Hmm well B got to write about catching her battlemother squid last night, but she left out the glorious scene where she got down onto the big truck tyre (a fender, I guess) to net one of mine. It squirted black, gukky ink as she lifted it, in a beautiful arc... over her head to splash my boots. Talk about a lucky night - that and a 1.85kg squid.
Today the predawn was saw me getting up to the sound of drumming rain. I did not dance to the beat, as I'd hoped for a few Trevally this morning. Time and tide are
right once every 2 weeks... and really this morning would have been the best. Oh well. The Island skies were flashing their winter petticoats, with lacy flounces of white edges against the rainful dark clouds. It rained. And now it is cold. So the fire/heater is at work, warming us and incidentally drying mushrooms. Maybe the rain will bring more out.
I've bottled in herbed brine the first two bottles of 'green' olives, complete with a little wreath of fennel to keep them under. I am not terribly enthusiastic about the taste of the rest! Still very bitter.
I pulled up my tiny bait-trap in the dark last night, when we finished squidding, and fished the token shrimp out of it - and left it on the veranda to wash, with the zips open... and lo and behold today the little suberb fairy wrens (AKA Tinks) were cheerfully climbing into it and eating the little amphipods off it. Quite happy... I guess a trap is only trap when you can't walk out at will.
And finally we had a new taste experience today - someone brought us some Tim Tams (a very Australian layered chocolate coated buiscuit) and explained that you needed to bite off catercorners (diagonal) and then suck coffee through it like a sort of buscuit straw. Then, very hastily you need to put whole beastie in your face, because it is melting from the inside. A sort of hot chocolate mouth-bomb... try it :-)
Hmmmm. Tim Tam Slams.
ReplyDeleteWith irish coffee, this could be lethal...
ReplyDeleteI remember (incidentally, at the con where I met you) doing the tim tam thing with champagne...
ReplyDeleteI thought at the time strawberry champagne would have been better, but it wasn't bad ;)
I usually do it with the dark chocolate tim tams and spiced hot chocolate ;)
Ooooh DARK chocolate. NOW we're into the realms of serious temptation.
ReplyDeleteI've heard Aussi folk rave about Tim Tams but have no idea what they really taste like. For example how do Tim Tams compare to Hobnobs (IMHO Dark chocolate hobnobs should be banned from sale when I'm in the UK because they are far far too moreish)?
ReplyDeleteNow you've made me hungry for tim tams.
ReplyDeleteFrancis: Dunno. What's a Hobnob?
ReplyDeleteKatrina - go on. You want one. You NEED one ;-).
ReplyDeleteSigh. I'm craving Tim Tam's now, too. Have you had a Magnum yet? I remember my first Magnum...
ReplyDeletemagnum icecream? Unless they are very different we had them in South Africa.
ReplyDeleteHad Tim-Tams once. I like that method of eating them though. Sounds tasty....
ReplyDeleteFrancis? I think HobNobs are based on oat biscuits (cookies)? Tim Tams are chocolate biscuits, chocolate cream filling, and chocolate shell.
ReplyDeleteTim Tams slams are amazing with port.. They don't melt but.. OMG...
ReplyDeleteThink I should tell my dad about that one krumphff!
ReplyDeleteDave, you're right that I need one. The question is, where am I going to get one? They're few and far between in the US.
ReplyDeleteMartinB - I know you well enough to say you'd love it.
ReplyDeleteKrumpff - I'm still planning on coffee with orange liquer and dark chocolate. But the permiability of the biscuit leads to all sorts of ideas... Stuff called Vin Santo that the Italians have with little almond biscotti (seriously good) I'd like to try.
ReplyDeleteKatrina... my bad. Nothing worse than craving something you can't get. When I next come to the US for a con I plan a tim tam slam session.
ReplyDeleteKatrina? In another discussion of Tim Tam availability in the US, people mentioned http://evryaustralian.stores.yahoo.net/ and http://www.simplyoz.com as possible sources.
ReplyDeleteDave, re permeability of biscuit. Pop a little Viagra in the coffee, should stop the biscuit going limp. The residents at AmberGlen swear by it.
ReplyDeleteDave - I'm sure that bringing tim tams to a con would make you popular with those who know what they are. They are actually made in the US, by Pepperidge Farms, but somehow knowing that doesn't translate into actually being able to buy them most of the time.
ReplyDeleteAs good as tim tams are, they're not at the top of my list of things I crave from Australia. Federation chocolate tops that list. If you ever come anywhere near me, I'd be willing to bribe you nicely to bring some of that.