Newfoundland - Day 6

Really busy day today! Today's the day I'd promised to make my famous ribs for everyone. Had to put the dessert together in the morning, because it was supposed to sit in the freezer all day. Larry made us all a breakfast called Fish & Brewis. Brewis is pronounced like bruise or brews. It's comprised of salt fish and boiled hard tack, both of which are staples of the old-time Newfoundland diet. Salt fish has to be soaked overnight and then boiled at least once, if not twice, to get the salt out of it. It turns out rather chewy, and probably wouldn't appeal at all to someone who's fussy about eating fish. But if you like fish, it's good.

The brewis, or hard-tack, is what they used to take on long voyages, because it basically never spoils. As long as it's kept dry, it can last and last. It looks like a tiny loaf of bread, just big enough to fit on your palm, and it's as hard as a rock. To make it fit to eat, it's soaked in water and then boiled till it's soft again, then drained. It has basically no flavour of its own, so it's just a vehicle for other stuff. In this case, that was the salt fish. Larry also made drawn butter. Drawn butter here is something different from what most cooks think of it as. In Newfoundland, drawn butter is a good big dollop of butter with sliced onions in it, sauteed very slowly over low heat so the onions don't brown or carmelize, but just become very, very soft. Then you add a bit of flour and, I think it's milk, but it might be water, and stir it all up till you get this thick creamy onion-flavoured chunky sauce. Spoon that over a plate full of fish and brewis and you have a very hearty breakfast. We also had chokecherry syrup on toast...home made from the chokecherries in Larry and Sue's yard. MAN that was delicious!


After breakfast the five of us piled into the car and went for a drive up the road that follows the opposite side of the bay from the main part of King's Point. Lots of lovely, quaint little towns along there, with beautiful rocky beaches and stunning scenery. Lots of great photos taken today. One place we saw one of those free-standing rock formations that are so common here. In the photo, you can see a small boat just to the right of it. As they passed us, everyone in that boat waved at us up on the shore. Nice :-)

Picked up a souvenir beach rock (pigeon's blood jasper...a form of chirt, according to my geologist cousin, Larry) and found a teeny tiny piece of cobalt glass from some long-ago wreck or cast-off household item. Really beautiful colour. Took lots of photos, and even got a cool little close-up video of the tide coming in, slowly covering up the tiny pebbles on one of the beaches we visited. LOL...I was so absorbed in taking the video that I didn't notice that I was slowly being cut off from the mainland on a little spit of land! Larry decided not to tell us right away and just watched us foolish mainlanders doing something that probably every child who lives by the sea learns not to do by the time they're two!

Back at home, it was time to start putting dinner together. I washed and broke up my lettuce for the caesar salad, and sliced the mushrooms. Then I had a little time all to myself for an hour or so after Sue and Larry's son Chris took off for work. It was nice to have some genuine alone-time, and I just sat at the dining room table and messed around on the computer a bit. Once everyone came back, there was a bit more socializing, and then it was time to get my meat ready. It was quite a production, with four cookie sheets covered with pork back ribs waiting for the ungodly amount of herbs and seasonings I use in my famous ribs. Susan lingered around watching what I was doing, so I hope she got the idea that when I say use a LOT of herbs, I really mean it. For six large racks of ribs, I used up an entire bag of Italian Herbs, half a bag of oregano and about a third each of the garlic powder and seasoning salt. Almost had a disaster when I forgot the lemon juice on the first round of broiling, but it worked out okay. The potatoes were baked ahead of time and just finished off in the nuker, and by seven or so, we were ready for dinner.

Everyone seemed to enjoy everything and I was relieved and pleased that it all worked out so well. I have a couple of photos of people serving themselves buffet style, which I may post tomorrow or after I get home.

I received a couple of very sweet gifts this evening too! Hilda made up a bag of traditional Newfie foods for me to take home, including some salt fish, some salt pork, salt beef, a pudding bag so I can make bread pudding or peas pudding. Even some candies. Then Susan came over and gave me a bag containing the music DVD we all watched the other night of Newfie music and scenes of Western and Northern Newfoundland. And a jar of...now what was it called...something apple jam. I'll have to find the jar and check, but I'm too lazy to move right now.

Socialized some more after dinner, but was just feeling like I needed to get off by myself for a while, so I said goodnight early, and here I am. It was a very successful day. Just one more full day before we go home on Friday. We're going up to Sue and Larry's cabin tomorrow, apparently, so that'll be neat. Maybe we'll see some more wildlife. I'd love to see another moose before I go! Wayne tells me that the girl moose I saw the other day has been hanging around all week. Would love to see a big bull with his antlers!

Okay...that's enough for tonight. I feel like vegging out for a while before I go to sleep. It's really going to be hard to say goodbye on Friday. I'm going to make a fool of myself blubbering, probably. But oh well...that's what I do and at least it'll show my hosts and all the relatives how much it meant to me to be able to visit with them and see what it's like to be a Newfoundlander for a little while.