Tuesday morning dawned as the beginning of a week of contrasts. Amid packing for a long awaited short break to the Normandy Coast the morning radio report of an massive earthquake in Christchurch turned our minds from holiday happiness to fearful thoughts for our countrymen and women as the horror of the situation unfolded. We listened, googled, watched, read and emailed frantically in disbelief as the enormity of the level of the crisis became clear...65 dead and over 300 people missing...lunchtime business halted and death and destruction followed a short sharp shake of the second largest city in New Zealand...so hard to come to terms with such scenes of devastation. We packed quietly and then parted with one ear to the radio for updates as we traveled the 3 hours to our destination...Cabourg...
Christchurch is a city I know well as my very close friend from University in Dunedin lived there and her home became mine during stopovers to and from the North Island where my parents lived...I got to know her school friends and family as well as if they were my own...I hung out at the Cathedral Square, the Arts Centre and various nightclubs and bars....This city will never be the same again and nor will its people...for that I am deeply saddened...the loss, the trauma and the long term effects of this earthquake will be felt for a long time to come...it will also bring home to many New Zealander's just how vulnerable they are, how young and unsettled their country is and how strong and resilient they have to be to soldier on in the face of such tragedy. There is no doubt that that is what they will do! I know because we are Kiwi's and by definition are made up of tough island and pioneering stock that has faced physical endurance tests from the outset. Our young beautiful country will rise to the occasion...to support the Cantabrians as they rebuild a life for themselves and their neighbours...for the time being it is a city in mourning grieving for the loss of life and a way of life...
It seemed fitting that we spent the following couple of days in Normandy with my NZ friend as we monitored the news and talked over the unfolding stories in the aftermath of the earthquake. We walked the coastline, ran on the beach and built sandcastles with the children in the day then cooked and drank champagne and ginger beer in the evenings...loving looking out at the changing light across the ocean...food for the soul...
As always, food was foremost in our planning and we were lucky enough to have a leg of wild boar compliments of my friends neighbour on the menu. Fresh baby wild boar
'sanglier' is a delicacy rarely found outside hunting areas like the Ardennes and we often see them crossing the roads at dawn and dusk in family packs...an awesome sight on mass. Mike took on the challenge as the boar was still very fresh and raw in more ways than one but to his relief vaguely 'oven prepared'! In anticipation my fallback classic french cookbook
'French Regional Cooking' by Anne Willan had been duly packed. A recipe found...the leg was marinated for a day in red wine, shallots, juniper berries and fresh herbs then roasted for a couple of hours while the strained marinade and thick chunky lardons, onions, celery and carrots were cooked together slowly to create the sauce to serve alongside....the beast came to the table with roast potatoes and fresh greens and it was delicious...wild, gamey, rich and moist...the children came back for seconds and we all slept well after our physical day in the open air.
The next morning an early brisk visit to the local wharf where the fisherman's wives were touting their wares revealed piles of fresh scallops for 5 euros a kilo...Mike's absolute favourite...we soon had these weather worn but elegant women in lipstick and plastic aprons shucking scallops for us to carry home...huge, succulent and uber fresh! Fried in garlic and butter, a squeeze of lemon and tossed with parsley...perfect end to another lovely simple day by the sea...
Our thoughts over dinner turned to our lovely Belg guests who stayed with us twice over the summer to talk in great detail about our homeland which they were heading to in the New Year for an extended hiking holiday...Min and Luke were freshly retired gentile educationalists whose company we enjoyed immensely...and after taking another look at their final email we realised that there was every chance that they would have landed in Christchurch around the time of the earthquake! Quick email exchanges revealed our worst fears...they were indeed in the city centre at the time of the quake but luckily they had survived unscathed from a central city supermarket...they promptly headed north to Kaikoura...unharmed physically but shaken. How small the world is at a time like this...
Home again and back online after a few days of scatty Internet...news came through that all those we know and care for have made it through unscathed physically...houses wrecked and businesses in tatters but grateful to be safe and well...they will now be coping with water shortages, lack of electricity, plumbing and a massive clean up while they reshape their lives in light of recent events...all of the goalposts have shifted...so lucky we feel...our thoughts are with them all...
http://christchurchearthquakeappeal.govt.nz/
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