Ten Reasons Why I like Living in Rurutu: #8

Vanilla, aaaah! I've recently received a shipment of vanilla from Raiatea, so I have nearly a kilo of the stuff on hand. It's not why I moved to French Polynesia, but it's definitely a big bonus; good vanilla, readily and inexpensively available, what luxury. Of course, I could grow my own, and I am planning to, after all Viriamu's grandfather used to have a plantation out back.

For those who are unfamiliar with vanilla beans, they are seed pods of an orchid species originating from Mexico. The Spanish conquistadors brought the beans back to Europe from the New World along with cocoa; it was used initially as a flavouring for chocolate and as an aphrodisiac. The orchid was introduced to Tahiti in the nineteenth century, and is now recognized as its own species Vanilla tahitensis. The flowers must be hand-pollinated (as there are no natural pollinators) and are ephemeral, lasting just 24h if unpollinated. Once the seed-pods have set they need to be cured and dried, a time-consuming and complicated process, but I reckon that the results are worth it!

I use vanilla in lots of things....you might even say that I'm a bit obsessed. It's an essential ingredient of my jams, cakes and homemade ice-cream, of course, but I also like to use it to add flavour to curries and my own version of vanilla fish, a classic tahitian dish. I've been making vanilla infused monoi for a while, as well as soap. I like it in coffee, in tea and in rum ;-) The girls love my vanilla yoghurt. In short we can't get enough of it!

Ten Reasons why I like living in Rurutu: #7

It's been a good while since I worked on my ten reasons, and what could be a better reason than these? Did I mention the mangoes? Yes, mango season is here again, and this year I'm more determined than ever to make the most of it, you may know that I'm a little bit obsessed with mangoes.

I've already got production rolling with mango jam and mango sorbet.

 

Yesterday we ate steak with green peppercorns and mangoes (delicious!). This week I think I might aim at some chutney and who knows a mango upside down cake and maybe even some dried mangoes before the season's out. I used to love the dried mangoes that my dad brought back from trips to India and the Philippines, now it's just a question of figuring out how to make my own.....

Ten Reasons why I like living in Rurutu: #6

Fresh fish, and it can't get much fresher than this - straight off the fishing boat.

In Rurutu we get less tuna, and more wahoo (an excellent steak fish), and of course there's also mahi mahi another meaty fish with delicate white meat. But there are also the smaller fish that we eat - carangue, and parrotfish from the lagoon, or flying fish that are caught as they fly out of the water with 'butterfly' nets! Fresh grilled flyingfish with coconut milk and taro is pretty hard to beat, unfortunately it has a lot of bones, but the flavor is really excellent. I've always wanted to go out fishing for flying fish, it just sounds kind of fun to scoop them out of the air....

There's really nothing like a good bit of fresh raw fish, here's a delicious plate of wahoo carpaccio with a papaya dressing....et bon appetit!

Ten Reasons why I like living in Rurutu: #5

Tropical flowers - it's still the summer here, so we're enjoying the exuberant tropical blooms, the rich fragrances and shocking colors, it's a wonderful part of everyday life here. Not to mention the leis, which are a tradition that is particularly strong here in the Australs. Arrivals and departures must be heralded with flowers and the bigger the better!

Our dear friend Maeva would not be seen out and about without a 'couronne' on her head.......

I'm not much of a gardener, but even I'm inspired to give it a go; the lush tropical vegetation barely needs tending. Orchids grow here like a weed.

Heliconia and torch ginger, with their exquisite other-worldly, almost chiseled blooms.

Hibiscus, the quintessential South Seas flower, comes in a fabulous array of reds, oranges, pinks and yellows.

Gardenia with it's heady perfume and equally sweet smelling Tahitian variety, is everywhere and is widely used in leis and for monoi.

Ylang ylang, grows outside our home and while the flowers look a little strange, the sublime perfume filters up into the bedrooms in the evening, it's just magnificent.

Other superb fragrances in our garden include Plumeria and white ginger (it has a peppery, sweet fragrance that is indescribable),

Heck, even coconut flowers smell good.......

I'm just starting work on a wall of jasmine for our terrace. All these fragrances really are remarkable and I'd love to start making my own line of monoi oil and soaps, from my own essential oils or flower waters......I've already been toying with it, but I'm not there yet!

Ten Reasons why I like living in Rurutu: #4

Passion-fruit. The vine is native to South America, but is grown broadly across the world, in Rurutu it grows a bit like a weed. It has attractive flowers and beautiful purple fruits with orange pulp.

It's now the season and, despite the recent cyclone, our vine at the back of the garden is laden with fruit. This year it's a bumper crop, I've already tried my hand at sorbet (to be recommended) and passion-fruit butter (I think it's an improvement on the jelly I made last year). But what I really need to go with the passion-fruit butter is cheesecake..... Alas, it's one of the many deserts that you just can't find here in Rurutu, due to a serious shortage of cream cheese!!!

Ten Reasons why I like living in Rurutu: #3

How many tiny tropical islands roast their own coffee? Ours is delicious, hand-picked and roasted in small quantity......the next project would be to grow cocoa beans, so that we could have our own chocolate too!

Ten Reasons why I like living in Rurutu: #2

Soursop - jam, sorbet, juice, ice-cream....it's all good.....

Ten Reasons why I like living in Rurutu: #1

This happens out front of our garden on a regular basis.....