Mushroom Mushroom!
I found this massive Mushroom at Mt Hagen market just after our holiday. I bought it just to try it as you don’t often find fresh mushrooms at markets in PNG and I haven’t seen this large variety before.
Name the Fruit…
You might expect me to show you some rare or exotic Papua New Guinean fruit, but no, name this fruit…
It’s not what you think!
Happy Valentines Day!
St Valentine’s Day is not just a special day for us for the usual reasons. It was on 14th February 2017 that we met each other’s parents in person for the first time, and then, 2 days later, Ryan proposed with all 4 of them with us, so mid-February holds very special memories.
Crocodile for dinner?
A lovely friend of ours, Helen in Wewak, on the north coast of PNG, recently sent us an eski (cool box) full of tropical fruit, including Kulau (Young Pineapples, great for drinking), pineapples and avocados. She also included a surprise, some Crocodile Tail fillets.
Helen assured me you cook them just like chicken…
Christmas Pineapple
This is the Pineapple which we just plucked from our own garden!
Ryan planted it around 2 years ago, and it decided to ripen, just in time for Christmas, although by the time you are reading this it will have already been eaten! ;-)
Shiv’s Birthday Celebration
My birthday’s on Tuesday this year, so we celebrated a little early as Ryan is flying on Tuesday and we don’t have any expat neighbours for me to have a birthday tea party with.
As I expected, no post from overseas arrived in time, although I know some is coming! However, my Parents-in-Law sent my birthday card with us from Canada and I have some wonderful friends in PNG who sent me cards and gifts.
So, even though this was an unusually quiet birthday with no friends around, I feel throughly spoilt and extremely blessed, thanks mostly to my wonderful husband!
Sweet Treats you just can’t buy!
I love cooking and making delicious things in the kitchen, and with limited selection from the grocery stores, which are a flight away, it’s a good thing too!
Whilst we were out of PNG, we hid my Kombucha SCOBY in the back of a dark cupboard and I was relived to discover it survived! Whilst in Hagen some friends offered us blueberry & cinnamon Kombucha, which was delicious. I found frozen blueberries in the chiller in one of the stores in Hagen (a rare and valuable find!), so I thought I’d try it. The result is a resounding success and will be repeated often, so long as I have blueberries in my freezer!
Unexpected Guests
Last month, we had Fiona, our Finance Manager, plan to pay us a visit in Telefomin for 2 nights. As we had 2 members of our Maintenance Team staying in the MAF transit house, I arranged for Fiona to stay in one of my absent neighbours’ houses. We like to provide a meal to our MAF visitors, and as Fiona is Gluten intolerant, I made Pumpkin Soup & Gluten Free bread. Then, mid-afternoon, Ryan called me over the radio (the mobile reception was out!) to tell me that the Wewak pilots (Brad & Andy, pictured) were stuck on the ground in Eliptamin waiting for the weather to clear up. Their flying programme had them coming to Telefomin next and as they had been on the ground for so long, it was likely they would run out of daylight and not be able to make it home to Wewak…
Re-living our Dating Days
When we were living in Mt Hagen and dating back in 2016, we used to go to the “Kofi Kave” for lunch time dates occasionally. There aren’t many options to go out when you’re dating in Mt Hagen, so we had to make the most of every opportunity. They have a lovely fish pond and a small aviary so it felt like a like a little piece of paradise just a short walk from the hustle-and-bustle of the airport.
There are NO dating options outside our house in Telefomin, so when we were staying in Hagen back in October, we thought we would pop back to the Kofi Kave for a date-lunch!
Chicken for Dinner?
Ryan transported 60kg of frozen chickens to Telefomin last week to help celebrate the Graduation of the High School students.
Unfortunately, the boxes the chickens came in broke when Ryan picked them up, so he borrowed some eskis (cool boxes) so that he didn’t end up with chicken juice all over the aircraft!
Giant Sweet Potato
Our small, local market is just a 5 minute walk from our house, so I stop in most days, on my way home after walking Ryan to the airport. When I popped in the other day, I found this ENORMOUS sweet potato for sale, for a mere K5 (about GBP1.25 or CAD1.6). I asked the lady and her son who were selling it to pose for a picture because I have never seen one so big before!
Sunday up the Mountain
After a week in Mt Hagen which included a very loud party at 4am on Saturday morning, and a rock-fight in the neighbouring field on Wednesday evening (which was ended when the police shot tear-gas into the crowd), our Sunday afternoon at Rondan Ridge Lodge, overlooking Mt Hagen, was not only a welcome respite, but very relaxing.
We enjoyed a lovely lunch with our friends the Glass and Coker families, followed by a board game and a little walk amongst the animals. Ray even got to enjoy the Lodge with us (he is pictured in Shiv’s lap).
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!
We celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend with two other Canadian families, one with MAF and the other who works for a local tourism company.
Ray enjoyed the leftovers!
Mushrooms!!!
Simple pleasures can be a huge blessing!
Our friend, Glenys who is a pilot based in Goroka, kindly arranged to send some locally grown Oyster Mushrooms on the MAF plane to some of us in Mt Hagen (My friend, Mandy is pictured with me). This is only the third time I have seen fresh mushrooms in my 6.5 years in PNG! Usually we just use tinned ones, so this is a lovely treat.
Catching up with PNG Friends!
To celebrate our release from quarantine (and Mandy’s birthday, pictured right, centre) we went out for dinner on Wednesday evening with some very dear PNG friends.
At the top of the table are pictured Brandon & Sharlene who have been looking after our dog, Ray, for 5 months!!!
Enjoying some Simple Pleasures!
We went to the city today for me (Shiv) to have acupuncture, another effort to try and reduce my daily back pain.
On the way home, we thought we’d indulge in drive-through ice cream! Just one of the little things we won’t be able to have once we return to PNG. But it’s ok, I know how to make home-made ice cream! :-D
Happy Birthday Ryan!
We’ve had a fairly chilled day, BBQ & cake for lunch with our family, and Ryan & Rosa and their kids, followed by a walk through the Prairie wilderness where Ryan found a beautiful patch of “Shooting Star” flowers (pictured).
Click on the picture, left, to watch a video of our friend, Nurse Rhema, one of the local health care workers who MAF supports and we fly out of Telefomin.