December in Port Moresby

The last couple of months in every year is extremely humid in Port Moresby. November is a dry month but December usually has a lot of summer showers. December also marks the annual migration of the expatriate community in Port Moresby to their home countries and all flights would be booked 3 months from the flight date. PNG students who go to Australia return for their school break and the flights from Australia-PNG are also packed and for domestic flights, Port Moresby-Rabaul would be hard to book as hordes of PNG Chinese go back to their families for the holidays.

Retail establishments prepare for the onslaught of shoppers and the frenzy peaks at around the 23rd. Christmas day is very quiet and on boxing day, you would see families having a barbeque in their backyards or lounging by their pool sides.

Starting last year, the National Capital District government has been holding a music / entertainment festival at Jack Pidik park on 5-mile. This lasts for 23 days. The area would be jampacked with onlookers and merry makers every night. They are there to socialize, to watch the Christmas holiday lights and to enjoy the night's entertainment.

Hotel restaurants such as Bacchus and Clubs such as the Royal Papuan Yacht Club organise special dinner menus for the holidays. Clubs like the Gold Club also prepare special events.

All in all, Port Moresby becomes a different place during December. Unfortunately for me, it's time to go and spend time with family so this will be my last post for 2011. I shall return in the 3rd week of January. Until then, I shall leave you with some interesting photos from Port Moresby.

happy buai seller.

we have a mosque! it's at hohola.

moresby is quite foggy in the mornings. airplanes have trouble landing in the mornings at times and it's not unusual for a plane to turn back.

paintings like these are everywhere around the city. tourists love them!

ela beach from togouba hill.

town from burns peak.

town from the edge of the yacht club.

bird of paradise sculpture close to parliament.

get a pet crocodile from croc sellers!

Happy Christmas and may you have a Prosperous New Year! Ciao!

Chicken Mushroom Risotto

Rice dishes come in all forms. Risotto is an Italian rice dish that is cooked slowly and labouriously as you'll soon see. I decided to cook this today as I wanted to eat more rice in my diet and I thought making risotto would be delicious. Mind you this is my version without the alcohol as what most recipes out there would call for.

The ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups of arborio rice (or any other starchy rice)
• 1 litre of chicken stock
• 200 grams chicken cubes
• 1 onion
• 3 large button mushrooms (they ran out of brown mushrooms so I'm improvising)
• strong flavoured cheese (i used blue and cheddar, most recipes call for parmesan)
• butter

Get your stock and simmer it. Now in a saucepan, saute in butter your mushrooms and onions. Once these are browned, take them out and saute your chicken in butter. Once the chicken is half-cooked, put back the mushrooms and onions and pour in your rice then pour enough chicken stock to just reach the level of the rice. Let the rice absorb the stock then pour more stock. Remember, you have to constantly stir the rice or it will stick to the pan and burn. After you have reduced the stock about 4 times, put in your cheese and mix it well to let the cheese melt in the rice. Now pour in more stock and reduce again. Keep on doing this until the rice is soft and chewy and becomes sticky creamy. Now serve!

the ingredients. well, some of them.

slice the onion and mushrooms.

simmer your stock and saute your mushrooms and onions.

cook your chicken.

chop up your cheese.

put the rice in.

pour your stock in.

constantly stir your rice while reducing the stock.

after several reductions, put in the cheese and let it melt.

keep on adding more stock and keep on reducing it.

once the rice has become sticky creamy and chewy, serve!

lunch is served with strawberry mlik!

Ciao!

Rust Photography

I do not know if I am alone in my fascination of the natural process of oxidisation in metal objects. I find it absolutely wonderful how the process creates these brown-reddish colours with various textures. Of course, all this is caused by sodium so the frequency of rust is more common around coastal areas which is why rust is often seen on boats and piers.

Since 2010, I have been taking photos of rusted objects whenever I come across them. Here are a few photos.

That's it for tonight. I've been on medication lately as it is flu season here due to the change in weather. I've been taking these:

Good night folks! Ciao!

A deli in PNG!

Yes sir, we do have our own deli in PNG and it has been around ever since I washed up on PNG's shores. It has got deli meats, a proper cheese room, hand-made chocolates, breads and all sorts of odds and ends which they bring in from time to time. At the moment, they have a wide selection of bottled water.

I had lunch there with some of my friends last Sunday where I had crab lasagne and some raspberry gelato. I had a double espresso too. This is one of the few places where they make an espresso with coffee cream on top so you know it's done right. Deli KC is good for a Sunday afternoon coffee, brunch or dinner. You can have focaccia with olive oil & balsamic vinegar while waiting. You can get onion bagels, kalamata olives and mimolette cheese. A cornetto here is not a frozen delight but the traditional Italian bread filled with either cream or chocolate!

Here are some photos:

the sweets showcase. you can also order a cake from them. if you have a special occasion, they can do one with fondant icing.

the bread showcase. i misstheir walnut bread which they used to make years ago.

the main showcase. they usually have some hummus and dolmades.

the chocolate showcase. i love their chocolate covered coffee beans.

behind those walls lie the cheese room!

they have all sorts of goodies around the place.

olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

my double espresso.

By the way, if you're looking for deli meats, here are my recommendations:

• Vision City for pancetta, coppa or prosciutto. The raw deli meats.
• Boroko Foodworld for Kassler, all manners of sausages except chorizo. I get my fresh herbs here too but they never seem to have any Tarragon.

Ciao!

Roast Chicken

Chicken is a staple in Papua New Guinea. Surprisingly, people refer to meat here as protein so do not be surprised when people ask you for protein. I like to do roasts as they are easy to do. All you have to do is throw the meat into the oven and wait. Of course, there are a few more things that you have got to do so I'm here to tell you what these are.

The ingredients:

• Chicken - size 15
• Salt
• Pepper
• Olive oil or butter
• Dried herbs (optional)
• Onion (optional)
• Lemon (optional)
• Garlic (optional)
• Carrots (optional)

The procedure:

I always like to marinade my chicken in salt water. I mix about 1/3 cup of salt to 2 litres of water and immerse the chicken in it for 2 hours. I then rinse it in cold water after and leave it in the refrigerator overnight. When you're about to cook it, rinse it again and dry it with a paper towel.

Slice the onion in 2 and stuff it in the chicken. Quarter the lemon and stuff that into the chicken as well. Separate the garlic cloves and stuff that into the chicken too. Sprinkle pepper on the chicken and drizzle olive oil on it.

Chop the carrots and the other onion and the rest of the garlic and lay it on a baking tray. I use a disposable aluminium tray that is about 2-inches deep since I only have a baking sheet for cookies. Mix some salt in water and put a little in just to prevent these from burning when roasting then drizzle it with olive oil and sprinkle it with pepper.

Now this is important. You have to use a rack to elevate the chicken and allow the hot air underneath your fowl to allow even cooking. As the bird cooks, its natural juices will drip down into the carrots adding to the flavour.

Preheat your oven to 180C and throw the chicken in for 70 minutes. Bring the chicken out after and let it rest for 10 minutes. Enjoy!

prepare your salt water.

immerse your chicken in it.

prepare your other ingredients.

you need a tray and a rack.

chop your garlic.

lay out your chopped carrots on the tray.

chop your onions.

quarter your lemons.

stuff the lemon, garlic and onions in the chicken.

this chicken is stuffed!

pour some salt water on your carrots, garlic and onions.

sprinkle pepper on your carrots, garlic and onions.

now drizzle olive oil on it.

lay your stuffed chicken on the rack on top of the carrots.

sprinkle pepper on the chicken.

drizzle olive oil on the chicken.

now the bird is ready to go.

here's the bird all cooked.

the chicken skin has a light crisp to it.

this chicken is extra tender and really juicy.

By the way, you can also add potatoes and pumpkin with the carrots underneath the chicken. Ciao!