Food in Lae

So, to food. If you're not much of a cook, you might want to brush up on you skills before you come up here. while there's a few restaurants, and the ubiquitous Big Rooster, (a fattier, greasier, nastier version of Red Rooster, if that is at all possible), your choice is limited. We have pizza at most of the big hotels, but for some unknown reason, the pizza base is usally quite sweet and, more often than not, undercooked.There are 2 Asian restaurants in town, the Bugger-Up and Th Aviat, both of which are pretty hit-and-miss in the quality department.

The Lae Inter does an awesome all-you-can-eat seafood buffet on Friday nights, but it's pricey, and the cost of drinks will kill you. There's the Yacht club, which is good... not great.. about 70% of the time.

And even if we had a better choice, not too many people want to eat out for breakfast, lunch and dinner every single day of their 3 year tour.

So, some basic culinary skills are required.

Queue lecture on ingredients:

yes,

Well,,,,

The supermarkets up here are odd, to say the least. Ingredients come in dribs and drabs. A few weeks ago, Lae hadn't seen honey for months. Then, within a blink of an eye, it seemed as every shelf in Lae was laden with honey. We had honey out the whazzoo.

Dairy products are usually past their use-by dates. Often, the use-by dates have been removed. Yoghurt is a premium item, and can cost you  up to 30K for a small tub. Cheese is most often dodgy, and is always very expensive.

Bacon comes pre-packed and will usually taste and smell of fish.

However, someone at Food Mart obviously is in the know, because, currently, there are some of the most awesome Middle Eastern products I have ever seen! Halva, falafel mix, tahini.. stuff I'd struggle to find outside a speciality store in Melbourne is fair falling from the skies in Lae right now.. and it's all super cheap!

Keeping ingredients is a bit tricky, as well. even in the 'fridge, vegetables only last a day or two, especially the leafy greens. Every time you open the 'fridge door, the 90% humidity enters, and things spoil quickly. Biscuits, once opened, have to be consumed,or the humidity makes them soggy within hours.

Keeping the ants out of the sugar/flour/spices is an ongoing battle I am doomed to lose, no matter how many ant traps I lay.

Even so, a bit of forward planning, and the ability to think on your feet will help you up here.

Just because you sa lamb shanks last week, doesn't mean you can menu-plan for them this week.

I do all my menu planning right at the supermarket shelves. Untill I know I can get all the ingredients, I don't bother planning anything in advance. If I feel like meat/seafood, I buy that first, and then plan all the trimmings around what I've been able to get.

A trip to the loal main market is quick and easy, and if you take a husband/mari/friend you'll be safe enough.

Also, plenty of families have their own gardens up here. Both expat and local families are only too happy to share/swap vegies that may not be available in the shops.The key to sanity survival up here is to roll with what's available.

And because I did the very delicious (if not somewhat vertically challenged) Miz Jan a favour recently, she turned up this morning with a veritible bounty of goodies from her garden.

while 2 minute noodles WAS on the menu, today's lunch is bought to you by:

Wild rocket, spinach, burdock and dill from Jan's garden in Mount Hagen, fresh pickled beetroot from Miz Jan's Lae garden, mint from her balcony, oven-roasted tomatoes from last night's lamb, and fetta (that has been sealed up as tight as a Scottish fish's arse) from my 'fridge.

Cheaper and fresher than a salad of wilted iceberg from Brian Bells, nicer by far than a gristly steak sambo from the Melo, and tastier than the not-quite-microwave-warmed noodles I had at the Yachty last week.

And better than anything they serve at the Golf Club. Mouldy meat pies, anyone??

Canadian Wild Smoked Salmon

We are lucky enough to have, by virtue of the Internet, made friends around the world. So last week marked our second visit from Canadian friends, Lil and Marc. And knowing Furry and I as they do, they presented us with a HUGE box of Canadian Wild Smoked Salmon. I was verily aquiver with anticipation at eating this delux delight!! (We had previously scoffed their offering of Elk and Whiskey Pate.... le swooooooon!)

I had originally planned to go with some sourdough bread, the salmon and a perfectly poached egg, but after Agnes's wonderful offering of home-made bagels, lox and cream cheese, I had a hankering for something different.

So I asked my wise and worldly friends at Chowhound, who came up with the idea of doing ti Japanese-style. Thinly sliced at room temp, on hot steamed rice, with dipping sauces of terryaki, fresh ginger and lime juice. I also added a dipping sauce of light soy and wasabi.

There we were. Furry and I, ready to chow down.....

and then we opened the salmon....

Rather than being the light, orange, SLICE-ABLE fillet we expected, we were faced with a deep, dense meaty slab more reminiscent of a smoked mackerel. There was absolutely no way we could slice it. It was flaky and dense, redolent with the alder smoke.

It was absolutely divine, but NOT suited to the purpose of slicing and not really suited to the light Japanese flavours I had to accompany it.

Think double-smoked trout, or those lovely oily/dry meaty fish you can get in Greek deli's.

It probably went better with the ginger and lime dipping sauce than it did with the darker soy and wasabi. Eventually, I poured the dipping sauce over my rice, ate that separately and then tucked into the salmon as a finger lickin' snack of its own.

I had entertained ideas of blinis with creme fraiche and caviar, but I think this meat is even to heavy for that.

This salmon is not fit for dainty morsels and subtle flavours, this is a salmon to chow down on in the middle of the Canadian winter before you jump on your trusty steed, all Dudley Do-Right and wade thru 20ft snow drifts to save Miss Nell from Darstadly Dan!

Luckily, there is about 1/2 left, so next time, I am going to go with a more Scandinavian idea... or maybe back to the original of sourdough and poached eggs.