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Published: April 24th 2009
The Theatre
complete with Bamboo ScaffoldingJournal 9 Wednesday 22nd April
Walking home from town there were a couple of interesting points. First an overwhelming bad smell, like a really over ripe French cheese - eppoisses - only worse, and moments later I heard a guy shouting Durian - apparently the most pungent fruit in the world, well it certainly stank. Later a man walked by with a monkey on a chain - something I found utterly discomforting, and yet as I walked on the monkey did not seem in any distress and was walking happily - not on a tight leash, and it could easily have been comparable to someone walking a beloved dog on a lead. The moral dilemmas one finds oneself wrestling with are one of the many interesting facets of travel. I may have expected to be outraged if he had been begging using the monkey to make a living and yet it is hard even to explain why that should be. Was the monkey on the chain wrong? I cannot help thinking so, but what are the implications if we extend that thought to all pets?
We had more success today with me arranging to go in for a meeting
during the school’s INSET on Friday and for the boys to do the same at the primary school on Monday. Nicky meanwhile started work in the Bishop’s office. We also received our first parcel from the UK, sun cream and insect repellent reinforcements! I have even managed to get our local SIM working, though it does seem to be struggling with international texts at the moment. The boys managed a traipse around the local shops for vegetables, and out to the supermarket for a further 10L of water.
Elliot achieved another excellent spot. We had wandered into town, and left Nicky working in the Bishop’s office, when a lorry went past. Jake and I didn’t really look at it, but Elliot did, and exclaimed with joy “There’s an Elephant on it!” Sure enough, there was. I guess if you have an elephant to shift about then a lorry is the only way to do it.
We had feared that we had left our “grow your own” hobby in Stourbridge. Not so, at one point today a man came to shin up our coconut tree leaving us plenty of the “old cooking” coconuts - the only one we ever
see in the UK, and a fresh orange one for each of us to drink. Exploring the grounds while Nicky was at work I found: an orange tree; several banana trees some with bunches on, and some in flower which I had never seen before; several unidentifiable fruit and one, very exciting which would have been unidentifiable a few weeks ago, but that I now know is a Jack fruit tree, one huge specimen of which I found had fallen recently. The plan for tomorrow night then is a Jack fruit and coconut curry all made with ingredients from the garden!
Thursday 23rd The day of the Jackfruit
The main event was the preparation and consumption of the Jack fruit. As I cut into it, it oozed a white sticky substance everywhere. It was like latex, or warm sticky chewing gum. Soap and water only made things stickier, so I switched on my scientist head - if it does not dissolve in water, and is rubber like, perhaps oil will work. I managed to wash my hands in cooking oil and then, having rubbed my hands in clean oil proceeded to separate the fruit and seeds. Luckily a
passing father gave me more advice on which bits were edible, I then boiled it for 20 minutes as instructed and later fried it up with onions, chilli, ginger, garlic and spices. I added roughly chopped coconut - would have been far better grated but I lacked the technology. I long for my kitchen from home with the fresh ingredients from here! Serving it was not an unmitigated disaster, but not far off. Apparently the fruit was not fully mature and it was certainly bland even with the flavours, and only I managed to eat it. Probably Dad and Big Jake would have managed too. The boys were happier with their vegetable noodles. Henceforth I shall leave it to people who know what they are doing!
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chaz
non-member comment
Sitting in The Library
Joe, Hope you and the family are well! Sounds like it! Johnny Parry and I are sitting in the library doing our homework. Things are similar here. I am on a chain too! John has no such moral dilemma. Your Jack fruit cooking, Joe, sounds wonderful....where it is. I'm off to see Alex Ohm and The Lines tonight at The Lamp Tavern in Dudley. see ya, Chaz and John Glad that you are having a cracking time.