Time to Celebrate! - 25,000 views of this blog!

 Celebration Time!!!


Sometime, during the night while I was sleeping in the land "down under", this blog had it's 25,000th viewing and I am delighted, thrilled, and proud!  A great big thank you to each and everyone of my readers, you make the effort I put in to writing it so worth while.



I enjoy blogging for a number of reasons.  Here are some of them in no particular order:

•   I love to share the places I've been and the things I've done. 

•  Having a blog makes me get out, do things and explore this wonderful world in order to have things to write about. 

•  It is greatly satisfying to present the wonders of New Zealand,  from time to time, to readers all over the world

•  I enjoy writing

•  I also enjoy photography

•  The connection to people in all four corners of the globe is stimulating and exciting

•  I hope that my blog is helpful for fellow travelers and adventurers

Those are the few I can think of right now, there are sure to be others.

A blank page, already to go!

So thank you again and to show my appreciation I have two small gifts of New Zealand speciality chocolate to give away.  One to the first overseas reader to send me their details by email and one to the first New Zealand reader to send me their details by email.

  My email address is: jmdunningham@xtra.co.nz

I love feedback so please feel free to post comments at the end of any posts you read.

 In a few weeks time I am off  on an exciting adventure which I will, of course, blog about. 
 Happy travels everyone! 

Feijoa - Autumn's delicious bounty. Plus some easy recipes

Feijoa harvest

Autumn is my favourite season.  In New Zealand it brings still sunny days, mild temperatures and, in Auckland,  a stunning glass like harbour reflecting a clear azure sky.   It is perfect weather to be out walking, admiring the russet and golden leaves falling from the trees and, above all, for eating feijoas.  I love feijoas so anticipate their season with relish each year.  I gorge on them, make jam, chutney, sauces with them, or simply scoop out their flesh to freeze  ready for lots of warm wintery crumbles to be eaten with ice cream or custard.  Hmmmmm, my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Jelly like in the centre and slightly gritty around the edge

The exotic flavoured feijoa, sometimes known as pineapple guava, is a native of South America which thrives in the New Zealand climate.  Few New Zealand children grow up without a feijoa tree in their back yard and a ready supply of free fruit just waiting to be eaten.  Feijoa fruit matures in autumn and is ready to eat when it has fallen from the tree. When ripe it is about the size of an egg with opaque flesh in the middle, which becomes jelly like when ripe, and a slightly gritty outer flesh near the skin.  The most popular way to eat a feijoa is to cut it in half and scoop the flesh out with a spoon. It is perfect on cereal for breakfast and handy and compact in a lunch box, although as far as I'm concerned one feijoa is never enough.

My Roasted Feijoa Chutney and clear, golden, Feijoa Jelly

I have spent the last week in my kitchen cooking up a storm.  I have made feijoa jelly, roasted feijoa chutney and feijoa sauce.  I have also frozen pulped feijoas and, of course eaten heaps along the way.

If, you are lucky enough to have any feijoas here are a couple of very easy recipes:

FEIJOA SAUCE

 

INGREDIENTS

 

500gms feijoa

1/3 cup of sugar

2 tablespoons of water

50 - 75gms crystallised ginger

2 teaspoons cornflour

2 tablespoons of sherry or ginger wine

 

1. Place first 4 ingredients in a microwave proof bowl, cover and cook for 5 minutes, stirring well after 3 minutes

2. Mix cornflour with wine and cook another 2 minutes to thicken.  Total cooking time 7 minutes

This is delicious over ice cream and can be frozen for later use.

Feijoa sauce in the jug

 

FEIJOA JELLY

 

1.Scoop out the flesh of a pile of feijoas (no set weight but try and have at least a kilo)

2.Simmer  gently in a pot until very soft . You do not need to add water as they are juicy but make sure you have the heat very low to start with.

3.Pour the pulp into a muslin cloth and hang to drip into a bowl overnight.  Do not be tempted to squeeze the bag at any stage as this will make the jelly cloudy.

4.The next day measure the juice from the bowl into a pot and add one cup of sugar for every one cup of juice.

5.Bring to the boil and boil rapidly until setting point is reached.

6.You can tell if it is at setting point by putting a teaspoon of the jelly onto a saucer and letting it cool.  Then drag your finger through the middle of the jelly. If the surface wrinkles it is ready.

7.Pour it into jars you have sterilised in the oven for half an hour at 120Degrees C

The lids can be sterilised in boiling water. Seal while still hot.

 

Enjoy!!  Now I must go and have my morning treat - feijoas, of course!!

 



 



Namibia - A hike up Dune 45

In 2010 I had the adventure of a lifetime in Africa, visiting South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Zambia.  I recounted this trip in www.myafricanadventure.blogspot.com and have decided to make occasional revisits to it here.



Among the spectacular sand dunes of the Namib desert

The Sossusvlei area of the Namib desert, in Namibia, is famous for its mountainous red sand dunes which stretch as far as the eye can see. With the ever changing play of light and shadows  across their folds and planes they are a photographer's delight.  Dune 45, at 170 metres tall, is not the tallest of the dunes  but is one of the few tourists  are permitted to climb.  Climbing to the top to watch the sunrise over the spectacular landscape is a "must do" activity needing an early, and, uh oh, it's the desert after all, a freezing cold, start.   By 6am we were sitting in our bus, bundled up like Michelin men, raring to go. Then, at what seemed like breakneck speed, we were off on the 40 minute drive  to get to the Dune and climb it before sunrise.  Like a bunch of over excited school kids we cheered and whopped when our driver overtook a couple of tourist buses on the way, encouraging him "Go, Ronney!" ...everyone was making the mad dash, it seemed. It was still eerily dark when, along with around a hundred other people, we started the silent climb.  Sweet, we thought, how hard can it be to climb a dune?  Very hard as it turns out! Every step sank deeply into the soft fine sand which soon filled my boots and I felt increasingly like a fat, unfit, life long smoker as I huffed and puffed my way up the steep ridge.  Note: Some people recommend climbing the dune in socks



Our group hiking in the Namib amongst the sand mountains

Boy was I grateful when someone up ahead stopped every so often for a breather giving us all a chance to catch our breath, rather nonchalantly,  of course, pretending that we could carry on if that person up front didn't keep stopping!  Finally we got there and sat with our legs dangling over the sharp ridge waiting for the sun to rise.  I noticed a group ahead of us facing in the wrong direction and called out to them.  It was amusing to watch their mad scramble to turn around without slipping down the slopes.



I did it!  The tiny specs at the top are people.  It's quite a climb!

At last an enormous red sun  appeared slowly from behind the mountain range, unfortunately rather muted for us due to heavy cloud cover but still spectacular nevertheless.  Then it was time to head down again and after plodding for a while we decided to just go for it and run and slide down the slope. We arrived at the bottom euphoric - proud to have achieved the climb and bubbling with the exhilaration and fun of the descent.




At the bottom Ronney had set out a delicious breakfast for us which we munched on contentedly while watching other people, like so many tiny ants, climb  and descend the dune.  Ronney, our guide, a Namibian born and bred,  had a wonderful knowledge of the wildlife and terrain of Namibia so  I asked him during breakfast how many times he had climbed Dune 45.  He smiled and told me he had never climbed it "Because it looks too hard"!   


A welcome breakfast in Namibia...I'm seated 4th from right

Gibbs Farm, Kaipara Harbour, New Zealand - An Art Lover's Dream

Neil Dawson's "Horizons", 1994  suggest a piece of corrugated iron
blown by the wind. (my personal favourite)

Well known New Zealand businessman and entrepreneur, Alan Gibbs, had been an art collector and patron of the arts for many years prior to buying his magnificent farm/rural getaway, on the Kaipara Harbour, in 1991.  Blessed with wide views across
the vast harbour this verdant, gently rolling landscape of over 1000 acres has proved to be the perfect location for Gibbs to continue his art patronage and fulfil his dream of creating a sculpture park. For the 19 sculptors he has commissioned so far it has offered a rare opportunity to create colossal works befitting the size and scale of the landscape.



Richard Serra's "Te Tuhirangi Contour" 1999/2001 is 252 metres
 long referencing the shape of the land

  It had been a long held dream of mine to visit so it was with great anticipation that I set out on the pleasant rural drive about 60 kilometres north of Auckland.  I spotted one of the sculptures standing out against the skyline in the distance before I arrived, a tantalising glimpse of what was to come.  And what a treat it was!

"Dismemberment, Site 1" by Anish Kapoor, 2009,  runs between a cleft in
the hillside and is 85 metres long. Those tiny specs beside it are people.

"A Fold In The Field" by Maya Lin 2013, covers 3 hectares

Alan Gibbs, ably assisted by his son in law, architect, Noel Lane, has commissioned
major art works by important artists to fill specific parts of the landscape.  Because the property is so vast the art works are too.  The sculptors were given free reign to design whatever they wanted for the spot they were offered and the result is a stunning property the like of which I have never seen before. It is slightly surreal and dazzlingly beautiful.  It can take several hours to wander the property and take in the sculptures from all angles.  At many points I just sat staring and marvelling.

The water feature with Kenneth Snelson's "Easy K" to the left and
 Richard Thompson's "Untitled (Red Square/ Black Square" to the right

But it is not only the spectacular sculptures which dot the landscape, there are exotic animals too, including giraffe, zebra, highland cattle, alpacas, emu, turkeys, ducks, goats and, no doubt, others I have missed.  The whole property is beautifully groomed with a narrow paved road winding around between sculptures but it is also easy walking across the fields.  It was soporific bliss to eat my picnic lunch  beside the lake, mesmerised by the changing rhythms of the water feature.

Exotic animals dot the farm

I was thrilled with my visit to Gibbs Farm and didn't want to leave.  It is even better than I imagined and I can't recommend a visit highly enough.  Entry is free, however, bookings MUST be made for the once a month public openings and can be made through the Gibbs Foundation website: www.gibbsfarm.org.nz.  Numbers are limited and openings are usually booked out months ahead. Public openings are not held through the winter months. 

Richard Thompson's "Untitled (Red Square/Black Square) 1994

Big congratulations and gratitude to Alan Gibbs for his
forethought in developing this unique property, his patronage of the arts and his generosity in sharing it with the public.

"88.5 ARCx8" by Bernar Venet, 2012

Len Lye "Wind Wand" 2003

Danish Cuisine and a couple of easy recipes

Traditional Danish food is based on what farmers were able to store through the long winter months, things such as pickles, salted meat, dense bread and potted herrings. Favourite meals include meat balls, roast pork and crackling and poached cod served with mustard. Denmark is also famous for smorrebrod, or open sandwiches of buttered rye bread usually layered with fish, eggs, salad vegetables and pickles.

My morning tea in Copenhagen

And as for Danish pastries, those delectable delights which had me drooling outside the windows of the many bakeries which dot the country, what can I say?  I have never seen so many different flavours and permutations.  I am sure if I spent any length of time in Denmark the weight would start piling on!  Not that the Danes seem to have that problem.



Over the last few years Danish chefs have taken an innovative approach to cooking using traditional core ingredients to develop a modern Nordic cuisine.  Restaurant Noma in Copenhagen specialises in this new style and has been named the best restaurant in the world in four of the last five years, including 2014.



I made this smorrebrod for lunch.....




.....And here are the traditional Danish recipes I used:

GRAVLAX ( Gravet Laks)
This is salmon cold cured in salt, sugar and dill.

Ingredients
1and a half kg salmon fillet with skin on
60g salt
60g white sugar
80g fennel seeds, toasted and ground
3 bunches dill, coarsely chopped plus extra, chopped to serve

Instructions
Place the salmon skin side down on a chopping board and trim.
Pin bone if necessary
Sprinkle with salt, sugar, ground fennel and dill in that order. Wrap tightly in the plastic wrap and refrigerate, preferably with a weight on, for 3 to 5 days.

To Serve
Scrape all the coating ingredients off the salmon and sprinkle with the extra dill.
Serve with Dijon mustard

DANSK REDKAL (Pickled red cabbage)
This is a staple food in most Danish homes.

Ingredients
25 gm butter
4 tablespoons redcurrant jelly
1/2 (half) cup cider vinegar
1/2 (half) tsp allspice or ground cloves
1 teaspoon rock salt
Pepper to taste
Half a head of finely chopped red cabbage

Instructions
Mix butter, jelly, vinegar, allspice and salt in a pot. Stir till melted then add the cabbage.
Cover with lid and boil for up to an hour, or until cabbage is soft, on a moderate heat.
Remove the lid and boil, watching carefully, until all the liquid has evaporated.
Can be eaten hot or cold and tastes even better reheated the next day

Place Gravlax, mustard, pickled cabbage and rye bread on a platter and let everyone help themselves.  Delicious.

Oh, and make sure you wash it down with a Carlsberg (Danish beer)

Den Gamle By - Aarhus, Denmark

If you are ever in Aarhus and have time to do only one thing it has to be to go to Den Gamle By.  Den Gamle By (The Old Town) is a living museum of over 80 historic houses, dating from 1550 to the 1970's, which have been moved from 20 towns in Denmark to make up a large village.






A visit is like taking a step back in time, well, a number of times really, because the village is laid out in different time zones. There are many styles of architecture and different types of buildings from alms houses to humble thatched cottages to the very grand 17th century Mint Masters Mansion, all perfectly set out as if this were a real town. 




There are cottage gardens growing herbs and vegetables, a pharmacy garden, a
windmill, a water mill and a very picturesque canal running through the centre where my grandson had a wonderful time in a rope pulled dinghy. It is truly a wonderful place.  You can while away a whole day strolling the cobbled streets, going in and out of the houses and  chatting to the 'villagers', or role players who keep firmly in character as they go about their daily tasks.

  There were many highlights for us. One was sampling the village beer in the brewery where beer is brewed traditionally.  The master brewer wasn't too proud to tell us that he often lost his brew due to faulty brewing, a not uncommon problem in the old days when maintaining a good temperature was difficult.

Another was the 18th century children's playground where my grandson enjoyed the merry go round and playing rope skittles.  I had never come across this game before - a long knotted rope hangs from a pole and is pulled back and let go so that it swings towards the skittles to knock them down.  It is harder than it sounds.





We visited the toy museum, the Danish Poster Museum and the Gallery of Decorative art. We munched on sugar pretzels bought in a 19th century shop, one of six working shops dotted around the village, including a bookshop and a post office and we watched tradesmen working using traditional methods.

Yes, in Den Gamle By you really feel you have stepped back in time. It is a fascinating snapshot of three centuries of Danish architecture and design.  We spent a few hours there and could easily have spent longer. I have been to other 'historical' villages over the years but this is the best one I have seen by a far.





So thanks, Mum, I read about Den Gamle By in your book, 'It Was Better in Winter',  you loved it and we did too. 

 I had set myself the goal of visiting the places in Denmark my mother wrote about and have achieved what I wanted to.  It has been immensely satisfying.    It is a country I felt very at home in, coincidentally, because that is how my mother felt when writing about it 40 odd years ago.  I would happily return.

Aarhus - Art and Architecture

Regular readers of this blog will know that I love the early morning and especially enjoy exploring new places at this clean, fresh, quiet time of day as a city slowly stirs itself from slumber and there are few people around. In Aarhus I was up early to do art walks of the city picking out  sculptures and buildings my mother had referred to in her book "It Was Better In Winter". Armed with a list, and keeping to my theme of travel with a purpose, I loved my solitary exploration of this pretty city.



The Pig, Ceres Fountain

Just around the corner from our hotel, in the park adjoining the City Hall, I found the first sculpture on my list, The Pig fountain. The mother pig with several piglets, is a humorous take on motherhood and much beloved by the locals.

Aarhus Clock Tower, City Hall

The adjacent City Hall, boasts the clock tower,  now used as the symbol of Aarhus.  Designed by Arne Jacobsen and Erik Moller in 1941, and with the clock unusually positioned at the bottom half of the tower,  it is internationally recognised as an outstanding example of Danish Modernism.  It is listed as an important structure in the Danish cultural canon.


There are numerous sculptures in the surrounding gardens, some classical and others quirky, such as the boy contemplating a swim in the reflecting pool and the strange monster cum helicopter (below)

With a population of just 260,000 Aarhus is spoilt for choice when it comes to the arts.  The city has its own symphony orchestra and is the home of Danish National Opera.  The modern concert hall, (1982) built since my parents time, boasts annual ticket sales of 700,000.

ARoS on the right and the Concert hall on the left

Later in the day I visited AroS, the spectacular modern art museum (1997),  crowned
by a stunning circular walkway called Your Rainbow. At 150 metres long, and with graduated, coloured glass panels, Your Rainbow  provides 360 degree views of Aarhus through, literally, rose coloured, and blue and orange and gold coloured glass.

Left and below: Views of Aarhus from Your Rainbow atop ARoS Art Museum, Aarhus














Right:  The spire in the distance is the Cathedral.  My parents lived very close by.

The interior of the museum is stark, white, bright and interesting.  A wide, gently curving, ramp leads from one floor to the next over 10 stories. The art museum contains 7000 works of art including many by Danish artists. I enjoyed discovering artists I had never heard of before and was completely intrigued by Boy the 4.5 metre high, 500kg sculpture by Australian artist, Ron Muecks.  Boy certainly draws the crowds and is so realistic it is hard to believe it is not a living, breathing boy.  I stood beside Boy for some time watching people's reactions on seeing it and enjoying the wonder in children's eyes.  It was a surreal experience. 





So far so delighted with Aarhus' art and architecture but I had one more thing to do this day and that was to visit the University of Aarhus where my father held a post as visiting professor for several months.  It was a long walk across town to the campus but thoroughly enjoyable, passing regular shops, cafes, art galleries, glass blowing galleries and a very quaint, uniquely Danish fire station.

 



Aarhus is a university city the university's 42,000 students amounting to 16% of the



Aarhus University

population.  The campus is lovely.  Built in the 1930s of golden brick it's many separate buildings are spaced out across rolling parkland.  It is a fine example of modern Danish design and is listed as one of the 12 most important architectural icons of Denmark.  It was a quiet Sunday afternoon when I visited with nobody around and all the buildings closed but I strolled for some time looking at the different faculties and wondering where my father worked. 


What a thoroughly satisfying day it had been!  Not only had I traced many of the places my parents visited, and my mother mentioned in her book, but I had discovered several new ones and, best of all, I had enjoyed every moment.