Poisson Cru- Tahitian Ceviche with Coconut Milk

A couple years ago, we took a trip to Tahiti as the flights from Seattle to Papeete were direct (9 hours) and very inexpensive on a Air Tahiti Nui's new 787's.  We actually spent less going to Tahiti than we did for a week in Hawaii.  Tahiti is part of French Polynesia, and there is so much French heritage, food and wine there.  You don't think of eating stinky French cheeses, a freshly baked baguette and wonderful French wine in the tropics, do you?  Yes, but you certainly can.  This recipe is Tahiti's version of poke, or seviche.  Similar dishes available in other countries, but we really, really loved this!  We ate it over jasmine rice, with loads of local fruits at a picnic shelter on a beach on the island of Moorea.  Moorea is about an hour ferry boat ride from Papeete, so its an easy way to see a very lush and naturally beautiful island.  We did a small group tour of the island, just 8 of us in the back of a bus/jeep.  We did a grand tour of the island, a waterfall hike, some fruit markets and bakeries to shop for our lunch and then lunch at the beach.  They also sell a wonderful rum punch, already mixed, and sold like orange juice which was pretty fantastic too.

Serves about 6-8

Ingredients

 2lbs white fish, chopped into cubes

1 cup coconut milk

1/2 cup fresh lime juice

1/2 cup carrots, cut into thin matchsticks or shreds

1/2 cup cucumber, cut into thin matchsticks or shreds

1/2 cup thin sliced red cabbage

1/2 cup onion (red or white), cut into thin matchsticks or shreds

1/4 cup green onions, sliced thinly on the diagonal

Salt and Pepper to taste

I'm going to keep the instructions simple, cut fish into small bite size portions, add everything else and mix.  Let chill for about 10-15 minutes and serve at once, on rice, or just on the side.

Here's a picture of our guide making the poisson cru at the beach. Okay, he is super darling and fit, right?

He was our tour guide for a great tour of the island, plus he had everything planned for our lunch for 8 people.   His friend had caught the tuna the day before and he had brined it is sea water. We stopped for fresh fruit, local candy and some great rum fruit juice cocktails that they sell pre-mixed in Tahiti.

It was a fun and different lunch that tasted delicious!

His attention to detail was amazing, displaying the fruit on fronds from a palm tree. Fruit platter is below and also the strange local candy, called po'e, that is made with fruit, starch and coconut milk.  Pineapple, grapefruit, mini bananas and papaya all came from local fruit trees.

Here's another meal in Tahiti; this one was at the hotel pool... where we rented a cabana to wait for our late evening flight to SEA.  What a wonderful way to go!  I am having poisson cru again below...  My husband is having his favorite French dish, Steak Frites!

Tahiti was so beautiful!

Giant's Causeway- Northern Ireland Weekend

It's not often that I start in reverse order, but here we are!  I'm new to updating my blog from my phone, but it's weird and hard to upload the photos easily. So until I figure this out.... here's what I'm just going to go with!  Our wonderful weekend in Northern Ireland after a business trip to Belfast last year. We flew in, and out, of Dublin, so I have included a couple pictures from there.

Below is the Irish Breakfast that we had at a cafe in Dublin.  Counterclockwise from the grilled tomatoes, you have:

Grilled tomatoes, fried eggs, bangers (sausage), black pudding (blood), white pudding, grilled portobello mushrooms, bacon, Irish soda bread and "baked" beans.  Lovely.

I am not including much about Belfast as I have been there a couple of times for business and this time I was also working.  My husband had a great time at the Titanic exhibit, so  according to how long he talked about it at dinner that night, I would say it's a MUST go item!  We took off from Belfast with our rental car and headed towards the coast to see the sites.  

Ballymoney is called the most photographed street in Northern Ireland, which is saying something as it's in the middle of nowhere!  These tress were planted in the 1700's and are very cool to walk up through them on the road.  The road is closed to vehicles, but there were lots of busloads of people when we visited.  We took our time and worked on our patience to get the photo below.

Called the "Dark Hedges" locally, this street is also known as the King Roads from Game of Thrones.

Lots of people visit the Giant's Causeway, and its definitely worth the trip. It's very close to Bushmills, so we made that our homebase to see the local sights.  I used AllTrails and found a cool hike that comes in the "back way" to the Causeway. In other words, you will come in from the opposite side that 95% of the tourists use. I highly recommend doing this easy hike (it's mostly down... hahaha).

Dunluce Castle is a fantastically placed ruins of a castle on the coast, not far from Bushmills and Giant's Causeway. We certainly had a great day for it!

Lots of people visit the Giant's Causeway, and its definitely worth the trip. It's very close to Bushmills, so we made that our homebase to see the local sights.  I used AllTrails and found a cool hike that comes in the "back way" to the Causeway. In other words, you will come in from the opposite side that 95% of the tourists use. I highly recommend doing this easy hike (it's mostly down... hahaha).

The rock formations are so amazing, the shapes are beautiful.  Basalt rockis created from lava flow when it cools, it contracts. This stress causes cracks to form, and the most efficient way to relieve stress is by creating geometric columns, most commonly hexagons. 

Views from our hike

More views from our hike, very few tourists took this route.

We stayed at the Bushmills Inn, which was about 7-10 minutes to the Giant's Causeway.  A fun place to stay in a very small town. We hadn't purchased tickets to the Bushmills distillery and there were none to be had! Plan ahead.  We did drink some nice Guinness here in the courtyard in the sunshine and met some nice locals too.

Here's a little lane on our way to the Giant's Causeway....hmmm, where should we park?

If you want a link to the hike we took at Giant's Causeway, check out this one:  https://www.alltrails.com/explore/recording/giant-s-causeway-blue-trail-6d58427

Here we are in Belfast having a Guinness at the oldest pub. We highly recommend "The Crown" for a welcoming pint to start your trip to Northern Ireland. Guinness is traditional, of course.

Somebody waited patiently for me to return through our booth door with the beers, he's very clever.  These booths were originally for the ladies to drink in private, without men disturbing them.  We shared with another couple and made new friends from Ireland.  Looks like most of these booths would fit 10-12 people, so there's a private party room already to go.  Have the fish and chips, they were fantastic.

Palma, Mallorca, Spain

 When I lived in the UK, I knew a lot of people who went to Mallorca for their holidays. It always sounded so exotic and beachy to me.  With so many amazing places to visit in this world, I wondered if I would ever get the chance to visit. Fast forward, 40 plus years, We took a transatlantic cruise not that long ago, and the last stop before Barcelona departure was Palma, Mallorca. 

We were a little "excursioned" out and wanted to have a low key day wandering Palma. We did take a taxi from the port docks to the city park below the Gaudi "Arc" cathedral. Let's be clear, the cathedral existed onsite for hundreds of years before Gaudi was commissioned to help with the restoration.  Having been to Sagruda Familia a couple of times, I expected so much.  It did not disappoint... but so very different from Sagruda Familia.  He wanted to infuse the worship space with light, and as you can see from the photo below, it was stunning in the early morning that we arrived.  I would recommend buying tickets in advance and getting there at opening.  You only need an hour or so to see the cathedral.  Be sure to check out the huge Gaudi chandelier, it was so unusual and beautiful.  

Photo tip, move way back from the altar and show someone holding the ball of light. See below... 

Next we walked through the city, looking for the Arab baths.  The old town is truly a labyrinth of crooked little streets. Go ahead!  Try to get lost... but it was easy enough to find it using your phone to walk you there.  We had the gardens to ourselves that morning, not bad for a town with a couple cruise ships in port that day.

Beautiful parks everywhere in the city!

Hard to see the beautiful mosaic details on the top floor, but it was amazing.

After two weeks on a cruise ship, you'd think you'd never be hungry again... haha, fat chance of that!  We stopped for a coffee and a pastry and sat outside watching the shoppers on the shopping street, and the pigeons at our feet looking for a handout. 

We continued to walk, running out of the fancy high street and into a more local neighborhood.  So many of the people on the street we're on their way to a low building that looked like some sort of shopping mall.  On a whim, I said "let's go over there"!  I am so glad that we did, it was a wonderful, unexpected surprise with shopping for fruits, veggies, meats, seafood, cheese- - you name it, if it was food, they were selling it!  They even had foods to go and an oyster bar!  Knowing my guy will always say yes to oysters, I suggested we stop and have some with a cold glass of white wine. 

It's not that I look happy, I AM happy!  These guys were so nice and took turns making little bites of goodness for us to try. It was so much fun. 

Paella to go, if you wanted it!

 

As we left the port, we scored the corner hot tub with views of the city.  Great shots of the Cathedral as we sailed away.  I would love to go back to Palma someday.

Puglia, Italy- Stop Two- Valle d'Itria

We arrived to our second stop outside of Martina Franca in the Valle d'Itria. This was my second favorite stop in our trip in Puglia.  I liked it so much because it was very green, very relaxed and so charming with unique scenery.  You can read about stop One in Pogliano di Mare here.  

I've been enamored with these little trulli houses for some time, so when I found a cute and inexpensive one online, I booked it!

We spent under $100 a night for this one bedroom, one bath unit.  It does sleep 4, but I would recommend for two.  If you want the link, look for property 10776012  on VRBO.com   LINK .

We had a small pool too, but it was kind of cold in April, so it wasn't open yet.  We had such a great time relaxing here, we made dinner here every night and usually had great lunches out while we were sight seeing.

The kitchen was super small but had everything we needed.  We also had a welcome table of items for our stay including wine, fresh pasta, sauce, fruit, nuts, fresh basil and tomatoes and cheese!

Our place was off a quiet country road and had a few neighbors.  The neighbors next store arrived to work on their place doing renovation, but were also having a party on Italian holiday of Liberation Day when the Allies liberated Italy.  It is a major big deal in Italy on April 25th.  At first we were dismayed with the pounding music, but when 6 darling kids showed up at the door to invite us to the party, how could we say no?  They were so cute and had been told to bring us over! Only one guy, our host, knew English but he did a great job introducing us and having us try local specialties like the smoked cheese served melted over bread.  We also had some great homemade wine and enjoyed the festivities.

Alberello is a great but very touristy town of over 1,000 trulli homes. The streets are cute cobblestoned and the hills aren't too stepp for strolling and seeing the sites.  Prepare to take a lot of pictures.  My recommendation is to get there very earlier before all the buses.  We arrived about 9:15am and had no issue finding parking, but when we left about 11am, it was packed with cars trying to find parking. I had to jump out of the car to direct traffic so we could even back out of our parking space. I felt a little awkward, but it's nice that arm movements are universally understood and the guy behind the guy blocking our exit, got what I was trying to do. Plus, he was thrilled to get our parking spot.

There's a couple different parts of the town, and you should stroll up both sides as each has its merits. The side less traveled has the best panoramic views of the town. 

Trulli are often adorned with a painted symbol. Their origin is unknown but they usually have a religious or astrological meaning. Symbols may include astrological signs, the evil eye, the cross, a heart, a star, and others. 

Here's a little sign of some of the local symbols, a couple of them make sense to me and others leave me mystified.

This picture is from the less traveled part of Alberello. Watch for signs that say 'belvedre', which means view point! It was a great little garden park with different trails and areas to take pictures. 

Our trulli host recommended that we visit the walled town of Cisternino. It was a great day trip on our anniversary for a lunch in one of the highest rated local restaurants.

No Italian post would be right without showing some food, so here's the best pasta I ate in Puglia. We had a great lunch in Cisternino for our anniversary.  This  pasta was fantastic. 

T a g l i o l i n o b u rr o , p a r m i g i a n o , t a rt u f o * n e r o 

Fresh pasta cooked and thrown into a heated wheel of cheese and stirred until the cheese is incorporated into a sauce.  Topped with fresh truffles.  Link to the restaurant is here, Osteria Piatti Chiari. The truffles are priced separately, what's shown in the picture is about 4.50 euros.  They weigh the truffle before and after slicing it on your pasta so they know how much you were served.  You can see the girl has the basket with the truffle and the scale too.

We wandered around Cisternino and enjoyed the labyrinth of streets. 

Go ahead and try to get lost!  It's worth it.

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