Cocktails are full of antioxidants

According to the Better Health website antioxidants may reduce the risk of heart disease and cancers by scavenging free radicals from body cells.  And we all know that the more colourful the food source, the more antioxidants present.

So today I had an epiphany - cocktails, in all their colourful forms - are good for you.  Full of fresh fruit, fruit juices and refreshing crushed ice they must be healthy.  And, as part of my research, I am working my way through the cocktail menu at the resort.  

It started in duty free at Melbourne airport with me trying to select an alcoholic base drink to bring to Fiji.  After some consultation we decided that rum was a versitile mixer and also very suited to a tropical paradise, and even better, they had a Malibu Carribean rum flavoured with coconut !  How can you walk past a litre bottle of that - duty free ?  And with coconut, surely it is only a matter of time before coconut is the new superfood.  If so it could be the making of Fiji as coconut palms are surfeit, in fact we have to take care walking around the resort to avoid falling coconuts. Though apparently the claim that coconuts cause more deaths than sharks is spurious and the offending 1984 study that made that claim has been debunked.  Too late for the coconut palms in Queensland though, in 2002 they were all removed from the local beaches.

So as a pre-dinner cocktail we have been enjoying a dash of rum with pineapple juice - so there you have it - coconut and pineapple, full of vitamins.  Then when we get to the restaurant I may enjoy another cocktail.  I mean it is rude not to after the barman has gone to so much trouble to prepare the daily special.

Tonight was the pre wedding cocktail party so we indulged aplenty, but you know you have gone too far when you just start wildly ordering from the menu by colour, and really, when you have reached the stage of ordering the Blue Marlin (yes, I am talking Blue Curacao) you know it is time to go to bed.

So, back to my point.  With all that colour surely cocktails are chasing away all those nasty free radicals.  And they can't have that much alcohol is them because they taste like lolly water.  I guess tomorrow will bear witness to how much alcohol is in a cocktail.

Apart from the cocktails Fijian food is simple, and I doubt very much that they worry about free radicals.  I suggest that the Fijians reckon if you deep fry anything enough there are no things like free radicals left to be bothered about. As for complex carbohydrates - I would be surprised if the Fijians found carbohydrates complex. Carbohydrates seem to be a very natural part of the diet, in aboundance.

Probably some of the better food we have eaten here has been Indian.  Though I am not sure the Fijians agree with my taste for Indian food.  As I reached for the Tabasco sauce at lunch to top up the flavour on my chicken burger the waitress looked aghast.  I explained I liked hot food and back in Melbourne we often ate spicey Indian meals.  It was a concept thvat was lost on her.  Frankly, I would probably have gotten a more positive reaction if I had tried to extol the virtues of antixodants in the daily diet. 

Fiji Time

OMG - it is Thursday already and there has been no blog update since we arrived.  It seems I have officially adopted Fiji time.

And why wouldn't you when the temperature does not drop below 24 degrees - at night.  Yes, the climate is truly tropical, hot and humid.  Because, guess what, we are here in the wet season, and while it does not rain much, when it does, it pours.  In February, it rains on an average of 22 days for an average total of 288 mm - that is half what Melbourne receives in a whole year!

Ahh Fiji, beautiful one day...

So it is lush and green, and there are lots, and lots of frogs. Platymanis Vitianus is the rather grand Latin name for the Fijian ground frog and they come out at night in great numbers, especially when it rains.  And rain it did on Tuesday night, our first evening.  Torrential rain, so torrential that we had to keep moving our table on the restaurant terrace further inside as the rain got stronger and penetrated further under the terrace roof.  We abandonded all plans of walking back to our room until the rain had eased, so about 90 minutes later it had slowed to just a heavy shower and we decided to brave the trip back.  And in that time we experienced a relaxed Fiji-time dinner.  The pace here is slow, and why would you move any faster when it is so hot and humid ? OK, the drinks could have come a bit quicker, I was really hanging out for a refreshing ale, but you just appreciate it so much more after a wait. So after our languidly served, and equally languidly enjoyed, dinner we trudged through the flooding puddles, avoiding the numerous bounding frogs, back to our bure. Drenched, so drenched I had to get the hairdryer out to my hair before I could go to bed.

Tim has taken to Fiji time

The pace of life is something the locals are grapling with in the context of their place in international trade and affairs.  Fiji time is all very well in the village, and on holiday resorts, but many Fijian businessmen are questioning the viability of the relaxed culture when it comes to international trade. In addition to a casual approach to deadlines, the Fijian business model is laisse faire about quality and reliability, resulting in missed opportunites.  Apparently there are ample development incentives and government programs seek to increase growth in tourism, transport, power production and agriculture.  But these industries are competing with Australia, New Zealand and other free market economies and struggling to do so. Conflicting with this are messages from the Fijian chiefs exhorting Fijians to embrace their traditional cultural ways.  Just this week President Bainimarama made a strong public statement endorsing the importance of preserving i-Taukei, indigenous Fijian culture. But in the same week he announced an expected increase in tourism from China, a group I understand to be notorious for high expectations when they travel.

I can't help but think that Fiji-time, and all the asociated calming serenity, are under threat.

Volleyball is off! (The Wedding)

The sign says Volleyball Court Closed for Private Event.

And that private event is our wedding.  Not that many resort guests were inconvenienced, it has been mostly our group playing beach volleyball.  Which brings me to the question, just who exactly comes this far for a wedding ?

I think it  is about time to introduce the wedding guests.  Obviously Tom and I are here with Tim and Alistair, and rounding out the family on our side are my sister Leonie (mother of the groom) and partner Graeme.  We are a very small, but close knit family so there was never any question that we would not come. 

Nicole comes from an equally close family but, unlike only child Drew, Nicole is lucky enough to have two siblings, who are both here along with their parents, and Nicole's nephew and niece.

So apart from family, who makes up the rest of the 72 wedding attendees.  Yes, 72 ! I don't even know 72 people, let alone have that many close friends and family. 

Drew's English cousin and partner have come from Yorkshire.  Having decided to come all this way they have maximised the travel experience by adding in side trips to New Zealand, Perth and Sydney.  Got to love the English - they pack it in when coming to the antipodes, but according to cousin Keirin he does not get home from Yorkshire that often to see the family because it so far. Yes, a whole hour's travel.  What is it with Europeans and distance.

Friends of Leonie she met at work when she started at the National Bank as teenager (discretion requires me to not name how many years ago that was) came along for the wedding.  This group of friends travel together somewhere overseas every couple of years and this year it was a no-brainer to come to Fiji to see Drew, who they have known since he was a baby, tie the knot.

Friends making up the party include mates from Drew's sporting pursuits: football mates with homogenous names, Beeks, Cheeks and Deeks: a baseballer from Drew's days playing for Sandringham: and the more recent golfing mates.  Particulary sweet is that Drew's mate from Black Rock Primary School has come along, and testament to that strong bond is that Drew is still friendly with that mate's parents, who have also come along for the wedding.

In tow with this group of thirty-somethings is the inevitable tribe of kids - blonde kids.  Everywhere, at breakfast, in the pool, on the beach.  I have lost track, I do not even pretend to remember their names, I just smile at them all.  Problem with that is that I am clearly smiling at kids who are not part of our party, but so far no one seems to find that creepy, everyone is quite zen.

This is certainly a family resort, and the staff here just adore the children.  They are totally unfussed by th mayhem that is breakfast.  I have no idea how they get some of those highchairs after a toddler has smeared mashed porridge across the tray and then added that special touch finger crunched pawpaw, topping it off with a coating of colourful guava juice.  I would like to challenge Hestor Blumenthal to make something edible and creative from that ingredient base.  I think after breakfast they must just bring the Karcher through and hose out the dining area. 

They know many of the children by name, not least, our own adorable Jack.  Jack toddles about,

mostly in just a nappy, and is greated regularly with Bula Jack by resort workers.  Many are happy to plant a kiss on his chubby cheeks, or salute him with a high-five.  It is actually quite refreshing to see such genuine affection for children, something we are now a bit frightened to do in our cautious Western world.  In the week where Gary Glitter received yet another lenghty prison sentence it is appropriate to reflect why we are so cautious, but equally, it has been a pleasure to spend a week just watching all these children frollick around in gay abondon.

Oh, but I was supposed to be writing about the wedding.  Next blog post ...

Why Fiji ?

A question we have been asking ourselves since early 2014 when we received the Save the Date alert.  

When nephew Drew announced that he and Nicole were getting married it was not entirely unexpected: they have been together long enough to have two children and a wedding was inevitable.

But why Fiji ?

We have no connexion to the place.  And Drew and Nicole live on the Mornington Peninsula which provides a myriad of options for a nice wedding, such as a nice, local Red Hill winery. But no, overseas it is.  

So we are off.

Sometimes an overseas wedding is a nice, intimate affair.  But not for this pair of social butterflies - no less than 72 people are heading to Fiji for this wedding.  Including Drew's UK cousin who has more right to question the choice of location as there are no direct flights to Fiji, so he actually has to fly via Australia.

But we love Drew and Nicole, so we will dutifully fly to the Pacific to join them on their auspicious day.

Bula!

Abandoned Dog

I don't believe it.  They did it.  They left me.

They actually packed up and left me.  They have all gone jaunting overseas and put me in a home.

No respect.

After 16 years of loyal service to this family it has come to this.

This is the first time I have ever gone to a boarding kennel.  I used to be looked after by Jack, mum's father.  That was great, Jack's pet was my sister Bonny.  I used to like going there as she was a push-over and I could boss her around.  But sadly Jack and Bonny are no longer with us.  The last few times mum and dad have gone away one of the boys has been at home to look after me.  But they are all going on this trip.

How can Drew's wedding be more important than me ?

So I have been shipped off to the country. Mum packed a nice bag for me, my blanket, some food because I am not going to eat kennel muck, and my drugs.  I have lots of drugs, including some nice calming ones that I might need a few of at this place.

They told me it was for my own good.  They looked into leaving me at home and having a dog walker come in twice a day.  That might have been nice.  But then I spoiled that idea when I fell in the pool at midnight about three weeks ago and Alistair rescued me after he heard my feeble yelp. So now they say I can't be left alone. 

So, at my ripe old age, I am blind, deaf, arthritic, incontinent, and now, the greatest indignity, abandoned.  

But I know they still love and this is only for my own good and Alistair and Tim will come and collect me as soon as they return.  And boy, am I going to make them regret leaving me !!

Tosca

Excess Baggage

HHow good is it to visit a place like Fiji - all you need is a couple of tee shirts, your bathers and a good book to read.  Right ?

Wrong, so wrong.

Firstly - there is vegan boy, as I affectionately call youngest son Alistair.  Not being sure exactly what he will be able to eat at the resort restaurants so we have cautiously pack a few things just in case. As there will be no cooking facilities in the room I have to think about what you can knock up into an edible meal with just a kettle.  And to think I used to rubbish cous cous - but on reflection what a clever grain this is, all we need is to pour over some boiling water and bingo, in five minutes yummy edible grain.  And luckily Ainsley Harriot has this lovely pre-flavoured cous cous in handy meal sized sachets, so it may well still have the texture of sand but at least it is tasty sand.  And cheap - OK the price of the posh cous cous is ten fold the price of the natural product (they are the plain packets you can find at the bottom of the supermarket shelves) but hey, if we westerners are going to eat the food of African peasants it is only fair that we pay top dollar while we are denuding the third world of its cheapest food sources.

As well as the cous cous Alistair has packed some beans to mix through, and some baked beans, which takes me back to when we all pilloried Shane Warne for taking baked beans to India.  Some cereal for breakfast, and of course UHT soy milk for the cereal.  And some nuts, and dried fruit.  Oh, and some peanut butter, and of course crackers to spread it on.  Some two minute noodles.  And that very cute tiny bottle of truffle oil that has been sitting in the pantry for ages, wrapped in bubble wrap to make sure it survives the flight. Naturally truffle infused olive oil is an essential for a pacific island holiday.

Coffee is another thing that Alistair, and his father, cannot live without.  I am sure they were only half joking when they both looked at their coffee maker and discussed packing it.  They are just going to have to make do with a plunger (carefully bubble wrapped) and ground coffee for the week.  So that now is probably half Alistair's luggage allowance on food.

If it was only Alistair's food we had to worry about then we would be laughing.  But do you have any idea how much junk two children aged 3 years and 2 years need for a week ?  Certainly more than their parents' luggage allowance provides for.  So Nicole has been divvying up luggage amongst relatives and friends.  We scored the disposable nappies, they may take up a third of my large case, bu t they are mercifully light.  I also volunteered for the snorkel set, child's life-vest and the dozens of packets of potato chips the Hilton-Fletchers see the need to take.  As you can see, I was savvy, all the light stuff.

And then there is the bonbonaire.  If we were having a sensible Melbourne wedding this could all just sit in the back of someone's car for the day - but no, this stuff has to lugged across the pacific.  At least we only got the children's gifts.  Poor Shaina got loaded (literally) with the task of conveying the somewhat heavier adults gifts.

I am so looking forward to the question at airport check-in now - Are you carrying items for anyone else ?  It could take me half an hour to itemise it all. Wish me luck.