Choc
Chip Crisps And Brazilian Specials
Joan loves
to cook. And she loves cooking from recipes. I'm sure I've put on
about 3 kilos in the last 3 days, but her meals are simply too hard
to resist. And she's noticed my penchant for her Choc Chip Crisps
(try saying that 3 times quickly!) In fact, she keeps baking them
as fast as she can just to keep up with my appetite for them!
And today
I had a Brazilian Special. No, girls, not one of those. This was
a recipe for homemade bread that Joan found and whipped up for us.
It was a very dark, but light bread, made from a mixture of plain
and wholemeal flour, but with the unusual addition of coffee and
cocoa, hence giving it a Brazilian flavour.
John and
I finally went out for a drive at around 5.30pm. I'd spent almost
all day writing the start of my book (Land Of The Bright Green Dollar)
on the computer, so I was glad to fit something else into my day.
And what a night we had!
Looking For Tom Cruise
Bryan and
Joan gave us a map of the area and showed us where the filming of
The Last Samurai was taking place. So John and I thought we'd go
looking for Tom Cruise. The filming location had just moved from
Pukekura Park in the centre of New Plymouth, down to the town's
beach at Port Taranaki.
The large
red and white sign saying, "SAMURAI DRIVERS … Drive Slowly", assured
us we'd found the right place. And from the locked cyclone gates
we could see the partially constructed Samurai Village in the depths
of the pavilion. It had been raining all day, and it was now nearly
6pm, so we weren't surprised that there wasn't a soul in sight …
let alone capture the prized glimpse of Tom Cruise. So we got back
into the car and ended up at the Breakwater Tavern.
John and
I ordered a pint of Red Lion beer and wandered over to the vacant
pool table. But as we set up the balls, a local lady came running
over and told us that she and her husband were currently the champs
on that table, and we'd have to challenge them in a game of doubles
if we wanted to play pool … our shout, of course. But when she tried
to get her hubby over, he wasn't so keen. Nevertheless, she was
determined to retain ownership of the table, so it would have to
be a game of singles. I started off well by potting a ball in off
the break, and the game continued until I was about to pot the black
ball to end the game. She still had 4 balls on the table, so I was
pretty cocky by then. But while potting my last ball, I'd snookered
myself near the corner pocket.
"Watch this,"
I said to John, as I bragged about how I'd hit the black ball by
shooting across the cushion and cross bouncing out of the opposite
corner pocket and onto the black ball. And I would've done exactly
that, except I hit the ball too hard and it bounced out of the pocket
and off the table!
"I win,"
she said, and rushed over to her husband's table at the other end
of the pub.
"Where's
she going?" I asked John. I was just expecting her to take a 2 shot
penalty. But the pub rules in New Zealand said otherwise. I wish
I knew that before I played my shot!
Two young
Japanese men stood out plainly amongst the local crowd. These would
have to be actors from The Last Samurai. So John walked over to
find out. Within seconds he was summoning me over. Both Yuji and
Tommy (not his real name) spoke very little English, but were very
pleased to here me mention some of the Japanese cities I'd been
to last year, such as Fukuoka, Oita, Kagoshima and Nagasaki.
Yuji was
carrying a large rectangular plastic case.
"Is that
a samurai sword?" John asked. But it wasn't. It was a 'ko kyo',
or Japanese violin.
"Can you
play it for us?" John asked again. Yuji grabbed a barstool and sat
with the base of the ko kyo resting between his thighs. Moments
later it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop as the entire pub
stopped and listened to Yuji playing his instrument.
"We place
the violins under our chins," I said, trying to make a little conversation.
"You play
violin?" Yuji asked?
"Me? No!
But my son does. He's learning violin at high school." But I don't
think he really understood me.
"Give him
your business card," John suggested. So I took my card out and gave
it to Yuji. He looked at it very carefully.
"What son
name?" he said, scanning my card again.
"My son?
My name is James Taris," I said, pointing to my name on the card.
But he was
obviously baffled. He pointed at my picture on the card.
"What son
name?" he asked again.
"That's not
my son!" I exclaimed, after I realised his confusion. That's a picture
of me before I grew my beard!
Until then,
I didn't realise my beard made me look old enough to be my father!
This
article is taken from the ebook,
Land of the LETS Green
Dollar
About
the book
|
James
Taris web sites
JamesTaris.com
LETS-Linkup.com
Rich-Bastards.com
Honey-BeeBooks.com
TheGloryOfAthens.com
TravelWithoutMoney.com
ChineseArt-ChineseArt.com
ShanghaiPhotoGuide.com
ShockProofMaterial.com
2pups.com
