Strawberry Jam

Strawberries! Don't you love them? I do! I love them fresh, I love them in desserts and I love them sweet and on my freshly toasted buttered bread. What I don't like though is how most commercially available jams are far too sweet. So I decided to make my own this week. How do you make? You only need 3 things and the process is so simple, it's hard to get it wrong.

 

The ingredients:

• 1 kg fresh strawberries - make sure they are ripe
• 150 grams of caster sugar
• Water

The procedure:

 

Cut off the leaves and stems from the strawberries and boil them in water. Once they have boiled, take the strawberries out. Save the strawberry water as you can use it later. Now scrunch the sugar and the boiled strawberries together being careful not to smash the strawberries. Put the mixture into a saucepan and simmer for 30 minutes. If your mixture is too dry, put a little of the strawberry water from earlier. Stir the mixture every few minutes as it can stick to the bottom of the pan. After 30 minutes, take it out and let it cool. As it cools, it becomes stickier. If the mixture becomes really thick while in the pan, you overdid it so it's best to keep on checking it.

 

And now the photos:

 

prepare your ingredients - strawberries & caster sugar.

slice off the leaves and stalks.

put the strawberries in a pot with water and let it boil.

make sure it comes to a rolling boil.

drain the strawberries.

mix the sugar in. don't worry if you didn't drain the strawberries totally. as you can see, i still have leftover liquid in my mixing bowl.

scrunch it all up.

pour the mixture into a sauce pan.

simmer for 30 minutes.

and now you have fresh strawberry jam!

 

the jam would still have enough whole strawberries.

 

and it is delicious on french toast!

Now here's a tip. Do you remember the strawberry water from earlier? Mix some lemon juice in it along with some sugar and ice it and you have a refreshing drink!

 

Enjoy!

 

Tari - Hela Province

Little is known about Tari. It is a remote town in Hela Province in the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea. This is where the LNG project, the largest foreign investment in the Pacific is taking place. There is so much gas here that the country is ensured of revenue for decades to come.

welcome to Tari! - the arrival area.

I took a morning flight to Tari. Unfortunately, the flight schedule went topsy-turvy and my flight was delayed for 3 hours. By the time I got to Tari, it was already 2pm and the place seemed empty. The first thing you notice when you get off the plane is the weather. It is pleasantly cool. There is no terminal here and you pick up your checked-in luggage right on the tarmac under a sign that says "Welcome to Tari!"

the check-in office.

the departure lounge.



inside the departure lounge.



a lot of small planes and helicopters fly in and out all day.



2 massive Hercules planes fly in and out every 30 minutes carrying cargo for the LNG project. a Hercules plane can easily fit in 2 20-foot containers! this is one busy airport! 




70 series land cruisers are everywhere!



When you get out of the airport, what you would notice is that this place is land cruiser country. The roads are not sealed and you would have to do a fair bit of off-roading. There is a lot of development though and hopefully, the roads will be paved by 2013. The main road snakes around the airport and so does the township. It is a small town with only 1 of everything. They have a small private bank, a petrol station, a hospital, a police station, a court house, a few government buildings, 1 lodge, 1 restuarant inside the lodge, and several small trade stores.

you can see that the roads are dirt & gravel tracks.

a lot of these large dump trucks go around the town as they clear large boulders.

the lone petrol station.

the lone bank which also acts as the agent for the post office.

the public market. food is cheap here. a guy bought a good-sized pineapple for less than $0.10! a bag of lettuce which had about 6 heads of lettuce was $1.50.

a typical shop selling dry goods. this is the only cash & carry type of store here.

Tari gets cold. The temperature was somewhere around 16C when I was there and it's almost summer! The temperature drops by 1700 and you'll start seeing steam coming from your mouth when you speak. Power is a problem up here. You only get electricity for about 12 hours a day in a broken schedule.

I stayed at Mo-Ha trading which is a business run by women. I have to say that I was really impressed that it was all run by women in such a remote and tough place. Lodging is decent and there is a small restaurant where you can have a hot meal. You have to order in advance though as they only prepare and cook the food when you mention it.

my bed.

the restaurant.

Now how are the people? They're friendly! I was surprised myself. The Tari people are fiercely proud of their culture and you would see people with painted faces and wearing traditional garments walking around the town . For fun, they wager with darts and the prizes are prepaid mobile phone cards or food. You would see the dart targets all over Tari. The people here also love their pigs. Pigs are a big part of their culture and is a sign of wealth. If you don't have a pig, then you do not have any money. They walk pigs around the town and carry small ones in their arms.

to play, a dart will cost you K0.50.

painted nose.

the woman is carrying a pig.

this guy was trying to trade his pig for some cigarettes.

woman with a painted face.

i thought she had a tree kangaroo on her head but it was a stuffed bear!

To augment their income, they recycle cans. These are apparently bought for K4/kg. They chop and sell firewood. They knit woolen hats and they sell local produce.

recycling aluminium cans.

selling firewood.

knitting and selling woolen caps.

this lady is selling her banana hat.

The flora here is amazing! I took so many photos of flowers here but I've already made this page picture heavy so I'll leave you with just a photo of a Hibiscus before I go. I certainly did not expect Tari to be the way it turned out to be. Surely, it encapsulates how people describe PNG as the land of the unexpected.

Hibiscus flower with pollen.

Supermarkets in Port Moresby

Lately, I have been repeatedly asked where I buy my ingredients for my recipes. Well, I've compiled this short list of supermarkets and what to get from them for your benefit.

A. Boroko Foodworld - they have the best selection of meat and sausages. They also have good honey multigrain, jogga, and bacon & cheese bread which I love to have in the morning. They also are very consistent with their fresh milk supply as well as their fruits. I love buying my fresh herbs, mushrooms and strawberries here. They have a small selection of imported foods such as Indian, Filipino, American and even Mexican. They also had some South African before. They have a good variety of cereals and health food and this is where I used to buy Quinoa from. They also have a good selection of Arnott's cookies. This is by far my favourite supermarket. I don't like buying bananas from Foodworld though since they're always still green. Get some Teddy's rootbeer from this place too! There is a bottleshop here where you can find Botrytis Semillon, Honey Mead and even Sticky Chardonnay. Their parking area is safe.

Boroko Foodworld

B. Vision City - this place is really a mall but inside is a large supermarket with a large dry goods section where you can buy auto accessories, electronics, shoes and even underwear! I barely venture into the dry goods section though. I buy my deli meats here because it comes in a vacuum sealed pouch. Though Foodworld has a better selection and fresher deli meats, I prefer keeping mine vacuum sealed as I tend to forget about them once they're in the refrigerator. They have the best selection of ice cream, frozen food such as smoked salmon, crab balls or even eclairs to name a few. I buy my multigrain bread from Brumby's which is located inside. One thing I like about this place is that their bananas are ripe and they have fresh shitake mushrooms. They also have a better selection of Asian tinned food such as Malaysian beef curry and Chaosansi from China. The bottle shop here has Tiger beer! You have two options for parking here. Underground parking is pay parking while outside parking is free. I park underground as it is secure though outside parking isn't bad too.

Vision City is actually a mall. RH operates the supermarket inside.

C. SVS 2-mile - the only reason why I like going to this place is for the chicken pastry in the morning and the teh botol which is Indonesian Iced Tea. However, they do have a selection of snacks such as Loacker wafer cubes and an assortment of Asian snacks. This is the place to go to if you're looking for frozen milkfish and other Asian foods. They have a good assortment of Asian sauces too. If you're looking for new sports shoes, there is a Puma/Nike shop inside. The bakery here can also bake some good cakes for birthdays and you can buy cute candles here too. Parking here is ok but just be careful not to park too close to others. I get scratched here more often. It can be hard to park during peak hours.

SVS 2-mile

D. SVS Harbour City - this place has the best selection of chocolates and other confections amongst all the supermarkets. This is also where you'll find eggnog and juices from the Daily Juice company. They carry Black & Gold food which is an Australian house brand. I like coming here for the pies from the bakery though I find the bread here easy to spoil. They used to make fresh short bread too but I haven't seen any for a long time. They have a good selection of D'Arenberg and Wolf Blass wines here. There is also a selection of Penfolds as well as liquers. Oh yeah, they have Tawny Port! The parking area here is large and relatively safe.

SVS Harbour City

Other places which I rarely go to.

E. Stop N Shop Waigani - the last time I was here, I bought some frozen brownies and jolly green giant tinned food. I was surprised to see that they had turkey. They also bring in a lot of Fijian products such as FMF and a lot of Indian brands too. I do not feel safe parking here. When I do park here, I make sure there is nothing inside the car to tempt would-be burglars and car thieves.

F. TST 4-mile - I have only been here a few times during my whole stay here. If you come here, you have to park at the back entrance where the Big Rooster drive-thru is. I don't remember what's inside but I do remember seeing stuff from Coles. The parking area at the back is safe though a lot of trucks pass through here and you can find yourself blocked at times by the car queue from Big Rooster.

Happy shopping!

Voigtlander 35/1.2 Nokton version I

the Nokton attached.

I bought the Voigtlander 35 Nokton a little over two years ago. It was my first ever Voigtlander lens. I first had my doubts about using any other lens on a Leica M but my friend Keith who is an accomplished street photographer swears by it. I ordered one and when it arrived, the packaging was less than impressive. But we buy photographic products not for the packaging but for the image quality it can produce. I hurriedly unwrapped it and inside the simple box was a folded information sheet and some material to protect the lens from shock.

the lens at 1.2.

the aperture set at 22. notice how close 16 and 22 are?

the hood is made of wrinkled-finish plastic.

I vividly remember it was dusk when I attached it to my digital camera. I adjusted the aperture to 1.2 and went into the front yard. This is the widest 35mm production lens available in the market today so I was expecting fabulous results. Needless to say, I was a Voigtlander convert from that day on. I salute Cosina, the Japanese company that makes these beautiful lenses on the fine job that they did. Cosina does such a great job that they are also the ones that manufactures lenses for Zeiss. Well, most of the Zeiss lenses anyway.

the Nokton has a 52mm diametre.

the Nokton with front lens cap, hood and rear lens cap. 

The 35 Nokton has aperture settings from 1.2 to 22 and comes with a lens hood. It is a bit long so you can expect it to partially cover your viewfinder as well as for it to be on the heavy side. The lens cap is metal and fits snugly on the lens hood. The filter thread is 52mm and I found an old Canon filter to cover the front element. The version II of this fantastic lens is out now and I have been told that it is even better and that the bokeh it produces has a much more creamy effect compared to my version I.

In Australia, you can get it from Mainline Photo in Sydney and in Singapore/Malaysia, you can get it from Chiif. If you're in America, you can get it from Camera Quest. For it's price of $999, it is a bargain considering that it is a stellar performer. Of course, you can't compare it to Leica M lenses but then again, the cheapest Leica lens available now is more than double the price of this lens.

Now here are some samples.



taken at 1.2 in a dark restaurant. the film was pushed.



slightly stopped down.



taken at 1.2. they're sitting right besides each other but the guy is totally out of focus while the girl is sharp.

I hope you enjoyed this. Ciao!