Summer

 

 

 

 

 

Summer

 

'Twenty-six degrees with a light breeze,'

the radio announcer intones.

She must be bored this summer!

Auckland's volcanic cones blaze brown,

nearby playing fields almost bare and

mowing lawns creates clouds of dust.

Water tanks only dribble and stop in rural spots

and farmers have to sell hungry stock.

 

But, in Cornwall Park we blister, some with

crystal glasses full of wine; we take tea

in china cups, a slice of cake mixed through

with chippy chocolate, all listening to the band

who play dressed in black - on this the hottest

Sunday at 2 o'clock!

 

Home to water celery, silverbeet, herbs and peppers.

Cucumber plant has done its dash - so have I

with water rates still rising.

My supermarket hosts peaches, nectarines and plums

plus courgettes. And, like a soldier's polished army boots

aubergines beg to meet with mozzarella, toms and basil green.

But, I have got a recipe for a spicy dish, cooked on top,

in a wok - for who wants to face the oven's heat when

inside our home the sun's warmth is trapped!



 

 

Take 1 large eggplant or 2 sm. ones. Cube and soaked for a while in salted water.
Turn on electric or gas ring to threequarters hot and in your woklike saucepan put in
2 tablespoons of oil.
Sprinkle in 1 teaspn tumeric, half a teaspn. of cumin seeds and a few chilli flakes.
Watch them carefully else they'll burn.
Next put in 1 sliced onion, 2 sliced sticks of celery, 3 cloves of garlic or a teaspn of minced garlic and sitr.
When heated through put in 1 or 2 sliced courgettes, one sliced red pepper, stir.
Rinse the eggplant and add to the wok. Stir so the tumeric colours everything.
Chop herbs - coriander, basil, parsley - whatever you've got in your garden- and add to wok.
Tip in a tin of Italian tomatoes. Stir and cover and turn down the heat.
Stir every now and again until eggplant and courgettes are cooked.
Serve with brown rice. Enough for 3 -4 people.