Ok, the month has flown by and I have not had time to make the Cannels from the last challenge. Maybe before the open house I’ll have time for them. Anyway, I found a new challenge for this week – Gougères or French cheese puffs. These taste amazing and you can make them ahead of time and bake just what you need straight out of the freezer. You should try them; they are delicious! Here is the recipe. Be sure to leave a comment and let me know how you like them.
Blog
Racing Through the Cook Islands Reflections on French Polynesia (#11)
20 October
I don’t even want to talk about how far behind the “chronicles” are. We have had some wonderfully interesting experiences since I last wrote. Honestly, I’ve been too busy to write, do boat work, or much else but play and sleep.
We just spent two weeks in the tiny, isolated Swarrow (Suvarov) lagoon in the central Cook Islands. Our time was spent learning from the remarkable 72-year-old caretaker of this park. We hunted coconut crabs, had potluck dinners with 30 lobsters, made fishing lures from black pearl oyster shells and coconut husks, went out fishing for 30 minutes, and came back with a 60-pound yellowfin tuna (tons and tons of sushi that night), and generally exhausted ourselves. Mornings started early and we never got back to the boat before 10 PM.
We finally had to leave to get some rest. We are three days into the six or so required to get to southern Tonga (17*42S / 169 59W). We blow through Tonga on our way to NZ since we’re planning to spend next year cruising in that area.
As we leave the Marquesas, here are a few family photographs…
Jess Stark Is an Inspiration
Recently, our “favorite four year old”, Jess Stark was mentioned as a diving role model by Jona, the Cruise Director of the Philippine Siren. Jess was diving with us on our recent trip to the Philippines aboard the Philippine Siren when he met Jona. Like he does with everyone, he charmed her but more than that he impressed her with his stories and his love for diving. Jess is a beautiful diver underwater and he loves being there.
Someone asked me why do we refer to him as our favorite four year old? Well, he is a little mischievous and like a four year old he sometimes wanders off in the airport, the hotel and underwater. Never far but something has caught his eye and he is then focused on it. So like a four year old, you sometimes have to keep an eye on him. But don’t worry, he loves the title!
Here is Jona’s, the cruise director on board S/Y Philippine Siren comment”
“My diving role model is Jesse Loren Stark. He is a US Navy Veteran Diver, who has more than 8,000 dives under his belt. He started diving when he was only 14 years old. He’s worked in nuclear power plants, as a rescue diver for the police and as a boat captain for a few years. His life story is an inspiration to many and his love for the ocean is immeasurable.”
Thanks Jess, we can’t wait to go diving with you again!
Eric's Recipe Challenge – Canelés de Bordeaux
I have been trying to find time to make these all year and just keep getting sidetracked. So, I decided to start to challenge myself each month with a project and this is the first one I chose –Canelés de Bordeaux. These are a small pastry that are caramelized on the outside and soft on the inside. Here is a recipe to get you started. Write a comment below or send me a note about how yours turned out. If you want to try mine, watch for the email and I will tell you when I will have them in the store.
Ok divers — BAKE!
The Tuamotus (#10)
20 July
Your Wasabe Wings sounds like something we’ll try when we reach somewhere with propane refills. We are being fairly conservative with our supply of propane since we don’t have French Poly. adaptors and don’t want to pay their outrageous prices. As a side note, it might be interesting to see just how much money the French government doles out to each individual islander. We balk at $3 for a small box of cookies – the locals walk out with handfuls. Few of them seem to have jobs – store clerks, post office employees, dump truck drivers. Lots of folks sitting, swimming, drinking, and generally enjoying life [Carl is talking about the locals and not the cruisers visiting the island].
Got to go. Another boat is due for smoked salmon and champagne in a few minutes. A celebration and thanks for the work they did to help us with the repairs. I need to be slicing limes and onions instead of typing.
8 August
We’re still in the Tuamotus anchored in tiny little Tahenea. This is a large lagoon with no distracting village and only one other boat to play with. The numerous grouper make it simple to get dinner so I should have plenty of time to write. We’ll linger here for a bit over a week then make the 250 or so miles to Tahiti. Looking forward to fresh vegetables and fruit after a steady diet of coconuts We are also looking forward to the big dance festival that happens next month.
12 August
I loaned one of my Mares Cyrano spear guns to a guy we’ve been buddy-boating with for several weeks. He is just learning to snorkel and hunt and is having a great time on the reefs. We split up for a few days to enjoy our individual islands at the lovely, unpopulated, Tahanea atoll in the Tuamotus. Today he told me, with a hang-dog expression, he had lost a spear. He’s especially embarrassed since he was doing something stupid – shooting a small shark off the back of his boat. Apparently, he hit the thing, it snapped at the line, bit it in two, and swam off with an embedded spear. He’s amazed he did something so silly since he couldn’t have dealt with the shark on board and had no idea what he was going to do with it anyway. Reminds me of hunting sparrows with my BB gun! Anyway, he has offered to buy me a new spear, once I find out the price for one.
20 August
We have enjoyed walking around the island. The people here all seemed to love landscaping with flowers and plants. The whole village was lovely. We passed out several packets of Impatient and Zinnia seeds to the delight of the recipients. Got gifts of bananas, pamplemouse and limes in exchange.
23 August
Throughout the islands, we found some huts with walls woven out of coconut palms. However, they are not really used in regular housing anymore but they make useful sheds and snack bar walls. We saw a few women and older children weaving mat fronds in an assembly fashion. The kids split the fronds and lay them out. The women smoked hand-rolled cigarettes, talked, and joked as they wove. It only took a few minutes to make each section. A useful process to know when you need a quick bit of shade or something clean to sit on around a beach fire. We still need a bit of practice to make them well.
24 August
Try to find two delightful stories – the creation myth of the Marquesas and the revenge of Mataheuna. You’ll know you’ve found the right myth if the story is about a man and a woman in a tropical setting. The woman asks the man to build her a house. He asks the gods for help and the process starts. The name of each island translates into part of the structure. I only remember Ua Pou as being the two beams supporting the structure.
The Mighty Spire Mataheuna was a young rock with a spire from one of the other Marquesan islands that traveled through the island groups smashing the lesser spires to the ground. He swore revenge, grew strong, smote all the other spires, and is regarded as the mightiest to this day.
These stores were told to us by a delightful young man who runs a tiny museum on Ua Pou. Many people have donated items for him to present. He changes his exhibits every three months or so and passes the stories and traditions along especially to the school children. He’s a great storyteller and we really enjoyed our time with him.
26 August
We left the peaceful harbors of Tuamotus to continue our explorations. One day out we hooked a 9-foot marlin. That is it measured 9 feet from head to tail and we didn’t include the spear shaped snout. Getting it onboard was a two-hour struggle.
I broke my favorite cleaver trying to cut steaks. Then I switched to a hack saw to cut through the spine but soon gave up on that. Finally, we spent a couple of more hours cutting it into fillets. We gave lots of fish away and I can’t count the number of ways we prepared it. Next time we’ll release anything over four feet or so.
