted the schnapper & marinated some of it with the salmon overnight in a mixture of 1 teaspoon each of salt & raw sugar, with the juice of a lemon.
On saturday afternoon I set the smoker up in the back garden, with 3 handfulls of manuka sawdust inside. I laid the fish along with some fresh asparagus stalks onto tinfoil, put this on the grill inside the smoker, poured half a cup of meths into the burner - lit the meths, & placed the burner under the smoker.
The meths took about 10 minutes to burn out, I then turned the fish, added more sawdust, refilled the burner & let it burn out then sit for a while. The result was delicious! - eaten with refried beans & watercress salad.
The meths is a bit messy, so I have bought a small LPG cannister for my camping stove to use next time.

HOKITIKA WILD FOODS FESTIVAL

I found an interesting review of the 2010 Hokitika Wild Food Festival by an Australia food writer, on her blog: notquitenigella

MEALWORMS

Last week I bought 50 mealworms from the petshop & am rearing them in an icecream tub. They eat bran & fruit - there is a worm on the apple slice below, the other dark lump is a piece of guava.

These "worms" are in fact beetle larvae. In a few weeks they will pupate, then turn into beetles, which will in turn lay eggs. Mealworms are eaten in many countries, & are very nutritious.
I will try them fried in butter & garlic, & roasted & salted with beer - see my new website
www.pavlovasdog.weebly.com for more on edible insects.

A TRIP TO THE COROMANDEL

Last weekend I drove over to Whitiang, on the eastern side of the Coromandel Peninsular to visit an old school chum. On the Sunday we visited the Farmers' market at Gumtown - just south of Coroglen. My chum was dismayed to see 20 cars in the parking lot "Looks like the place is getting too popular with tourists" he grunted. He hasn't been to Matakana, & somehow I don't think he'd like it!
In & around the old Gumtown hall were a dozen or so stalls, & at the back, backing on to the river was a large community garden.
Stall produce included home-made hula hoops, stained glass, a BBQ, coffee & cake, jams, eggs, veges, plants, bread, smoked meat, eggs, pickles, & preserves.
I bought some salami, smoked venison, pickled olives, blue cheese, & a dozen blue-shelled eggs [from South American araucana chickens] - thereby contributing a grand total of $38 to the local economy.
My chum & I also enjoyed a coffee in the sun - & he introduced me to some of the locals: a pretty friendly bunch of farmers, growers, & alternative-lifestylers.






On the way back I stopped at the Wholesale Fisheries in Thames & bought some smoked salmon carcases with heads on - delicious!