Nannie RaRa

Antarctic adventures

2nd May 202011th May 2020 Nannie RaRa

In March 2020 I went for an expedition cruise on MS Fram, an explorer ship run by Hurtigruten. We visited the Antarctic Peninsula, South Georgia and the Falkland Islands.

This is the first of the accounts of that trip, showing the spectacular scenery of the South Shetlands and The Antarctic Peninsula.

I flew from Heathrow to Buenos Aires, staying overnight before flying down to Ushuaia at the southernmost tip of South America. I had a tour of Tierra del Fuego National Park before boarding MS Fram in Ushuaia.

The ship headed through the Drake Passage to Antarctica. The Drake Passage is supposed to have either the ‘Drake Shake’ or the ‘Drake Lake’. We had both: it started off very rough and then became calm the next day.

We had several landings in the South Shetlands, our first was at Yankee Harbour on Greenwich Island where we met with a colony of Gentoo penguins and a few seals.

Penguins playing in the water in Yankee Harbour — *Penguins playing in the water* in Yankee Harbour

Our next port of call was Orne Harbour, part of Graham Land on the Antarctic Peninsula. The morning was misty and there were several icebergs floating on the water. On the way to Orne Harbour we sighted many humpback whales going past. You see the blow, then the back and when they dive you see the fluke. There were between eight and ten whales in the bay where we were moored so we could watch them.

We landed on a narrow stony beach at Orne Harbour and walked along to see a couple of penguins and seals. The beach had big chunks of ice and big boulders. The conditions were too icy for a climb, but if we had kept walking south we would have eventually reached the pole. We also passed cliffs with chinstrap penguins nesting high up.

In the afternoon we went towards Damoy Point through spectacular scenery of mountains and ice – the ice was both pink and green caused by algae growing on it. Damoy Point is a rocky isthmus off the west coast of Wiencke Island, Antarctic Peninsula. We had some rain and snow on the journey.

Damoy Point with the ice pink from the algae

Damoy Point had a large Gentoo penguin colony – you could smell them as soon as you got near land. I was lucky enough to see one of the young penguins being fed by a parent. There was also an historic British Antarctic Survey hut that you could go inside. It was very interesting seeing the artifacts left there.

Early the next day we went down the Lemaire Channel and landed at Petermann Island, our southernmost point. It was very misty and as we waited to go ashore the weather deteriorated going from rain to snow and the sea became rougher. Not many people went ashore because of the weather but I did, and was glad I had, as it was wonderful seeing the penguins with the snow falling. The fresh snow covered the rocks and made the landscape pristine.

On the way back through the Lemaire Channel the sky cleared and we could see the stunning cliffs at the sides with many glaciers. None calved while we were there although we heard several booms from other places where they had calved.

Our last landing in the Antarctic was Whalers Bay on Deception Island. Deception Island is formed from the remains of a volcanic caldera. When we first went ashore in Whaler’s Bay it was misty but the mist soon cleared. There were the remains of a whaling station and also huts used by the British during the second world war. One of the huts had been demolished by a landslide during the eruption in the late 1960s, so the volcano is still regarded as being active.

There were several seals around, both in groups and singly. They were hard to see and were the colour of rocks. Some of the seals were young males and they kept fighting and annoying each other. They were quite happy to be among the remains of the buildings and the whaling station.

There were several penguins including a couple swimming close to shore. They came out the water while I was there. Seeing penguins in the water reminded me that they are sea birds and only come on land to breed.

We walked up the slope to Neptune’s window which gave a good view over the bay. On the way back there was a ‘fog bow’, like a rainbow but without the colour.

When the mist cleared and the sun came out it was sunny and warm, giving us wonderful views as we left Deception Island. The sun stayed with us as we saw huge flat icebergs, some over a mile long, that had come from an ice shelf.

It was time to leave Antarctica and spend the next two days at sea as we traveled to South Georgia.

You can see more of my pictures from this Antarctic Adventure through my YouTube video:

There are information sheets on the various landing places we went to available as Antarctic Treaty visitor site guides:
Yankee Harbour
Orne Harbour
Damoy Point
Petermann Island
Whaler’s Bay

nature

Bird watching on a February morning

5th Feb 20208th Feb 2020 Nannie RaRa

Today the weather was perfect: sunny, no wind and warm. Snowdrops, crocuses and the first daffodils are out. I went for a walk to the riverbank and saw several birds that appeared to be posing specially for a photo.

These first birds were in the trees and bushes.

two collared doves in tree — Collared doves

Then at the waterside were curlews, gulls, turnstones and other water birds. The water itself was like a mill pond, so still with brilliant reflections.

I need to learn what the different birds are especially ones by the water. If you know what these are do tell me.

It was indeed a beautiful day for birdwatching.

Recipe

Kedgeree

23rd Jan 202023rd Jan 2020 Nannie RaRa

I’ve just made a kedgeree, a dish I enjoy but don’t make often. It takes some preparation but freezes well. I usually make enough for four, eat a couple of portions and freeze a couple. The frozen ones can be thawed and then heated in the microwave.

Ingredients

500 g (approximately) smoked fish; choose thick fillets; usually this is made with haddock but smoked cod works just as well; I prefer fish that is smoked but not dyed, however when I went to the fish counter this time they only had smoked, dyed haddock so that is what I used
100 – 150 g prawns; not tradionally in a kedgeree but I think they add extra taste and texture
200 ml wholegrain rice; measure the rice in a jug
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
small onion finely chopped; if you are intolerant to, or dont have, onion then a finely chopped stick of celery is a good substitute
100 g butter
3 hard boiled eggs; although eggs are found in kedgeree recipes they can be ommitted
3 heaped tablespoons chopped fresh parsley; I prefer curly-leafed parsley as it chops more finely

Start by putting the smoked fish into a saucepan, if the fillets don’t fit easily then use kichen scissors to cut them smaller. Cover the fish with plenty of water (approximately 400ml) and put onto boil. Once it boils it only needs a few minutes to cook, you can tell by putting a knife in and seeing if it easily flakes.

Rinse the wholegrain rice in cold water.

While the fish is cooking, melt some butter in another saucepan and gently soften the onion (or celery), add the curry powder and cook for another minute or two. Remove from the heat and add the rice.

Soften the onion in a saucepan with curry powder

The fish should be cooked by now. Drain the liquid that the fish was simmered in and use this for the rice mix. Pour the liquid over the rice, return to the stove and cook as normal. Keep any spare liquid in case the liquid boils away before the rice has cooked. Cook until the rice is soft to eat.

If using eggs, hardboil them. Then peel and chop them.

While the rice is cooking, flake the fish removing any bones and discarding the skin.

FLake the cooked fish — Flake the cooked fish

Put the flaked fish into a large mixing bowl. Chop the parsley finely and add to the bowl. If using them, add the chopped hard boiled eggs. Next cut the prawns into three and add them to the bowl.

Add flaked fish, prawns and parsley to bowl

Once the rice is cooked, put this into the bowl as well and mix all togther thoroughly using a wooden spoon.

Divide the mix into four or five portions. Add slivers of butter to the top and enjoy with steamed vegetables.

This recipe was adapted from Delia Smith’s Buttery Kedgeree recipe found in her Complete Cookery Course. My version was printed in 1996.

Kedgeree with smoked haddock, prawns and parsley

Recipe

The icing on the Christmas cake

23rd Dec 20196th Jan 2020 Nannie RaRa

The Christmas cake was iced a couple of days ago. I used royal icing and bought a couple of packs of it rather than making it from scratch.

I had help from my daughter and grandson – the same ones that made the cake with me.

To make the royal icing you just add water and beat it until smooth using a wooden spoon. We then poured it onto the top of the cake, trying out adding a ski slope but then just smoothing it on the sides using a round-ended knife.

using a round bladed knife to smooth the icing

Then the decorations. I had some modelling icing paste and we used that to make snowmen. We made a pond for the snowmen to stand around using icing sugar and blue food dye. Unfortunately we made the icing too thin so what started as a pond became a waterfall.

the icing pond started to turn into a waterfall

I had also bought some ready-made icing decorations.

As you can see we found it hard to stop adding more and more decorations – I don’t know who added the most – my daughter or my grandson!!

The cake is now in a cardboard cake box with the icing drying, ready to cut and eat on Christmas day. I can’t wait! Happy Christmas to everyone.

Recipe

Almond paste for Christmas cake

16th Dec 201916th Dec 2019 Nannie RaRa

My Christmas cake has been maturing for the last few weeks. The next stage is to cover it with almond paste. This should be done a week or two before Christmas so that the almond paste has time to dry before adding the icing which itself needs time to dry.

Our family loves almond paste so I cover the top and sides. Use half quantities if you are just covering the top of the cake.

Ingredients

ingreedients: icing sugar, ground almonds, lemon, egg, apricot jam

12 oz ground almonds
12 oz icing sugar
1 egg lightly beated
juice from a lemon
apricot jam

Method

Mix the ground almonds and icing sugar together in a bowl. Stir in the egg and add enough lemon juice to make a stiff dough. Knead the dough lightly.

Unwrap your Christmas cake – take a moment to enjoy the wonderful smell – and place it on a cakeboard. I use one I’ve had for several years and just replace the tinfoil.

If you like you can cut some from the top of the cake to make it level.

Using a paintbrush coat the tops and side of the cake with apricot jam (remove any lumpy pieces from the jam).

Divide the almond paste into two equal pieces. Then subdivide one of these into two.

Measure round the cake with a piece of string.

Dust the surface where you are working with icing sugar to stop the paste from sticking.

Roll out one of the quarters of almond paste so that it is the as long as half the string and as wide as the height of the side of the cake. Do the same with the other quarter piece.

Carefully pick up the rolled-out paste and push onto the side of the cake. Add the other piece as well. You can push the edges together where they meet using a round edged knife. If you have a gap, then squash a spare piece of paste into it, or take a piece from where it is thicker.

Roll the remaining half of paste into a circle the size of the top of the cake. Carefully lift it onto the cake and push the edges down onto the almond paste at the side.

Don’t worry if it is not completely smooth – you can smooth it out with the icing.

I’ve put my cake in a cardboard cake box to keep the dust off and placed it in a cool room. You can put the cake into an airtight container if you have one.

Leave the almond paste to dry for at least twenty-four hours – I’m leaving mine a week – so that oil from the almonds doesn’t leak out and turn the icing yellow.

While you are waiting for the almond paste to dry out, you can decide on how you will be decorating the cake using royal icing.

This recipe was adapted the 1972 edition of Good Housekeeping’s Easy-Stages Cook Book.