Mangakino 1

Magic weekend. We moved furniture down last weekend, and that was heavy and hard work and basically not much fun - including a run-in with the friendly (hmmm) South Waikato police. Mind you, that *was* on the way to pick up a lovely two-person canoe.

That's the trademe shot - the people who were selling it run a fantastic five-star lodge on the shores of Lake Rotorua, and were kind enough to invite us in for a cuppa. The day was nothing like the background! Drizzled more or less constantly from when we put the boat up on the roof-rack til that night. But they were lovely people, and rainy weather was perfect for putting in vege plants.

Yesterday, though, was very much like the background, and we took the canoe out for a decent ride down the lake towards the dam, stopping for a picnic tea in a little inlet on the way back.

Pork and Black Rice Rice Paper Rolls:

• 700g pork belly in four or five slices
• 1/3 cup black glutinous rice
• chipotle chilli powder, 1 tsp
• yuzu or lemon juice, 1 tsp
• peanut butter, 2 T
• fish sauce or squid sauce, 2 tsp
• fresh ginger, cut into 2 mm dice, 2 T
• fresh lettuce leaves
• rice paper, 15 cm diameter, about 15 pieces
• chutney or jam (I used tamarind jam - a fairly sour jam or a sweet chutney would work)

Cook the rice in 2/3 cup of water: bring it to the boil then simmer on low heat til water is absorbed. Meanwhile, grill the pork until browned and cooked. Season (I used a blended salt-based seasoning which includes fennel and orange, but a little salt and pepper is fine). When the rice is almost cooked, add the other ingredients down to and including ginger. Stir until combined. Finish cooking, cool in basin of water. Cut the crisped rind off the pork to serve separately. Chop the pork into pieces about 1 cm x 1 cm x 3 - 5 cm. Cool.

Soak rice paper in water until pliable. Lay it flat on a board and put a few pieces of pork, then a tablespoon of rice. Roll in the usual way. You should get twelve or fifteen.

To serve, smear some jam onto a roll. Wrap in a leaf of lettuce, and eat.

So that was nice. And the whole weekend was that nice, really. Went to Tokoroa yesterday, and found (mirabile visu!) a dojo: http://www.toa-ara.com/martial_arts/. I have been out of training waaay too long. But what were the chances of finding a Japanese sword teacher in South Waikato? Also found a farmers' market, and a great craft supplies shop which may facilitate my next plan for world domination.

Drove home today, taking our current favourite road (through Te Awamutu and up west of Hamilton, rejoining SH1 at Ngaruawahia), making a very plesant trip of it with a few stops at herb garden/cafe, rock climbing centre/cafe, ice cream deli/cafe (there's a trend here somewhere.)

Other than that, trying to get ready to go to Europe, having a huge 2 hour job interview on Friday, and going to Mangakino for the weekend may have seemed like a bit (or a lot :) too much ... but I was wild to get "down home" ... I love our mad little house, the view over to the hills in the morning, the tiny old-school kitchen, our wee tomato and pea plants. It was definitely worth the bother, and Europe and all, I can't wait to get back.