Our own little Kiwi Thread ! page 223

[NZ primal Gwamma]

Morning all - I am with you there Joanie - on the learn new things !!!!!
life is for living and learning !!!!!
okay so out to lunch AGAIN today. Am I popular at the moment or what !!!!!!!
......and I have been refered to as a badass - life can't get any better !!!!!!!!

[seaweed]

afternoon! i have just been up a mountain not out to lunch. some people have all the luck LOL

what is this river in Manhatten that you refer ??????

well denial is a river in africa and it is also apparently a restruant in manhatten. one very out of it night a long time ago we ended up having a discussion about the best way to deal with a situation and it kinda ended up becoming the river in manhatten. too much bourbon LOL so i have always refered to denial as swimming down that river. or on occasions drowning in it!

LOL Joanie. Kina are poss my fave. sorta sweet and taste of the sea without being salty. you do get ones that are more sour but i dont care. i have to restrain myself to make sure they make it home to get cooked as i often just smash them on the beach and eat them. crayfish are so damm expensive that if i acquire one, i boil it and eat it with aoili. the legs, the mustard, the body. and then make broth with the shells. i've never gotten to the stage where i needed to spice them but my son in law who used to crayfish in the sounds tells me stories of getting stuck in fog on the boat and the freezer breaking down and having to live of crayfish curry for a few days. he's not as into them as i am as a result.

last time i looked in the fish shop paua was $90/kg live in shell. whilst it might sound expensive, you do need to factor in your gas to get to where you go diving, your time etc. so if you go somewhere where it isn't a sure bet, you could be better off buying it. which is also why we tell no one where we go. unless it is full of sharks and real gnarly LOL then we tell them the shark stories which are wickedly off putting.

[JoanieL]

We call the crayfish mudbugs and I think the seasoning/spice boils come from Cajun influences. Since they're farmed (and I think smaller than what you may have), they aren't really too expensive. From about $2.69/lb during peak supply season to about $12/lb in a restaurant. They might have gone higher this year because we had the Superbowl right in the middle of Mardi Gras which probably made the demand go through the roof.

LOL on the shark stories.

Now I'm in the mood to try urchin again.

[seaweed]

are your mudbugs fresh or salt water? crayfish are salt water and we get koura which are fresh water.

[JoanieL]

I thought it was brackish because we have so much of that here, but I looked it up and ours are fresh water.

Here's something to make non-US folks go, "Huh?" Alligator, which is lean and yummy is indigenous to the south. I can find it in the stores, but it's not that common. However, I can easily get it shipped to me from the North West (Seattle) after it's been shipped to them from Louisiana and Florida. I'm in Louisiana. It's crazy. By the time I would get it, it's been shipped 2000 miles each way.

Speaking of shipped foods, I just ordered 32 pounds of NZ grass fed/finished flank steaks. Can't wait. I'm going towards grinding my own meat so I'm sure what all goes into it, and I like lean. Better price than anything I can get locally. I did an experiment where I emptied my freezer and fridge of all protein before I replaced it, so now, down to nine eggs, this will be my first stocking up of truly heathful food.

[NZ primal Gwamma]

yay for grass fed NZ steaks. I would bring over loads of NZ beef and lamb if I could - but alas, they won't let me - so sorry Joanie.
Seas you and your shark stories give me the heebie geebies. Please just come home after each of your hunting gathering sessions intact !!!
Lunch - lovely, Tongan boyz - lovely, the CW cake I made for them - lovely, Dh - lovely........... shall I go on ??????

[seaweed]

you show off G LOL i got to go up the mountain. did i already say that? yes i was exercising whilst you were cavorting LOL i am prob statistically more likely to get snuffed by a tourist driving on the wrong side of the road on the way to go diving than i am to get eaten by a shark. someone also told me i was too skinny to get eaten by a shark the other day lmao i told him that i would hold on to that thought when i was in the water. it didnt make me feel much safer i have to say when i was in shark central at the weekend LOL Joanie you prob pay less for our meat than we do. i think we have had crocodile before? i got it from new world. they used to sell wild goat as well but they stopped. i love wild goat so i was somewhat annoyed. alligator or croc or whatever it was, i wasnt that fussed on. i have yet to find meat i dislike but i found it quite bland. kinda like i dont really go out of my way to eat chicken anymore for the same reason.

[NZ primal Gwamma]

I found ostridge really bland, but have never tried goat or croc, kangaroo or alligator - loved eel, not sure if snake would taste the same ????

one thing that I would love to do, is feed a lamb or two on mint or coriander or another nice flavoured herb before they went into the freezer - see if it changes the taste.

[seaweed]

doesnt high country lamb taste quite herby? or is that the fact it is merino? it should make a diff as you definitely get a diff in flavour in wild pigs and deer depending on what they have eaten. i wonder how much you would have to give them? i'd prefer a wild thyme fed one myself to coriander or mint. i have never had ostrich but dad did tell me they got ostrich eggs and penguin eggs when he was growing up. apparently the penguin eggs tasted very fishy LOL we saw a very fat stupid rare penguin on the track to when we went diving at the weekend. they very obviously dont taste good or they would have been extinct by now.

[JoanieL]

Lord I wish someone would tell me I'm too skinny. If I wore a yellow bathing suit, some shark would probably bite me thinking I was a surfboard. heh.

I paid about $8/lb US - not sure what that translates to and it includes overnight shipping. But it's what I pay locally for 95/5 ground beef (grass fed).

More later. Off to watch Iron Chef - funnily enough, I think the secret ingredient is sea urchin.