Monday 21st December Chilli Sauce

We’re all winding down towards the Christmas break. Trying to get things done is beyond getting upset about now, if we get the gardens planted this week I’ll be happy. I’m trying to get the idea of incorporating the potting mix with the soil we put into the gardens at the Post Office, instead of just putting it on top, so that the fresher mix is diluted a bit with the soil. Difficult concept to explain I’m finding out, but I think I have got the concept through. I want to put old copra sacks over it all once we have planted the area, to keep weeds down, and also to stop the mix from being washed away if it rains. That is proving to be a difficult thing to explain as well, I’m a glutton for punishment at times trying to introduce too many new things at once.

Caught up with Kennedy again, the two of us would be dangerous if we worked together more often. I’ve been thinking of putting a formal Marae into the Governor Generals Residence, so I had to check with Kennedy if that concept is used here, and they have a similar formal greeting and ceremonial area in the provincial areas. Which they do in most of the more Polynesian Provinces, and the others have a vaguely similar style of thing, so that may go ahead as well.

We’ve got the canoe shapes sorted in our heads, I have to find the plants now to give the wave and white water effect against the canoes, and also ones that will take the pruning to give a wave shape. If I can get Hebe diosmifolia to grow here I’ll use that against the canoes for the white and green watery effect, and possibly Strobilanthes for the deep purple with blue flowers for the deep sea. And some double white flowering bougainvillea against the rocks I’ll put in at places to represent the sea hitting the shoreline.

The big statue has morphed into a globe now, with figures around it, so it gives a fixed point for our canoes to be heading towards, the whole idea is to have the canoes carrying the messages to the world, which hopefully is going to represent what Solomon Post do.

I had a word with Kennedy about a statue to go into Commonwealth Avenue as well, at the junction where it meets Mendana Ave. I’d like something fairly big, but squat. MID get upset about sight lines for drivers, so it can’t be too high. We threw a few ideas around, then settled on a man/fish shape, which ties the wharves at the bottom end of Commonwealth with the business centre of town at the other end of Commonwealth. One of the Provinces, I think Ysabel, has a Man/Fish ancestor in their history, so it is another bit of the whole Solomons Culture being used and displayed. Thankfully I’ve always had an interest in different cultures history and legends, so I’m able to drag stuff out of the memory bank and use it as a starting point. I’ve learnt a lot more dealing with Kennedy, and he’s more than happy to spend the time educating me as well.

I had to go to the World Bank offices today, they have a problem with their indoor plants, all sufferring and not thriving. I walked in, and it was like going into a refrigerator. They have the aircon set to 16*C, coming from a central point in the ceilings with vents aimed at the walls. All the plants are against the walls so they are in a constant freezing cold downdraft, and being kept watered as well. I’ll have to find some Draceana marginata or Sansevieria to go into there. Even Spathiphyllum. And tell them not to water them every day. I’m working on getting small fountains into the foyer there, the plants will always suffer, so as a better alternative if we can put small fountains and waterfalls in it will still give the friendlier effect that they want. We also picked up a little job for there as well, 5m of wall to put some bougainvillea onto, in a narrow alleyway that a couple of offices face onto. It’s just a matter of fixing some mesh to the wall, putting a small garden bed along the base and planting 10 or so bougainvillea mixed colours to grow up. But still another job that we get paid for.

I made another batch of chilli sauce tonight when I got home, I must be feeling better than I have done lately. 3 hours later and my hands are still hot from the splashes of it that got onto the skin. It seems to be a bit hotter than the first batch, but it may mellow with a week or so in the bottle.

Anyway, here is the recipe, and the much awaited photo set how to do it series.

1 medium pineapple
1 average size pawpaw, well, average can mean a lot of things, so it’s good there is a photo to show what is average here.
1 clump of garlic
3- 4 onions
a good size piece of fresh ginger root (look at the photo)
Tomatoes, I used two 450gm tins, because they were cheaper than fresh tomatoes, which ever you find the cheapest
4 tablespoons of brown sugar
2 tablespoons of whole black peppercorns
2 teaspoons salt
1 –2 litres of vinegar, I use rice wine vinegar because I can use the bottles for keeping the sauce in.

And of course, chillies. I had only the small birdseye ones this week, you can use whatever combination of chillies are available.

Chop, peel, crush, slice, everything and throw it all into whatever pot you have, as usual in my case the wok is the mainstay. I used a tablespoon or 2 of cold pressed coconut oil to get everything heated, then added the tinned tomatoes once it was hot, followed by a litre of vinegar. Left it simmering, slow rolling movement is all, you don’t want boiling, the splashes are a pain to get off, and don’t ask how I know.








After about an hour, when it had thickened down, I put it through the blender, added a bit more vinegar to get a slightly runnier texture, then bought it all to a boil for about 15 minutes. It thickened a little more, then poured it into the vinegar bottles and put them into the cupboard to mellow.







It is hot. Although in saying that, it could do with more chilli, about half as much again I think. I’ll try the next batch with a few more chillies.








I’d only just finished putting it into the bottles when Kennedy arrived, about 8.30, so there went the rest of the night. We spent ages going through my photos, found the one of the Viking long boat beside the Liffey, and Kennedy got the concept straight away, so he is going to use the same idea but with Solomon Island Canoe shapes. I’ve got a fair bit of work to do before we can get it finished, trying to find suitable plants, a few large rocks to go into the area, and just generally get the sketches done up so the whole thing is clear for us to show the head people at the Post Office.

We spent most of the evening talking about different stuff, from Island customs, to different styles of artwork, and we think we have a good design to go into the top of Commonwealth Ave now.