Cool Coo

A bonus on Monday, we were offered 16 pigeons by Ralph the butcher who wanted to cull some of his stock of racers. So it was a quick trip to town to pick up the hapless birds and home for the slaughter! halalled pigeon for Christmas. The only trouble with pigeons is that the quantity of feathers is not proportional to the volume of meat obtained but well worth it for the tasty meal that later ensues. One wonders the worth of the starlings that next door neighbour in Gray St. used to trap for tea. Joe was Italian and must have had a special dish lined up for the starlings which are numerous and which used to get popped off with the air rifle if they made the mistake of getting close enough to our lads with the air rifle. If they were young then they would be handed to Joe who would happily take them to add to his trapped catch. Even though I don't know how quickly he could pluck them, after doing 16 pigeons myself, starling meat must be extra special!
I always wonder why the English don't use the pigeons they are complaining about in London. I know they probably don't have the health of quality kept pigeons but there are plenty of cheap meals flying about Trafalgar square! I was tempted a couple of times to hook a pigeon or two but then thought my sister wouldn't cook them anyway so it would have been a waste of time.
Well tonight is Pigeon curry.. Nuran loves cooking pigeons and I love eating them.

Quick Trip

I have just had the proverbial quick trip to Adelaide and back in order to attend Aunty Barbaras funeral. Barbara was the last of the Van Kempen siblings left in Australia so the direct link with Mum's side of the family in Australia has now gone. Of course we have their many offspring, my cousins, and good old Uncle Jeffrey- Peggy's husband - is still going strong but the Aunty and Uncle that were here when I first emigrated have departed this mortal coil. Ted in Sydney, Peggy and Barbara in Adelaide.
It was a small funeral attended by a core group of her friends from the masonic lodge and two of her daughters, Jane and Jean and Jeans husband then Jeffrey and his son Colin and his wife, plus me. Barbara was an excellent ballroom dancer and in fact the only woman I have danced with that could lead without me knowing it and avoid getting her toes trodden on in the process.
We had a grand time on the dance floor at a party that aunty Anne and Barry put on at Christies Beach one Christmas. That was the best family Christmas party ever and probably the biggest gathering of the Van Kempen's line in Australia! It was appropriate that they played "Save the last Dance for me" at her funeral.
This got me thinking what tunes I would want to have played at my funeral, perhaps Rod Stewart's "I am Sailing" as you all stroll in and then AcDc's "Highway to Hell" as the coffin descends, this was Tony's suggestion and a good one, and then as you all go off to the wake Lonnie Donegan's " Have a drink have a drink on me".... any one else got suggestions for the song list?
I stayed overnight at Tony's and Joannes place and was treated to a steak cooked on Tony's new BBQ. The steak was done perfectly and will be one of many cooked on the BBQ I suspect!
Early in the morning it was off to the wholesale butchers to pick up the whole goat sliced into chops for our larder! Nothing better than a goat curry for a change and this wholesale butcher in Adelaide has quality goat, better than the ones available in Melbourne. Ironically they are grown not far from dear old Tarpeena, at Lucindale and travel all the way to Adelaide to meet their end and then , in this case, travel back home in an esky. The goat was so good that we did the loin chops on our BBQ. Delicious!
I left for home after the funeral so the goat didn't have to spend too long in the car and Tony and Jo could get on uninterrupted with the weekend routine. Which as I left seemed to be mainly washing! It was nice to see them again if only briefly, still we shall be up again soon for Tony's graduation ceremony.
Another quick trip!