At the CARWASH...

"Scratching" the coconut...

Solomon Islanders use the coconut for many different things, but it is also a big part
of their diet.  So they are expert at getting the "meat" out of it in a process they call
"scratching."

 

They make it look easy (but it's not!). 

Thanks to Carlton who did this in about 5 minutes flat!

 

The grater is really sharp, so for the amateur you are taking your life in

your hands!

 

After the meat is out, we blend the grated coconut to make it a bit finer. 

Then just add a bit of warm water and squeeze the grated coconut in a muslin

cloth to extract the "milk."

 

 

This is from one coconut!

 

Now we have two products - the milk and the grated coconut.

We dry out the grated coconut in the oven or toast it in a dry fry pan.  This can be used

to add to homemade muesli or cakes, etc.  The milk is for the curries!  YUM! 

No more canned coconut milk for us!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Guava Jam

We go to Honiara Central Market and another fruit and vegetable market close by
(funnily enough it is called "Fish Market").  I never get bored with looking around
at what different things I can find to experiment with.  This week my score was
these beautifully scented GUAVAS...

RECIPE FOR GUAVA JAM

900g slightly under-ripe guavas

water

sugar

lemon juice

Wash and cut guavas and put into large pot with enough water

to barely cover. Boil until soft and then rub through a coarse

sieve. Measure the pulp and juice mixture.  For every 3/4 cup of

mixture add 1/4 cup lemon juice and 1 cup of sugar. Put into a

large pot and stir continually to dissolve sugar while bringing to

the boil. Boil until mixture reaches setting stage, approximately

18-20 minutes.

Yield: 5-6 cups




Boil until soft.




Cooling sealed jars of jam.






Finished product.






Island views

This is the view we see every day - always changing and always beautiful.

It is the Island of Savo, a small dormant volcano.

Banana bread

Of course we have loads of bananas here, but I'm still working on perfecting banana bread.
Here's a pretty yummy recipe I came across.  (My version left out the cranberries due to
non-availability)

Link:  http://drizzleanddip.com/2011/07/18/cranberry-walnut-banana-bread-its-the-best

This post was supposed to be all about the banana bread.

But our local store had imported peaches (tiny little ones) that we

couldn't resist, so to make them taste more special I roasted them.

(Toasted the banana bread, then a "bit" of butter...)

Here's the link for this:  http://www.housebeautiful.com/kitchens/recipes/peach-dessert-recipes-sophie-dahl-0610

KLEVA PIKININIS!

We came across these children mucking around on their homemade instruments and

 they gave us an impromptu concert. Cool aye!

Random Solomon Scenes...

MANGO SEASON...

Look what's hanging over the fence...

 

What we do with mangos:

Fruit salad

Coulis for desserts

Salsa

Frozen to put in smoothies

Or...

Trying to grow strawberries from seed at over 30 degrees...

Customs let me bring in this nifty little strawberry seed kit, so I thought I would have a go at "just adding water."

Yes it does look like a takeaway coffee cup and I think that the heat here made the conditions inside the container a lot like a hot cup of coffee!

So after 6 weeks and no sign of seeds I decided to dump the dirt into one of my outdoor pots and just see if anything happened...

After another couple of weeks 8 tiny plants appeared! 

I spent a lot of time on the internet trying to identify

if these leaves look anything like strawberry seedlings

and not just some random weeds!

Ok, so if the poor things hadn't enough to deal with heat and humidity! 

I started to wonder why there was an indent in the ground each morning,

so I did a night watch one evening...

TO BE CONTINUED...

I see RED!