Here we are, end of Day 3 in Tasmania, and already we are plunged into so many fun leisure activities we wonder how we ever found time to go out and earn a living. Two months before we came over here we bought a Canon EOS 1000D digital single lens reflex camera. What it has to offer keen amateur photographers like Barbara and me is just mind blowing.
But … and here’s the catch … this camera has so much great technology built into it, that, to discover it’s truel potential, you must spend hours with it in hand while referencing the 195 page manual. Without investing this time and effort, you may just as well have spent the purchase price (around $1,000) on jewelry or a new TV set.
So, while three days have passed and we have moved no further west than the fishing port of Stanley, (a mere 125 kilometers from our landing point at Devonport) much of our time has been spent taking hundreds photographs, then culling them until we finish up with a catalog of what we hope will prove to be better than average shots.
For example, I love to photograph birds (now come on Don Hopkins … you know damned well I mean the feathered variety!) and to capture good close-up shots can take hours. Here is what I believe to be a Little (Brush) Wattlebird.
This one kept coming to land on a sawn-off tree trunk just meters from our van and I needed many shots over a period of hours before I got one I felt worthy of showing. Shortly I will post a number of other bird shots I have enjoyed capturing. Many of the birds I am seeing I have not seen elsewhere.
On a different tack … today we were looking through a tourist guide book for the Stanley area and we came across a recipe for pan-seared Stanley scallops (everyone has head of Tasmanian Scallops and most seafood lovers have tried them battered). The recipe sounded so delicious and so easy to make we just had to try it.
Ingredients per person: 8-10 good sized scallops (roe on), small amount of olive oil, 30ml Pernod, 80ml pouring cream, sea salt ground pepper and finely chopped parsley leaves to season.
Method: 1) Heat a small frypan with a little olive oil over a hot gas flame until the pan is barely smoking, 2) add scallops and toss quickly for a few seconds being careful not to burn, 3) add Pernod and flambé, continually tossing the scallops until there is no longer flame from the pan and all the alcohol is burned off. 4) add the cream to coat the scallops generously and poach them in the pan by reducing the heat to medium at this point, 5) add the salt, pepper and parsley. 6) Reduce the cream by about one-third until the sauce is thickened. This whole process should take approx 3 – 5 mins. 7) serve with freshly baked bread and a glass of Tasmanian Sauvignon Blanc.
You will find a slide show of Gordon preparing this mouth-watering dish in the blog side panel. Tap your mouse pointer on the slide show and be taken to the Picasa website when you can view the pics in full screen size. Tomorrow … a new day dawns.
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