SAGO

... since I'm still chillaxin' in B.C., I thought I would finish off a few blogs that I had started over the past year from Indonesia...


SAGO

Sago, or Sagu, is the staple food in the Indonesian province of West Papua (or at least, it used to be). Growing especially in coastal areas, sago palm trees (metroxylon sagu) are not planted by island or coastal residents, but simply harvested from the jungle. Rice is coming to replace sago in most of the coastal areas I've visited, although it is not grown in the area and has to be imported.




One Sago Palm yields enough sago starch to feed a family for weeks or even months.

There's no word for it in English... and there's no way to fully describe it, either.

Sago can be 'processed' and cooked in several ways... usually the tree is harvested and brought to the seaside for processing to extract the starch. The trunk of this palm has thorns, so usually the outer bark is removed (cafefully!) after felling the tree, and before it is brought to the shore. The inner core (or pith) of the tree is then chipped out to yield the high-starch raw material for processing. (This image is from Wikipedia... amazingly, I can't find a single one of my own in all my pictures!)



Update:  See this blog, which contains a little about our attempt to help in the processing of Sago on Biak Island, or this one, which delineates the entire process from a visit to Sarmi!

Sago flour is the most common result of processing, and this is what is then used in food preparation. I don't think it has much nutritional value – seems like your basic tummy-filling carbohydrate.

So far, I have eaten sago as 'papeda' (served with a yummy fish curry) and 'bagea', as explained in this previous blog.  The traditional ceremonial feast called "Bakar Batu"(literally, roasted rocks) often includes Sago as well.

As with most things on these islands, every part of everything is used, and so the Sago Palm leaves are also used in many villages to build rooves for huts.

Christina Lake



Our time at the lake was anything but boring... Mom & Dad and Auntie Barbi and Uncle Jacques made it wonderful! Sooo wonderful in fact, that ... I'm back! Martin had to head back to the Galapagos earlier than planned, so instead of staying 'home alone', I came back out to enjoy more time with family, and the fabulous weather. And although Martin is convinced that "Canada is nothing but pine trees", I think he enjoyed his time with us at Christina Lake, too! I think he was a bit disappointed he didn't get to see a live moose, though...



He got really good on the wakeboard after his rib healed from the incident early-on!


... and I got back into the swing of things as well...


... and I even convinced Martin to go tubing once!



In addition to water-skiing and wakeboarding, we had a great time, and kept pretty busy!

Diving - first fresh-(read COLD, like 4.5 Celsius COLD)-water dive for either of us... and first dive in Canada for that matter! To be perfectly honest, with all the hassle of gearing up (honestly, about 20 minutes) and the extremely limited (read practically NON-EXISTENT) life to be seen, I'm not sure it's worth it! ... but we had to at least try it once! I know, this pic is sideways... just pretend it's a trick I was pulling in the water (yeah, like with THAT much wetsuit on, you have any flexibility or maneuverability!?)!



Fishing - everyone is convinced that Martin talks the fish onto his hook! That kokanee was yummy!


Geocaching - i finally got to get some more caching done (my favourite passtime), and I even had the help of a few newbies! If you have no idea what I'm talking about and are interested in finding out more about this world-wide GPS treasure hunt, you can check out geocaching.com... but be forewarned: it's addictive!





The thing I love best about geocaching is that it takes you to all kinds of new and interesting places... and we re-discovered a bunch of stunning areas right in our own back yard!








Cycling - we pulled out the old-school bicycles, dusted them off, pumped up the cracking tires and went for a tour (great idea in the 30+ degree heat!)...




Food - well, this wasn't an activity, per say, but a big part of life at the lake! we had all manner of delicious meals which i had been missing in Indonesia, including a few French specialties, thanks to our in-house french connection (yummy Ratatouille and Boef Bourguignon)! The best part was preparing all the meals and eating them with family. Martin even made us his special 'nasi goreng' one night!