We headed off clockwise around the island on a mission to find the ingredients for Ika Mata which is a raw fish dish. We have had this wonderful entrée in several restaurants and we had eaten at and I had managed to find a number of recipes for it. The recipes all had the same process which was to marinate the fish in lemon juice for an hour or so and then cover in coconut cream, once done, put in some diced salad vegetables into the mixture let it stand another 30 minutes and yum yum. At the restaurants they all stated they marinated the fish in lime juice so we went on the hunt for lime juice and coconut cream.
The trick was to finding Lime juice, you could find coconut cream everywhere it is a staple of the island but lime juice was a little harder, we ended up circumnavigating the island again but finding the said juice in a supermarket in Avarua, however it had taken us quite a while to get there as we stopped off at most shops on the way and had a coffee at the Hidden Spirit Cafe and Grill. Set in the tropical Maire Nui Gardens in Titikaveka, the Hidden Spirit Cafe is a lovely spot and well worth stopping to wander through the gardens before enjoying an iced coffee.
About fifty yards from our cabin is a place to hire things for playing in the lagoon, kayaks, small yachts, wind surfers and standup paddle boards. We decided today was the day we would try successfully to use the “Stand Up” Surf boards. We being Al, Barb and myself as Chris had decided he wouldn’t give this ago. We had thought this was going to be difficult, although we had seen a young lady in the smallest of bikinis doing her yoga on one of these craft a couple of days ago so how hard could it be.
Al was up first and off across the lagoon without a problem, we had a nervous wait but when it came to our turn it worked out just fine, although it did beg the question as to if you can site down and paddle in comfort quiet why you would choose to wobble about standing while trying to paddle. Never the less mission accomplished bring on the next challenge.
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