Clams, Cakes and other Culinary Explorations at the Innlet

Well I realized that I never really told you all much about my time at the Innlet. I'm just going to boil it down to the main theme: eating. They had just bought a breadmaker when I arrived back after the Abel Tasman tramp, so you can imagine all the experimentation that was going on with that every day! Starting the day I arrived for my two weeks of WWOOFing (helping out in the eco-minded hostel for free room and board), we had a week of torrential rainstorms with only a few hours let up the entire time. It was actually a bit of a problem, since I didn't have a chance to dry out my tent before we left Marahau, since it was raining there too, and after a week being stored wet, waiting for just one sunny afternoon to dry it, it still smells a bit funny. But goodness, the culinary adventures started long before that. Lets start with clamming. The first time that Karin and I were staying at the Innlet, we were sitting in the kitchen with Inge, a girl from Germany. Amy, the hostel manager came in to see if any of us would be interested in clamming with her. Of course I jumped at the chance. I've never been clamming in my life, much less eaten one! So getting a chance to learn firsthand how to do this was very exciting! We grabbed a big bucket and headed down to the beach across the road, which was at low tide, perfect for clamming. None of us had ever gone before (other than Amy), so she had to describe exactly how to go about finding all the little cockles buried under the sand. We were supposed to walk on the sand in our bare feet, and when we felt something that seemed like a rock, dig around for it, because it was probably a clam. And when we found one, keep on digging, because they usually live in groups. The first part of our search was a little disheartening. We all thought that we weren't feeling the clams the way Amy described, because we weren't finding any, but then, she wasn't either. We continued out across the mud flats out toward the retreating ocean. Suddenly, and yes, it was sudden, we were all finding clams everywhere we stepped! We were having such a good time, comparing to see who could find the biggest ones, or the most in the same hole. Soon, we'd filled up our bucket nearly to the brim and Amy told us it was time to head back. None of us wanted to stop, however. Now that we had the hang of this, we were loving it! We started walking back, but even then, we were encountering clams with each footstep, stopping to check their size, and wanting to take all the big ones. Amy eventually made the rule that for every one we put in, we had to take one out, preferably a smaller one. This didn't work so well, unfortunately, since all of the smaller ones that we'd collected in the beginning were all the way at the bottom. It came down to putting one in and grabbing one that may or may not have been smaller, as long as it looked like it COULD be slightly smaller and putting it back under the sand. It was the excitement of keeping the new one you'd found that counted, even though it was quite likely that the next person to find a "huge!" one would judge theirs to be slightly bigger than yours and displace your prize catch. Amy did corral us back to the car eventually, she and Karin leading the way with Inge and I following behind carrying the bucket, which by that time was very heavy (thus, why we'd driven). We went back to the Innlet, where we learned to scrub and soak the clams and make clam chowder. This was only the second time I'd ever had clam chowder in my life, the first being out in Pismo Beach, California with Keasha last April. Goodness. It was almost a year ago, exactly. How funny! Sorry, I just realized that as I was typing. You probably don't all need to know that... But we had an excellent dinner of clam chowder and garlic bread that night, spiced up with herbs fresh from the garden. Mussels. The next day, Karin and I walked down to explore Wharariki Beach in the morning and returned to the Paddlecrab Cafe at the Puponga Visitors Center on the Farewell Spit where we feasted on a fantabulous lunch of their homemade foccacia with a variety of veggies and spreads, including wonderfully fruity scented olive oil, roasted tomato and garlic, and avocado with balsamic vinegar. We finished it off with a dessert of lemon yogurt muffins topped with fresh berries. I will have to try to figure out how to make those at home, because they were absolutely fantastic! While we were sitting in the sun on the cafe deck overlooking Golden Bay and Farewell Spit, we talked about how Karin had been curious to try some of the Green Lipped Mussels they get here in New Zealand. I, of course, was curious to try ANY mussels, since I'd never had them before in my life. We decided to head to Takaka for some grocery shopping. I tried mussels for the first time last night, and yum! They were great! I am definitely getting into this seafood thing. Which is good, because later on that night, we went to Tinky's Tavern in Collingwood for their St. Patrick's Day celebration. I thought it was awfully funny that their local pub shared a name (or at least half of one) with the most maligned Teletubby. In addition to the loads of people decked out in various shades of green, singing Irish melodies and dancing jigs around the bar with Irish flags painted on their faces, drunk on Guiness (the night's special), Tinky's was also offering free fresh oysters. I don't know if I've ever even gotten up the courage to try a cooked oyster, even in all those years of Oyster Stew for Christmas (Meredith and I eating Annie's Mac and Cheese instead). So a raw oyster, whoa. But I did it. And I can't say I'm going to be going on a new diet of raw oysters, but it wasn't so bad. I'd do it again. I guess. Now leaving those new saltwater tastes behind, we'll move onto the cakes, and then of course ROSY GLOW! In that week of rainstorms, which included Easter weekend, so we were packed, we had some nummy baking going on. I helped Sibylle out with a great German apple cake that she knew how to make (German because she's from Germany. I don't know if its REALLY German, per se). Anastasia, one of the girls there from England, had never baked cakes before and was eager to try. So with me as her willing accomplice, we bought some baking supplies in Takaka and turned out a banana cake, chocolate cake (originally a vegan recipe that we doctored up a bit with eggs and lotsa butter - that poor vegan who wrote it in the recipe book! They would be having restless nights wherever they are, knowing how their recipe's been co-opted), a carrot ginger cake, and a sticky date pudding with caramel sauce (that one was all Anastasia except for me as the consultant and I think she's graduated to pro cake baker, cuz it was nummy!). I also made some Mexican Chocolate Cookies, one of my favorite recipes from home, which I shared with the Innlet peeps, sent a bunch up to Gilbert Ave crew in Auckland, and brought to Mary, the woman who makes Rosy Glow chocolates in Collingwood. I'll type in a list of all the different flavors that I tried there in a bit. She makes these fabulous homemade chocolates, all super rich in so many different flavors. How was I lucky enough to stay just 10 minutes from a gourmet chocolate shop?? She definitely got to know me and gave me a couple free chocolates to sample to boot! What else? Oh, the last thing that I should tell you all before my time runs out: I went to the Mussel Inn for dinner one night. They had a fabulous seafood chowder, and their own range of homebrewed beers (easily the best I've had in New Zealand, not that I've made it my business to do TOO much sampling of the NZ beers! BUT, here's the cool part: they also have a ping pong net that attaches to the table right there in the restaurant, and you can play ping pong! Sometimes, the owner said that they have rounds where everyone cycles through for a chance to play and they have lines out the door. I wish I'd been there for that! Oops. Gotta get this published before time runs out, so I 'll let you all just imagine that one! And this is a small restaurant!